SASKATOON — For more than five decades, MaryAnne Morrison has worked to ensure Indigenous experiences, history and voices are heard within Roman Catholic communities in Saskatoon. Today, she is helping shape the next chapter of that work by leading Indigenous education efforts within the Diocese of Saskatoon.
Morrison is now guiding the diocese’s Indigenous Pastoral and Lay Ministry Education Program (IPL), an initiative designed to move church communities toward greater understanding, accountability and reconciliation.
The IPL program helps guide a new generation of local church leaders, with Morrison playing a central role through her work on the Diocesan Council for Truth and Reconciliation and the Discernment Circle, where she helps lead discussions on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.
She has been involved in Indigenous education and ministry within the Saskatoon Diocese under Bishop James Mahoney (1967 to 1995), Bishop Donald Bolen (2010 to 2016) and current Bishop Mark Hagemoen. Her work includes providing Indigenous perspectives and acting as a bridge between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities through education and social justice advocacy.
Morrison, who is Métis, told SaskToday she has witnessed significant changes in the relationship between the Catholic Church and Indigenous Peoples over the past five decades, particularly following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action, which documented the history and harms of residential schools.
“When those meetings across Canada, listening to stories of residential school survivors, they had a significant impact on many people. Especially in our diocese, where a group of volunteers, under the leadership of Bishop [Bolen], took part in the Truth and Reconciliation celebration in Saskatoon. Bishop [Bolen] spoke, and I volunteered as a person who would help residential school survivors,” she said.
Morrison’s experience has shaped her leadership in the diocese’s commitment to truth and reconciliation. She also volunteered to assist residential school survivors as they viewed photographs of family members at the Saskatoon Archives, where she learned some of her own relatives, including her grandmother, attended residential school.
As an educator and facilitator in the IPL program, Morrison emphasizes reconciliation must begin with education and informed decision-making, particularly among clergy, pastoral ministers and lay leaders who make daily decisions in parish life. The program’s core focus is responding directly to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action related to churches and education.
“The main goal of the program is to fulfill the Calls to Action. To educate the clergy and church leaders, the people of our parish communities, about the many things happening in the diocese on the Catholic Church’s truth and reconciliation efforts. I have consistently advocated for education about Indigenous peoples in Catholic schools and parish communities,” she said.
“We work every year to try to reach a wider number of people. I took the lay formation Indigenous stream, and that is when I became more involved. When I finished the course, some of the things I did were give lay formation presentations at different events, discussing truth and reconciliation. Bishop [Bolen] then established the diocese’s Truth and Reconciliation Committee, where I became a member.”
That committee set annual goals centred on truth and reconciliation, aimed at educating parish leaders and parishioners across the diocese. Members met with Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and community members to develop a program that would address the diocese’s needs for reconciliation and uphold the Calls to Action.
Developing the course
Dr. Adrienne Castellon, based in Vancouver, helped develop the IPL program, particularly its focus on Indigenous-Church reconciliation. She said her involvement was a direct response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action related to education and the Church.
“As I began developing educational resources for teachers, it became clear that there was also a significant need for deeper formation and learning among pastoral ministers and lay leaders within the church. Conversations with Bishop Mark Hagemoen about these gaps and possibilities helped shape what would eventually become my involvement with the IPL Ministry Education Program,” she said.
“In the Diocese of Saskatoon, my contribution has included curriculum development, facilitating conversations and learning sessions, and helping leaders think through how reconciliation can be embedded in pastoral practice, governance and ministry life. A key part of my role has been co-ordinating the program, setting up the online platform content, organizing speakers, graduation and special events like book studies.”
Castellon said her goal in launching the program in fall 2020 was to create spaces rooted in respect for human dignity, where difficult histories can be named truthfully and compassionately, and where accountability, hope and relationships grounded in solidarity can grow. The first graduates of the four-course certificate program completed their studies in November 2021.
The Indigenous Pastoral and Lay Ministry Education Program directly responds to Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action 59, which calls on churches to develop ongoing education strategies to ensure congregations understand their role in colonization, the history and legacy of residential schools, and the need for apologies to survivors, families and communities.
Call to Action 60 urges church leaders, along with other faiths, to collaborate with Indigenous spiritual leaders, survivors, seminaries and training centres to develop curriculum for clergy and church staff. That curriculum includes respecting Indigenous spirituality, understanding the legacy of residential schools, acknowledging the church’s role in that system, and addressing spiritual conflict and harm in Indigenous communities.
