Whether or not Blessed Kateri Mission Church
soon will be changing its name, Catholics in Hoopa and surrounding
communities are excited at the upcoming canonization of Blessed Kateri
Tekakwitha on Oct. 21 -- the first Native American saint. Her story is
simple and powerful. The Jesuits who chronicled her life tell us that Kateri was born in 1656 in what is now Auriesville, N.Y., on the southern bank of the Mohawk River.
At the age of 4, she was orphaned when a smallpox epidemic killed her Algonquin Christian mother and Mohawk-warrior father.
She also endured the disease and was badly scarred on her face. Her eyesight was also impaired, earning her the name Tekakwitha, which means “she who bumps into things.”
Tekakwitha lived with her uncle, and even though a marriage was arranged, she took a vow of perpetual virginity and ran away to a Catholic Indian settlement. There she worked with the sick and lived a simple life of devotion. After she died in 1680, the people of her community witnessed the miraculous clearing of her face, leaving her skin smooth and scar-free.
Catholics began petitioning the Vatican to declare her a saint in 1880. One hundred years later, the Vatican certified the first miracle attributed to her intercession.
Last year, the second required miracle was certified by the Vatican with the healing of a flesh-eating infection in an American Indian boy in Washington state.
Stanley M. Perry, a Navajo who is active in trying to save a sacred wetland in Kansas, said that having a Mohawk honored in the Catholic Church might also heal divisions.
”She can help us by connecting us together,” Perry said. She may be a saint of the Catholics, he said, but as a Mohawk she can signify the sacredness of all life.
Blessed Kateri Mission Church will celebrate a service in honor of Tekakwitha's canonization, at the cross on Bald Hill in Hoopa at 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 21, up Pine Creek Road. The Revs. Michael Cloney and Gregory Villaescusa will officiate. A potluck will follow the service.
Another reason for celebration is the appointment of a new priest to serve the congregation of Blessed Kateri. It has been about 10 years since a priest has been assigned to the church.
Sister Patricia Carson RSM has been the church's administrator since the departure of Father Ralph Monteiro. Health issues forced Carson's recent departure, and Deacon Ken Bond and his wife Rose have been keeping the Eucharistic services going, along with Deacon Francis Davis and his wife Mary Lou, and leaders from the congregation.
”The community is excited to welcome Villaescusa,” said church member LeRoy Cyr. “He brings energy and enthusiasm, a lively preaching style, and a willingness to accommodate the needs of the local people.”