Apathetic No More: Reconciliation over a Cup of Tea

 By Santiago Rodriguez, S.J.

On the calender of the Catholic Church, the twelfth of December is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Given her importance to all native peoples around the world, some of our Ibo contributors have decided to launch a two-part series on Aboriginal justice. 

Santiago with members of Holy Cross Parish in Wikwemikong, Ontario

When the first two Jesuits arrived in Port Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1611, the Mi'kmaq people became friends of the Jesuits and supporters of their mission in the Annapolis Valley. In the spring of 2011, as I toured different Mi'kmaq communities in Nova Scotia to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Jesuits in Canada, I visited Holy Family Parish at the Eskasoni First Nation.

On that cold May morning, I joined a group of Mi'kmaq Elders for tea and sweet bread after Mass. As my conversation with the Elders began, half of my tea ended all over my shirt and my pants. I can be an accident-prone klutz at times. I have butterfingers and an incredible ability to fall down the stairs. While I am used to being a stumblebum in front of my family and friends, in that moment I was mortified because I was there on official business. I tried to make light of the situation by joking that I needed to start wearing diapers. I laughed at my own joke, but nobody else did. I sat down again after cleaning up the mess, feeling a bit self-conscious and humbled. While I held my refilled cup of tea with both hands, I noticed one of the Elders looking at me with a mischievous smile. She laughed a little bit and told me how glad she was to learn that some Jesuits need to wear diapers. We all laughed at her comment.