Passionate congregation force Oblates to change direction

The Catholic priest who has been an integral part of the Edmonton inner city for the past 20 years will be staying.

Rev. Jim Holland, of the Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples, was defended passionately by his parishioners, says Cree Elder Gilman Cardinal, who was among those to speak to representatives of the Oblates. He told them the church would suffer if the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate went through with its plan to transfer Holland.

Neither the parishioners nor Holland were consulted before the Oblates made its decision.

“This is how Aboriginal people have been treated by the church in the past. They were not respectful,” said Cardinal, who was one of about a dozen people to speak to the Catholic representatives in a sharing circle. “Father Jim brought the church back to a place of respect.”

A week after the sharing circle, the parish received a letter from Father Ken Forster, OMI, Provincial, saying Holland would remain. Forster also apologized for not including the parishioners in the decision.

“Know that any future planning by the Oblates regarding Sacred Heart will be done in partnership with you the people of the parish,” wrote Forster.

Cardinal said he was “surprised but not shocked” by the Oblates’ decision. “We told them, ‘Your church will be empty if you take Father Jim.’”

Cardinal says it was Holland’s inclusive approach to worship that drew him to the Catholic church. Cardinal’s parents both attended Catholic residential school on Bigstone Cree Nation, although neither he nor his 12 siblings did. But his parents’ experience kept him away from the church and he followed his Native ways when practising his spirituality. He arrived in Edmonton from Slave Lake a few years before Holland began at Sacred Heart.

“Shortly after, I met Father Jim. Father Jim influenced me to the point that I started to go to worship,” said Cardinal. “The way he handles the mass, it’s not the old, old way. He greets everybody. He welcomes all strangers.”

Cardinal says that the welcome shows in the mass, with Holland adopting Aboriginal cultural practises such as having the opening and closing prayers said in Cree.

Holland is overwhelmed and grateful for the support he has received from community members and proud of how his parishioners spoke up. Three petitions, signed by parishioners and non-parishioners, in support of Holland received over 6,000 signatures.

Holland was informed in April that the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate had named Sacred Heart church as one of five new missions in the country and in so doing, three new priests would move in and Holland would be relocated. Sacred Heart church, with its overwhelming Aboriginal and immigrant population and inner city location, was seen as an ideal mission, says Holland, and establishing it as a mission would allow the Oblates extra funding from the Catholic church.

“They didn’t consult with me. They had already decided,” said Holland. He informed some of his parishioners, who he had been discussing long term projects with. The word then got out.

Holland told the Oblates to take its decision directly to the people.

“To me, the agreement had to be with the people of the church, not me,” he said. “I work for the people… people are the church.”

Two important lessons were learned in this incident, says Holland. First, the Oblates found out “they can’t tell people what they need.”

More importantly, said Holland, “Our First Nations people have learned a lot from this:  they have a voice. They were reassured that what we’re doing here is the right thing. They were willing to fight.”

Photo Caption: Jim Holland has been holding mass at the Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples for 20 years and his parishioners don’t want that to change.