The Committee for the
Pope’s Millennium Apology
c/o 1373 Dunbarton Road
Montgomery, AL 36117
http://www.lafond.us/pagans
webmaster: chris@lafond.us

Committee Members: Chel & Jon Bardell, Australia Fred Lamond, Austria Pamela Fletcher, Canada Andy Norfolk, Cornwall Dylan Ap Thuin, England Philip Carr-Gomm, England Pete Jennings, England Maimu Alber, Estonia Aristarchos Papademetriou, Greece Ikari Segawa, Japan Shelley Dryden, South Africa Carol Nowlan, South Africa

Committee Members: Elizabeth Barrette, USA Mary WindRider Bowerman, USA Andras Corben-Arthen, USA Max Dashu, USA Attorney Dana D. Eilers, USA Steve Foster, USA Rev. Selena Fox, USA Ellen Evert Hopman, USA Rev. Bill Kilborn/Eaglerocc, USA Christopher LaFond, USA Shawn Poirier, USA Rev. Norna Kat Steingraber, USA Rev. Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, USA

Easter / Earth Day, April 23, 2000

Pope John Paul II
Vatican City

Your Holiness:

In November of 1999, this Committee sent to you a letter bearing 1,643  signatures representing the many millions of Pagans worldwide, and requesting  the inclusion of our Pagan forebears (i.e. peoples of indigenous  pre-Christian religious beliefs and cultures) in your March 12, 2000 Mass of  Pardon: "Universal Prayer; Confession of Sins and Asking for Forgiveness."

We now thank you for having phrased your apology in a manner broad enough to  encompass the ethnic, ancestral traditions of Paganism and Witchcraft, and  the many people who were persecuted and put to death for adhering to those  practices, when you confessed that:
 

"...Christians have often denied the Gospel; yielding to a mentality of  power, they have violated the rights of ethnic groups and peoples, and shown  contempt for their cultures and religious traditions..."

This was a courageous and historic step, which we acknowledge with  appreciation. We are also inspired by the words of Bishop Chemello of Brazil,  in his April, 2000 Apology Address: "It cannot just be a spoken forgiveness,  it has to be a real reconciliation and that requires concrete actions." We  agree strongly with the following words from the Roman Catholic Catechism, as  an affirmation of the need for active redress:
 

"1459 Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do what is possible in order to  repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, restore the reputation of someone  slandered, pay compensation for injuries). Simple justice requires as much...  Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health  by doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must "make  satisfaction for" or "expiate" his sins... " (Roman Catholic Catechism, copyright 1994, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città  del Vaticano).

We look forward to a time when indigenous sacred sites, archived texts of  relevance to indigenous religions, and common religious holy days may be  freely shared between the Church and other religions.

We take great hope from your words of contrition and reconciliation.  Additionally, we believe that this awakening religious tolerance must also  include dialogue among the various religious traditions so that mutual  understanding and education can occur.  Thus, we would like to invite the  Church and all other religions at this time to engage in such dialogue and  education.

Interfaith colloquy is an urgent necessity as the members of our faith  tradition continue to suffer from the negative stereotypes and religious  bigotry resulting from hundreds of years of persecution. Thus, despite the  hope inspired by your brave message, we are appalled by the Church's  continuing characterization of Nazism as "a Pagan ideology." (Memory and  Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past; Section 5.4)

This is not only offensive to Pagans, but implicates the Church as well,  since Christian institutions were also used by the Nazis. Hitler co-opted  many types of dialogue and symbolism, including Christian ones, for his own  ends. Contemporary Pagans espouse tolerance, not hatred, and we find it  abhorrent that the Nazis so corrupted elements both from the pre-Christian  Norse/Germanic religions and Christianity.

We are heartened by your recent further apology to Jewish people on your  pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We support your commitment to making amends, and  we hope there will be more understanding and collaboration among Roman  Catholics, Jews, and Pagans, as well as with other peoples. Life in the  modern world demands tolerance, education, and the ability to progress toward  enlightenment without persecution, fear, or prejudice.

Celebration of diversity is the essence of Paganism past and present, since  Pagans are pantheists who see the divine manifested in each living being in  the world, and therefore also in the practitioners of other religions than  our own. We share in the firm commitment shown by the Church under your  guidance to the practice of tolerance among people of all faiths. We seek to  help bring forth a world in which doctrines, prayers, sacred sites, and  conceptualizations of the Divine of all religions will be treated with equal  respect.

We have only one world. We must now move forward with the real work at hand:  that of teaching our respective religious communities how to grow and thrive,  peacefully and spiritually, on this beautiful planet which we all share, and  for whose sake we must learn to live in harmony.
 

Sincerely yours,

(SIGNATORIES 1068)