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Cardinal Collins participating in an indigenous 'smudge' ritual before celebrating Mass on September 30, 2022 in St. Michael's Cathedral, TorontoYouTube/Screenshot

TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) — The Archbishop of Toronto organized and participated in an indigenous pagan ritual of purification, known as a “smudging” ceremony, in Toronto’s Cathedral of St. Michael on September 30.

The smudging ritual took place directly in front of the main altar just before the beginning of Mass, which was presided over by Cardinal Thomas Collins. Both the ritual and the Mass were intended to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

In the video of the ceremony at the Toronto cathedral, Collins can be seen wafting himself with “sacred smoke” of purification offered him by the indigenous shaman, before ascending to the altar to begin Mass.

The event was reported by the Canadian news agency The Catholic Register: “The Mass began with a smudging ceremony before the altar. Dr. Peter Menzies, Anishawbek from the Sagamok First Nation, said it was an honour to be asked to lead the smudging ceremony at the cathedral.”

“An expert in aboriginal children’s mental health and addictions, Menzies usually treats smudging as part of his personal spiritual practice and does not often receive requests from parishes,” the report continued. “‘When I’m asked, I will do it,’ he told The Catholic Register.

In his homily, although Collins called the “Gospel of Jesus Christ” “the norm for us all,” he also said the Church should “appreciate and celebrate the traditions of the indigenous peoples,” failing to distinguish those indigenous traditions compatible with the Faith from those that stand contrary to the practice of the Christian religion, such as the worship of the forces of nature, the invocation of the spirits of the dead, and rituals of purification that stand outside the revealed economy of grace.

“Recognizing the centuries of Indigenous contributions to the Church,” the cardinal said, “and honoring indigenous spirituality ought to come naturally to Canadian Catholics… Within the community of the Church, we need to appreciate and celebrate the traditions of the Indigenous peoples, and of every national and cultural community, with the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the norm for us all.”

Following the lead of the cardinal in the undiscerning adoption of indigenous pagan rituals within the liturgy of the Church, some Catholic laity simply looked on the smudging ceremony as a cultural incorporation on the part of the Church.

READ: Pope Francis’ planned ‘smudging’ ritual in Canada is a formal act of superstition

Maria Lucas, a Metis lawyer with the indigenous law firm Goldblatt Partners LLP, said of the event, “To see the cardinal smudge at the beginning is very meaningful. As an element of our culture incorporated into the liturgy, it is important.”

Other Canadian Catholics denounced the ceremony as “a blasphemous act of wokeness and lip service to the actual suffering and needs of our indigenous communities,” pointing out that while pagan rituals are being adopted by the hierarchy, these same prelates are restricting the offering of the Chruch’s own ancient Apostolic liturgy in the form of the Traditional Latin Mass, which was formalized by St. Gregory the Great and whose oldest parts are traced to the Apostle Peter.

According to one indigenous online source, of which there are many, “Smudging is a ritual way to cleanse a person , place, or an object of negative energies, spirits or influences. The smudging ceremony involves the burning of special, sacred plants and herbal resins, then, either passing an object through the resulting smoke, or fanning the smoke around a person or place. The spirit of the plant then purifies whatever is being smudged.”

In July, Pope Francis took part in a similar smudging ceremony that also invoked the dead by calling on the “circle of spirits.” As LifeSiteNews noted at the time, “to attempt to spiritually ‘purify’ a person or place outside the order of grace established by Christ and His Church in the sacraments and sacred rites of Catholicism, constitutes not only the sin of superstition, but would also entail grave sacrilege, since both a consecrated Church and a consecrated bishop… would be subjected to a pagan ritual of purification and would thereby actually be profaned.”

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