Wednesday, July 14, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
Left: Earliest portrait of Kateri, by a French Jesuit to whom she appeared in a vision shortly after her death.
BLESSED KATERI TEKAKWITHA (b upstate New York 1656, d near Montreal, 1680), Virgin, 'Lily of the Mohawk', first Native American saint
Kateri was born nine years after the Jesuit saints Isaac Jogues and John de Brebeuf were killed by the Iroquois near their place of martyrdom. Her mother was a Christian Algonquin who was captured and given as wife to the chief of the Mohawks, the strongest of the Iroquois. At age 4, Kateri's parents and brother died in a smallpox epidemic which also left her near-blind and disfigured with scars. Adopted by her uncle who succeeded her father as chief, Kateri had contact with Jesuit fathers who, under a French peace treaty with the native Americans, were allowed to be present in villages with Christian natives. At 19 she was baptized. But it meant she was thereafter treated by her tribe like a slave. As she grew in holiness, so did their persecution. On the advice of a priest, she escaped one night and walked 200 miles to a Christian village near Montreal. There, she lived the few remaining years of her life dedicated to prayer, penance, and care for the sick and aged. She also took a vow of virginity. She died in 1680 at age 24. Her first biographer, a Jesuit priest, wrote in 1696 that Kateri's scars vanished at the time of her death revealing a woman of immense beauty; that many sick persons who attended her funeral were healed on that day; and that she appeared to two different individuals in the weeks following her death. A move towards her canonization began in 1884. She was declared Venerable in 1943 and beatified in 1980.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/readings/071410.shtml
OR today.
No papal stories other than the Vatican communique yesterday on the theme chosen for the Holy Father's message for the next World Day of peace on January 1, 2011. 'Religious freedom, a way to peace'. Page 1 international news: Russian President Medvedev says Iran is close to being able to produce nuclear arms and defends validity of recent UN sanctions; Japan dumps 13 billion euros worth of holdings in the credit-afflicted PIGS countries (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain); an update on the life of Haitian homeless six months after the earthquake; the Vatican is sending Raphael tapestries and his original designs for them to London's Victoria and Albert Museum for an exhibit timed for the Pope's visit. In the inside pages, a wide-ranging interview with Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian bishops' conference, and an obituary for Giuseppe De Carli, RAI's Vatican bureau chief who died yesterday.
Pope creates Syro-Malankar
Exarchate for North America
Translated from
July 14, 2010
The Holy Father has created an Apostolic Exarchate for the Syro-Malankarese faithful in the USA. He named Rev. Thomas Naickamparampil as the first Exarch and concurrently Apostolic Delegate (Visitator) for the Syro-Malankar Catholics in Canada and Europe.
Born in India in 1961, he obtained his doctorate in philosophy in
Rome and was ordained a priest in 1986. He has been secretary general of the Major Archepiscopate of the Syro-Malankar Church.
In North America, Syro-Malankar Catholics are concentrated in Illinois, Texas, Michigan, Florida, New York, District of Columbia (DC), Ontario (Canada). The Board of Missions has 5000 members and 800 families listed, but it is believed there are another 4000 members and 200 families not registered.
They have 16 churches and 15 priests. They have 35 nuns - the Sisters of the Imitation of Christ in New York and Illinois; and the Daughters of Mary in New York, Pennsylvania, California and Michigan. They plan to open new convents in Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington.
The seat of the new Exarchate will be the Mar Baselios Pastoral Center in New York, and the Exarch will reside at the Mar Ivanios Malankara Catholic Centre, also in New Hyde Park, New York. The Exarchate's Pro-Cathedral will be St. John Chrysostom Malankar Catholic Church.
Additional background info from Vatican Radio:
An apostolic exarchate is the Eastern Catholic Church equivalent of an apostolic vicariate. It is not a full-fledged eparchy (diocese), but is established by the Holy See for the pastoral care of Eastern Catholics in an area outside the territory of the Eastern Catholic Church to which they belong. It is headed by a bishop or a priest with the title of Exarch.
An apostolic visitator is a papal representative who has been asked to familiarize himself with the situation of a given community and to report on its status to the Holy See.
The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is centered in southern India where it has eight eparchies (dioceses) and about 500,000 faithful. It is headed by His Beatitude Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, who resides in the city of Trivandrum. It has been estimated that there are approximately 10,000 Syro-Malankara Catholics in the United States and Canada.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/07/2010 19:28]