When the news of Kateri
Tekakwitha’s approval for canonization reached the West Coast, there was much
cause for celebration. For decades, even centuries, Catholics of Native
American heritage longed for a time when one of their own would join the ranks
of those whose holiness is publicly, universally acknowledged. At the Religious
Education Congress for the Archdiocese of Los
Angeles in February of this year, the excitement was
palpable.Native American Catholics, living among the many cultures of California, have
promoted Kateri and, more important, an expression of Catholicism with roots in
Native American culture for many years. At the annual Congress, attended by
about 40,000 religious educators primarily from the West Coast, the City of Angels Kateri Circle
would staff an informational booth, and each year there was a eucharistic
liturgy that incorporated elements of Native American culture.
Now their moment
was arriving. “I mean it’s been many years,” says Dan Lopez. He’s one of the
leaders of Los Angeles’
Kateri Circle.
The 60- year-old talks of how his family, from Texas, suppressed their identity as Native
Americans to blend in with the people around them. “I joined the circle almost
20 years ago,” he recalls. “When I found the circle, it allowed me to embrace
my Tiqua tribal identity even more, our culture, as well as being Catholic.”
He
is awestruck at news of the canonization: “Think about it: the first American
Indian to be canonized. Yes, it’s very big for us. It’s something we’ve prayed
for, wished for, and it’s coming true. It’s hard to put in words what you feel,
but she’s led us this way.”
Dan is quick to add that Kateri will now take her
place as a saint for everybody. Initially he had balked at her being canonized
in Rome. “Why
not at her burial grounds?” he asked a priest friend. When he heard the
explanation that a celebration at the heart of Catholicism would symbolize the
universality of her message, he rejoiced. “She’s not only for us; she’s for
everybody,” Dan explains. “Her innocence and how she took Christ and didn’t understand
but learned and loved—that’s what brought us here now.”
He credits St. Kateri
with bringing him back to the Church 25 years ago. “Through her, and when we
found her, she drew us closer to the Church. She drew us closest to the
humanity of all amongst us,” he recounts. “All of us are the same.”
It is the
purity of Kateri that means the most to Dan. “Her innocence says it all,” he observes,
and her holiness is for everyone: “She cared for all. It doesn’t matter what
color skin we are, what race we are, what nationality we are. As a Native, we
say we have a red path that God develops for us. Everybody has a path. We are a
tree with many branches. And we’re all leading to one spot. That spot is heaven,
is Father, Christ, all. Praying through her, we pray to Christ. Through her we
enter into Christ.”
