David J. MacKinnon - A Voluntary Crucifixion

A VOLUNTARY
CRUCIFIXION

ESSENTIAL PROSE SERIES 153

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A VOLUNTARY
CRUCIFIXION

DAVIDMacKINNON

TORONTO BUFFALO LANCASTER (U.K.)
2019

Copyright 2019, David MacKinnon and Guernica Editions Inc.

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise stored in a retrieval system, without the prior consent of the publisher is an infringement of the copyright law.

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David Moratto, cover design

David Moratto, interior design

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First edition.

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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2018943221

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication MacKinnon, David, 1953-, author

A voluntary crucifixion / David MacKinnon. -- First edition.

(Essential prose series ; 153)
Essays.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-77183-272-4 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-77183-273-1 (EPUB).
--ISBN 978-1-77183-274-8 (Kindle)

I. Title. II. Series: Essential prose series ; 153

PS8625.K553V65 2018C814.6C2018-902774-6C2018-902775-4

No man taketh it from me,
but I lay it down of myself.

John 10:18

If liberty means anything at all,
it means the right to tell people
what they do not want to hear.

George Orwell

This tome is dedicated:

The word acknowledgement has a particular resonance in the indigenous world. The first person to utter the word to me was Ariki, the Maori hereditary chief with whom I had extensive dealings when I directed a project to bring a group of indigenous leaders to Rome. The effect upon me was immediate, as if Id passed through a looking glass into a world where a lifetime of preconceptions was annihilated instantaner.

Let me explain. Most people are aware that European explorers conquered the New World and settled lands hitherto owned by indigenous peoples during the Age of Discovery. It is less known that the conquest of indigenous peoples was originally ordered by the Vatican via several papal bulls that have never been revoked, an aberration brought about in part because the notorious Borgia family of Spain had succeeded in hijacking the Papacy.

In order to address the ongoing suffering of the indigenous, some argue for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Those with longer memories insist that only a complete restoration of everything stolen since the Age of Discovery by the European settlers and their Church will suffice. Ariki, however, put it more succinctly: We need an acknowledgement. Ariki was referring to an acknowledgement by Pope Francis. That, unsurprisingly, was not forthcoming. When our simple, but unwavering goal revocation of the Papal Bulls of Discovery no longer coincided with the broader policy concerns of the bishops and the politicians, they were quick to return to the more familiar ground from whence they came, but which is unlikely to offer them the refuge it had in the past. The cost was of course exorbitant not only did the Holy See lose a unique opportunity to acknowledge the original infamy done to indigenous worldwide under the authority of the Papal Seal. In the strangest of twists, the Holy See coincidentally chose to dissolve the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace a creation of the Second Vatican Council and whose dual purpose was elegantly and succinctly defined by Paul VI as being justice and peace. In its place, the bi-millenial tragedy of 370 million indigenous people worldwide would henceforth be dealt with by a body known as the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development alongside supplicants from the ranks of refugees and migrants. Whatever the reasoning behind the act, the timing could not have been worse, and appeared to the indigenous to be the act of an absconding creditor. Its too bad, really, and a bit ironic. The sacrament of confession is also known to be the sacrament of reconciliation. An open acknowledgement of sin opens the gate for reconciliation between the sinner in this case, the Vatican and God.

But away from the fog of the Curia, and the fog of Ottawa, and the fog of the back channels of the powers-that-be, there are however several individuals whose name must be mentioned, because they brought an enduring dignity to our mission and imbued us with strength when ours was waning. The world is poorer for not knowing these extraordinary men and women, and by minimizing the event, the world has been deprived of their wisdom, courage and insights into the working of the ancestors and the Creator who governs all things here in the temporal world. They are:

Dr Kenneth Deer Secretary,

MOHAWK NATION at Kahnawake

Member Haudenosaunee Confederacy

Chief Administrative Officer, Indigenous World Association

Dr. Oren Lyons

Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan, Onondaga Council of Chiefs, Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy)

Grand Chief Wilton J. Littlechild

Former member of the Canadian parliament, Vice-President of the Indigenous Parliament of the Americas, North American representative to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and a chairperson for the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Commission on First Nations and Mtis Peoples and Justice Reform.