Subcommittees
Listening, Learning & Education
Mission
The Listening, Learning and Education subcommittee of the AHP provides programs and resources to disseminate information regarding the work of the organization to broaden the understanding of the history of the Catholic Indigenous boarding schools in the United States and the efforts toward accountability and healing.
Pictured: Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas
and chosen patroness of AHP.
Archives & Cemeteries
Vision
Transparency and access to Catholic archival and burial records regarding Catholic operation of Native boarding schools, in support of our hopes for accountability and healing.
Purpose
We support Catholic institutions who hold archival or burial records related to the operation of Native boarding schools by encouraging informed access to Native people and communities, sharing resources and best practices.
Values
● We understand that the forced removal of Native children from their families and
attempted cultural erasure violated Catholic moral teaching and caused intergenerational trauma.
● We believe that Native survivors of boarding schools and their descendants have a right to all information about their own history.
● We affirm Native peoples’ experience, agency, and values as they find their own path to healing.
● We encourage Catholics to take seriously the obligation to learn their/our own history
and to discern our moral response to what we learn of that history. This discernment is
best done by listening to impacted Native communities.
● We foster collaboration with others who are involved in this work to develop guidelines and best practices.
Goals
Create Educational Resources for Catholic institutions that hold archival records pertaining to Catholic-run Native Boarding Schools and related cemeteries that foster understanding and
information sharing around such matters, (webinars and resource guide). Create/Update a List of Native boarding schools operated by Catholic entities that identifies repositories of archival materials associated with these schools Facilitate access to cemetery records and burial sites. Share best practices with one another:
● as each works in their own area (diocesan archives, religious archives, cemetery records) toward organization, accessibility, and transparency;
● regarding interface with the Federal Native Boarding Schools Initiative and similar government projects;
● regarding the timing, coordination, cultural sensitivities, legality, and application of
practices such as ground penetrating radar (GPR) in researching burial sites. Collaborate with Native nations, people and organizations to ensure that our efforts are
known and available to the Native peoples and communities likely to be researching their own histories. (THPO Officers, NABS, etc.)
Organization
The group is informally organized, and makes decisions with group consensus, grounded in our values and statement of purpose. This structure may be reconsidered (e.g. to appoint a chair, a voting procedure) if the need arises.
WHO IS WELCOME TO JOIN OUR GROUP?
Religious Community Archivists, Diocesan Archivists, Archivists who oversee Native Boarding School Collections, Religious Community Leadership, Representatives from National Catholic organizations, Native Community Representatives, THPO Officers, Representatives from Catholic Cemetery Organizations, Grassroots and Community Organizers We recommend that those interested in joining have an informal reference interview with an existing member to ascertain their level of interest and potential contributions to the work of the subcommittee.