First Nation Catholics celebrate canonization of Saint Kateri

Thunder Bay’s First Nations community hosted a three day prayer weekend from Sept. 14 to 16, to prepare for and celebrate Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha’s upcoming canonization.
The First Nations Catholic community in northern Ontario is also preparing for 50 of its members, from various communities in the diocese, to travel to Rome from Oct. 18-26 to witness the canonization of the “Mohawk Mystic.”
“My mother and father prayed for the canonization of Blessed Kateri for a long, long time, and it’s finally coming true,” said Lina Desmoulin of Pic River, who will be travelling to Rome to witness the canonization. “We’re going to have a saint of our own. I don’t think she’ll only be our saint. She’ll be a saint for the whole world.”
The prayer weekend, held at Kitchitwa Kateri Parish in Thunder Bay and at locations on Fort William First Nation, brought together about 50 First Nations members of the church gathered from Thunder Bay’s two Native parishes and from outlying communities such as Gull Bay, Longlac, Pic River and Heron Bay.
The prayer weekend featured a traditional Native pipe ceremony at Kitchitwa Kateri Parish – the first time such an event was held in the church sanctuary – as well as a pipe ceremony on Mount McKay and a healing service in the Fort William First Nation Arena.
Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 at Ossernenon, an Iroquois village in what is now New York State. She became a devout Catholic at a time when most of her people saw Christianity as a strange religion. Because of this, she was often treated badly. She was known for her great prayer life, her extraordinary sanctity and the extreme mortifications she willingly endured. She died at the age of 24. Her last words were “Jesus I love you.”
“I knew she was a saint 30 years ago. I’ll be going to Montreal to visit her gravesite. That’s my pilgrimage,” said John Gagnon, originally of Aroland First Nation and now living in Thunder Bay.
“We come from a strong race and a strong people. We’ll be so much stronger with Saint Kateri,” said Irene Moses of Pic River/Heron Bay.
To close the prayer weekend, a mass was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Thunder Bay. The mass featured a procession led by First Nations members in full Aboriginal regalia, as well as an Aboriginal drum group.
The Jesuits of the Thunder Bay diocese will host a traditional Native prayer day at their retreat centre on the shores of Lake Superior near Thunder Bay on the day of the canonization, Oct. 21.
They will officially set aside one of their cabins as place for ongoing traditional Native prayer and spirituality. It will be called Anenki-Wadj Aneogamik (Thunder Mountain Prayer Place).