Clarifying campus history

Throughout the past year and a half, coverage of the Indigenous Students Association, the history of industrial boarding schools in the area and the current effort to repair these relationships has been an important topic on our campus. The Record has had the privilege of reporting on these matters. We discovered inconsistencies in the way these subjects are approached, both by The Record and other areas of dialogue in our community.

This editorial seeks to clarify and inform students on the complicated relationship between the Monastery and Abbey, the University and the College. Further, we seek to establish a timeline for the evolving legal relationships between these entities to enhance conversations on this issue. Fully understanding the background, history and origins of these historical wrongdoings promotes productive dialogue, paving the way to right the wrongs.

According to archival documents, the industrial boarding school in St. Joseph operated from about 1884-1896. Seventeen years later, in 1913, the College of St. Benedict was established in St. Joseph. Thus, the industrial boarding school in St. Joseph and the College never existed at the same time.

This is not to say that the Monastery and the St. John’s Abbey were not involved with the boarding schools here and elsewhere. They certainly were involved. On the White Earth and Red Lake reservations, boarding schools operated by the Monastery and Abbey continued to operate for decades after the one in St. Joseph closed.

The Monastery of St. Benedict recently issued a formal apology for their role in these schools. This is an important first step, but more action needs to come if we truly wish to repair our relationships with Indigenous communities and make reparations for damage caused. Minnesota Public Radio recently published a story reporting on the Monastery’s apology for their actions, including input from Indigenous voices and the Sisters’ plans to truly listen to painful stories. According to the same story, St. John’s Abbey has yet to formally apologize for running a school of the same nature at the monastery.

The same Benedictine monastic communities who founded and operated these boarding schools also founded SJU in 1857 and CSB in 1913. To examine the legal complexities between the Abbey and University, and Monastery and College, an important distinction needs to be made between civil law and canon law. Civil law is the system of non-criminal law created and governed by the United States of America and the fifty respective states. To specifically address the situation of civil law surrounding our campuses, from 1857 to July 1, 2012, St. John’s University was part of the same legal corporation as the Abbey, which also included the Prep School and Liturgical Press. After July 1, 2021 and as it currently stands, St. John’s University has existed as a separate legal entity, or legal corporation. In a similar manner, the College of St. Benedict has existed as a separate legal entity from the Monastery since 1961.

However, the University and the College are still associated with the Abbey and Monastery by way of canon law, or the laws of the church. Since its inception and to the present day, St. John’s University and the Abbey are regarded as one body under canon law, with the same designation given to the relationship between the College of St. Benedict and the Monastery.

Apology and acknowledgement are the first step, but remorse requires action. Further steps to enhance awareness are important to repairing historical wrongs. Addressing a wrong is much harder without understanding its true nature. A nuanced understanding of how the monastic and academic communities have interacted over time is an important background for this crucial discussion. We hope that this editorial has illuminated the dynamic legal relationships between the Monastery, Abbey, College and University, and therefore contributed to the discussion of how all of these entities can help repair historic wrongs.