66. John Paul II, Redemptor Missio, 2.4.
67. John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, 56.
68. Paul Tillich, “The Theology of Missions,” Christianity and Crisis, March 4, 1955, online.
69. John Paul II, Redemptor Missio, 11.5.
70. John Paul II, Redemptor Missio, 11.4.
71. June 5, 2001.
72. John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold, p. 114.
73. April 4, 2004, 1.
74. John Paul II, Homily on the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 10, 2004.
75. John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, 58.
76. The Encyclicals of John Paul II, ed. J. Miller, CSB (Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor, 2001), p. 195.
77. Bernardin, Panorama, pp. 95-96.
78. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 65.3.
79. The Code of Canon Law, trans. the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Canon Law Society Trust, 1983), p. 783.
80. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 69.3.
81. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 70.1.
82. John Paul II, Slavorum Apostoli, 52.
83. ASBS, vol. 25, p. 1 (conference of January 3, 1928).
84. ASBS, vol. 15, pp. 157-58.
85. MKD, Reflections on Religious Life, p. 4.
86. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 30.1.
87. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 88.4.
88. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 90.1.
89. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 88.1.
90. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 88.3.
91. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 91.2.
92. John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 91.3.
93. MKD, no date, 3202.
94. MKD, Praying with Mother Katharine Drexel (Bensalem, Pa.: Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, 1986), p. 29.
95. Meditation Slips, 12, p. 72.
96. Quoted in Baldwin, St. Katharine Drexel: Apostle to the Oppressed, ed. Rev. Paul S. Quinter, Elena Bucciarelli, and Frank Coyne (Philadelphia: Catholic Standard and Times, 2000), p. 194.
97. Positio, 2:373.
98. Catholic Standard and Times, March 11, 1955, in the SBS Annals.
99. Quoted in Sr. Consuela Duffy, SBS, Katharine Drexel: A Biography (Philadelphia: Reilly Co., 1966), p. 389.
100. ASBS, 1955.
101. In Redemptoris Mater, 18 and 19, Pope John Paul II links kenosis and Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
102. For a good discussion of the history and development of canonization, see Kenneth L. Woodward, Making Saints: How the Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesn’t, and Why (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990).
103. In beatification a pope declares that a deceased member of the Church has lived a life of heroic virtue and is worthy of the title “Blessed.” It is preliminary to canonization, whereby the pope declares an individual a saint.
104. A declaration of nihil obstat certifies that a writing or body of writings contains nothing that is contrary to official Church doctrine.
105. Pro bono is a cause done for reduced fee, or no fee, due to the poverty of the claimant.
106. The positio, similar to a law brief, puts forward the evidence, precedents, testimonies of witnesses and experts both for and against the cause of canonization for the proposed saint; it also includes a religious biography of the candidate.
107. October 1, 2000.
108. Homily, Cologne, Germany, May 1, 1987, quoted in Weigel, Witness to Hope, pp. 541-42.
109. Quoted by Pope John Paul II in his homily at her canonization, October 14, 1998.
110. Stephen Wilson, ed., Saints and Their Cults: Studies in Religious Sociology, Folklore, and History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 37-38.
111. Donald Weinstein and Rudolph M. Bell, Saints and Society: The Two Worlds of Western Christendom, 1000-1700 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), p. 205.
112. See Lumen Gentium, 46, and Perfectae Caritatis, October 28, 1965, 2b.
113. Woodward, Making Saints, p. 108.
114. Quoted in Woodward, Making Saints, p. 57.
115. Divinus Perfectionis Magister, introduction.
116. An interview with Archbishop Edward Nowak, secretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, in “New Evangelization with the Saints,” L’Osservatore Romano, weekly English ed., November 28, 2001, online (accessed October 1, 2004).
117. John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, 7.
118. Lumen Gentium, 50.
119. Address to the Extraordinary Consistory in Preparation for Jubilee Year 2000, June 13-14, 1994, L’Osservatore Romano, weekly English ed., June 22, 1994, online.
120. John Paul II, Novo Millennnio Ineunte, 37.
121. Pope John Paul II, Message for the 39th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, April 21, 2002, online, www.vatican.va, 1.
122. Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, CMF, L’Osservatore Romano, weekly English ed., April 16, 2003, 8, online.
123. Archdiocese of Philadelphia news release, March 10, 2000.
124. October 1, 2000, online at the Vatican Web site.
125. Homily, October 2, 2000, online.
126. These statistics are widely used and are derived from the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Alan Guttmacher Institute. Also see Luther Keith, “Blacks Must Address Number of Out-of-Wedlock Births,” Detroit News, October 30, 2003, online.
127. Homily, February 11, 2003, online.
128. Diana L. Hayes, “A Sexual Ethic of Singleness — Built upon the Foundation of Celibacy,” Witness Magazine, April 2000, online.
129. Homily, February 11, 2003, online.
130. John Paul II, Slavorum Apostoli, 11.3.
131. Quoted in Tim Unsworth, “Racism and Religion: Partners in Crime?” Salt of the Earth Magazine, January 1994, online.
132. Quoted in Unsworth, “Racism and Religion.”
133. MKD, Reflections on Religious Life, p. 36.
134. October 1, 2000, online.
135. Homily, All Saints’ Day, November 1, 2000. Repeated by Pope John Paul II in his homily at the mass to celebrate his twenty-fifth anniversary as pope, online.
136. Pope John Paul II, quoted in Weigel, Witness to Hope, p. 588.
Chapter 6
A Coda: The Mystery Revealed
The previous chapters have revealed Katharine Drexel in bits and pieces in a manner not unlike the blind men describing an elephant by the parts on to which each held. This project has proceeded much the same way. Chapter 1 discussed Drexel’s early life, portraying her as a rather serious young girl, but still full of humor and fun, who learned philanthropy at her mother’s knee. It showed her as preoccupied with the development of her virtues, especially purity and humility, and the diminution of her vices, particularly pride, vanity, and scrupulosity. Chapter 2 covered the process of her discernment as she argued with Bishop O’Connor about the shape of her future life, disclosing her as strong-willed and courageous. She and her spiritual adviser were continually at odds over her eating habits, clothing, and entertainments, as well as her sacramental and prayer life. She saw herself drawn to the convent; he wanted her in the world. It was a heroic struggle on her part, which culminated in her defiance of the bishop. He capitulated on the matter of her vocation, but then proposed that she found a new order of sisters to serve as missionarie
s to the African American and Native American peoples. She had wanted to join a contemplative order. She saw herself withdrawing from the world, and not rushing out to change it in a dramatic fashion. However, it became an idea that she fully embraced. Chapter 3 described the development of her order, a process that required her to be encouraging and forceful, tactful and forthright. Chapter 4 delved deeply into her spiritual life, uncovering a wellspring of depth in her great devotion to the Eucharist and her unending self-emptying. Chapter 5 viewed her through the lens of Pope John Paul II, who claimed her as a daughter of the Church whose virtues and views mirrored his own. Throughout this project, Katharine Drexel has been revealed as one who gave her fortune and her life to bring Christ and the Catholic Church to the Native Americans and African Americans of the United States. Yet somehow, through all this exposition, she remains something of a mystery.
One of the things a writer does when in the midst of a project such as this is to talk endlessly to as many people as possible who are even tangentially connected to the subject or who show the slightest interest in it. I have found myself talking to complete strangers on planes and trains about kenotic spirituality. I have queried priests, bishops, and nuns about the Catholic Church and civil rights, about the Church among blacks and Indians, about home missions, and directly about Katharine Drexel. Everyone I have ever asked why Drexel should be a saint has given me a different answer; they are like the blind men describing the elephant.
Some have commented on her dedication to uplifting the Native American and African American peoples. They see her as a Catholic Martin Luther King Jr. in her dedication to civil rights. She was his forerunner by two generations and in her seventies when he was born. Sister Mary John Soulliard, SBS, sees her work for civil rights as reason enough for her sainthood. She recalled walking with Mother Katharine one afternoon when the founder said, “Sisters, we will do this work until the conscience of America is awakened.” Sister Mary John went on to remark, “I used to think that someday I wouldn’t have a job.”1 For Sister Mary John and many others, Katharine Drexel is a saint because of her work to uplift the downtrodden.
Others see Katharine in opposition to discrimination and prejudice, so that her sainthood comes not only from what she did but also from how and why she did it. Sister Patricia Suchalski, president of the SBS, put it this way:
At the time Katharine was growing up and when she founded our congregation the social climate regarding African-Americans and Native-Americans was deplorable. Discrimination and prejudice were rampant and literally allowed through the laws of our government. In many ways, I believe Katharine Drexel was the Mother Teresa of her day. Unlike Mother Teresa however the media was not what it is now so the sharing of her work and what she believed was very limited. The work Katharine Drexel embarked upon was also very distasteful to much of white American society. She faced much opposition. Why did she do what she did? Where did she get the “wisdom” to see the African-American and Native-American peoples with such different eyes than most of her contemporaries? I think the response to that flows from her deep relationship with God from her early years. It was because of that ever deepening relationship which allowed her soul . . . her heart . . . her very being to be open to the slightest movement of God within her. God shared God’s wisdom of the equality of all peoples with Katharine and because of her openness she was able to grasp what few others of her time were able to. Her love of the Eucharist . . . the Body and Blood of Jesus . . . enabled her to understand that call for . . . ALL to take and eat . . . and once we have eaten together around that table are we not all united as one no matter who we are? Her sainthood I believe flows from this . . . she received God’s word and she responded to it as a prophet does. Like all prophets her words and actions caused many to wince. Katharine believed in the equality of all united through Jesus in the Eucharist. She went about making sure that those who others did not count as equal were invited to the table and given all the opportunities to recognize the dignity of their person that was theirs by right from God. Her sainthood I believe is a way of saying to the universal Church that Katharine’s beliefs of the equalities of all peoples are what we are called to believe and act out in our lives and Katharine’s belief that this equality stems from the “invitation” that must be issued to all to sit and partake together around the table of the Eucharist is what the last Supper was/is all about. I think as we look at our world and society today that message is primary for us as a global community. Her canonization for the Church and society in America and across the globe seems to be a message we continue to need at this time of our histories.2
To Bobbye Burke, the archivist at Old St. Joseph’s Church in Philadelphia, Katharine Drexel is a saint for two reasons: her love of the Eucharist and her ability to be a powerful woman in a church led by men. “She was a daughter of the Church,” Burke said.3 It was the churchmen who made her a saint, according to Burke. Her far-flung missions for Native Americans and African Americans were in more than twenty-two dioceses across the nation. Each of those dioceses is headed by a bishop or, in some cases, a cardinal archbishop. Even though she resided in the Philadelphia Archdiocese, every bishop in whose diocese she had established a mission or a school had a stake in her sainthood. She could be the saint for each of them. She was an important part of the history of at least twenty-six dioceses, and, as a saint, she had something to teach the people.
The Vatican Web site on saints says the following about Katharine Drexel:
Katharine left a four-fold dynamic legacy to her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who continue her apostolate today, and indeed to all peoples:
•her love for the Eucharist, her spirit of prayer, and her Eucharistic perspective on the unity of all peoples;
•her undaunted spirit of courageous initiative in addressing social iniquities among minorities — one hundred years before such concern aroused public interest in the United States;
•her belief in the importance of quality education for all, and her efforts to achieve it;
•her total giving of self, of her inheritance and all material goods in selfless service of the victims of injustice.
These are the official reasons for her canonization. This legacy that she leaves behind, not only for the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament but for all men and women, is what the Catholic Church holds up for all to see, to be inspired by, to be emulated. Katharine Drexel, as a saint, is a role model, a companion in the communion of saints, and an intercessor.
Saints are role models in virtue, and Katharine’s virtues are many, as has been amply demonstrated. Saints are also role models for Christian action in the world. Her work in “addressing social iniquities among minorities” is yet to be completed. Many iniquities still exist, though many, thanks to Katharine and others like her, are eradicated. There is plenty yet to be done by those inspired by Katharine. Saints are role models in spirituality. Katharine’s great love of the Eucharist and her lifelong self-emptying gift of self for others set the standard very high for those who look to her for spiritual and practical guidance. Yet as one reads her journals, letters, and meditations, it all seems very easy. She was in constant companionship with Jesus. She wrote to him, about him, and for him in a most familiar manner, as to an intimate friend or, indeed, a lover. It is this intimacy that seems at once so astonishing and so mundane. To be a companion of St. Katharine, according to the Church, is to be a companion of Jesus — and not just sometimes, but all the time. Finally, saints act as intercessors. St. Katharine Drexel is believed to have been the intercessor for the miraculous cures of Robert Guntherman and Amanda Wall. Prayers for her intercession are believed to be efficacious.
One Sister of the Blessed Sacrament with whom I spoke about Katharine Drexel thought that everyone was trying to make sainthood too hard. According to her, sainthood is really very ordinary. After all, every Christian hopes to become a saint, because only saints go to heaven.
Most Christians will tell you that they expect to go to heaven, and yet most fall far short of the standard set by a Katharine Drexel. So, is heaven full of ordinary individuals, or need only the extraordinary apply? Not knowing the answer to that important question, the Christian churches tell stories about people of extraordinary virtue and witness in hopes of inspiring everyone to live up to a higher standard. In the words of Kenneth Woodward, in the process of saint-making, “A life is transformed into a text,” a story.4 But texts and stories are limited. The more one learns about another person, even a saint, the more it becomes clear that there is much that can never be known. Each person is ultimately a mystery. Why was Katharine Drexel more open to God’s call than one of her sisters, cousins, or friends? I know very few who experience the easy intimacy that Katharine experienced with Christ, but I know many who desire such intimacy. She was very direct with Christ, and she believed that he was very direct with her. How did that happen? After spending six years studying Katharine Drexel, there is still much about her that I do not understand. There are thousands of letters, prayers, and meditations by her that describe what she did throughout her life, and why she did it, but even after considering all that, questions remain. This is a mystery to be pondered and respected.
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