Friday after Ash Wednesday

February 24th, 2023

Call to Action: 46

46. We call upon the parties to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to develop
and sign a Covenant of Reconciliation that would identify principles for working collaboratively to
advance reconciliation in Canadian society and that would include, but not be limited to:

i. Reaffirmation of the parties’ commitment to reconciliation. 

ii. Repudiation of concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius, and the reformation of laws, governance structures, and policies within their respective institutions that continue to rely on such concepts.

iii. Full adoption and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation. 

iv. Support for the renewal or establishment of Treaty relationships based on principles of mutual recognition, mutual respect, and shared responsibility for maintaining those relationships into the future. 

v. Enabling those excluded from the Settlement Agreement to sign onto the Covenant of Reconciliation. 

vi. Enabling additional parties to sign onto the Covenant of Reconciliation.

Suggestions for Almsgiving

The 2023 Lenten Calendar is a project of CTA's Indigenous Solidarity Collective, a working group that addresses the Catholic Church's historical and current role in colonialization. To support more projects from working groups like this one, please consider making a contribution!

Friday, Feb. 24, 2023


Royal Proclamation and Covenant
of Reconciliation

Call To Action's 2023 Lenten Calendar is a collaboration between the Indigenous Solidarity Collective and Anti-Racism Team (ART). This calendar provides more than 40 days of prayer and study to lead members into action and solidarity with Indigenous communities. For holy days and Sundays during Lent, we'll publish a reflection from an ART or Indigenous Solidarity Collective member on why we're committed to undoing racism and Indigenous oppression in our own communities and biases and what it means to do this work as Catholics. Following each meditation or reflection, we will feature a call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

Fasting can mean different things to different people. For some, it may serve as an act of self-control, mourning, purification, or faith. For others, still, fasting can be an act of justice (you fast so someone else can eat).

For Indigenous communities, fasting is used in various ritual practices and ceremonies. Fasting may also mark a rite of passage. In today’s Gospel, Jesus answers John’s disciples by comparing them to guests at a wedding party instructing them to relish in the joy and feasting while the holy bridegroom is present.

Lent is a time to let go of the things that keep us from being closer to the Creator, and to feast in Their holy presence. How can an act of fasting become an act of justice, faith, or reconciliation in your day-to-day routine this Lent?

—Meditation by Indigenous Solidarity Collective member Jessica Lemes da Silva

As part of your Lenten practice, please consider donating to one or more of the following organizations:

The Question About Fasting
(Mt 9:14-15)

Then the disciples of John approached him and said, 'Why do we and the Pharisees fast [much], but your disciples do not fast?'

Jesus answered them, 'Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.'