Originally published at The Crux
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In Canada’s north, where the wounds of the residential school system remain deeply etched into Indigenous communities, Archbishop Susai Jesu of Keewatin–Le Pas sees reconciliation not as a destination but as a daily act of accompaniment.
The 55-year-old Jesu was born in India, in the village of Pushpavanam in Tamil Nadu State, India, and is the first cleric from the subcontinent appointed to lead a North American archdiocese not primarily serving the Indian diaspora.
The archdiocese of Keewatin–Les Pas sprawls across more the 450,000 square miles in which roughly 90% of the faithful belong to the Indigenous groups of the First Nations in Canada, with whom Jesu has come to feel a powerful kinship over two decades of ministry.
The missionary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate has learned the language of the Cree people to whom he has ministered, first as a priest and now as archbishop, in large part by listening.
“Language is much more than a means of communication,” Jesu told Crux Now. “It is a doorway into culture, identity, and relationship,” the archbishop said.
“When people see that you are making the effort to learn their language and understand their traditions,” he said, “trust begins
