Tekakwitha attendees urged to follow in footsteps of Blessed Kateri

Published: 2007-07-02

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver urged those gathered at the Tekakwitha Conference Mass June 30 in Washington to follow in the footsteps of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and follow Jesus Christ as she did. "In many Catholic circles today, we speak a great deal about inculturation in the church: the place where the good news of Jesus and our cultures meet," said the archbishop in his homily. "The only true, authentic inculturators are not theologians, or bishops, but the saints." More than 700 American Indian Catholics gathered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for the Mass and the closing of the 68th annual Tekakwitha Conference, held in the Baltimore Archdiocese. Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, for whom the conference is named, was a member of the Mohawk tribe. She was born to a Christian Algonquin mother and a Mohawk father in 1656 in upstate New York along the Hudson River, and was baptized by a Jesuit missionary in 1676 when she was 20. She was devoted to prayer and cared for the sick. She died in 1680 at the age of 24. In June 1980, she became the first Native American to beatified. The Mass included traditional American Indian music with drums and chants. The penitential rite was accompanied by a smudging ceremony where clippings of sage, cedar, sweetgrass and tobacco were burned for purification and healing.

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .