|
||
| THIS WEEK | |||
MODERN DAY SAINT
INTRODUCTION:
ON OCTOBER FIRST, POPE JOHN PAUL THE SECOND WILL CANONIZE ONE-TIME
PHILADELPHIA HEIRESS KATHARINE DREXEL. SAINT KATHARINE DREXEL, AS SHE WILL
BE KNOWN, BECOMES ONLY THE SECOND U.S.-BORN SAINT IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
THE FIRST BEING ELIZABETH ANN SETON, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF CHARITY.
IT TAKES NOT ONLY A LIFE OF VIRTUE, BUT ALSO TWO MIRACLES ATTRIBUTED TO
THE PERSON. BETTY VAN ETTEN INTRODUCES US TO THIS MODERN DAY SAINT.
NATURAL SOUND: (praying)
NARRATOR:
TIM KELLY AND HIS SON ARE PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE.
TIM KELLY
“He’s blind, he has mild cerebral palsy and recently, as a result of
an MRI, apparently there’s a problem with his skull. A little hole in his
skull that we’re hoping that we can come here and pray for a miracle. Right
pal?”
TIMMY: “Right.”
NARRATOR
MANY COME TO THE SHRINE OF BLESSED KATHARINE DREXEL IN BENSALEM, PENNSYLVANIA,
BECAUSE OF THEIR FAITH AND BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED TO ONE YOUNG BOY AND
ONE GIRL.
ROBERT GUTHERMAN WAS 14 YEARS OLD WHEN DOCTORS OPERATED ON HIS RIGHT EAR DUE TO A SEVERE AND EXTREMELY PAINFUL INFECTION.
ROBERT GUTHERMAN:
“The doctor told my mother that two of the bones in my right ear were
completely destroyed by this infection and I would no longer be able to
hear out of my right ear.”
NARRATION:
BUT THEN CAME WHAT HE AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BELIEVE WAS A MIRACLE.
ROBERT GUTHERMAN:
“The doctor was sitting in his office and he examined me and he said:
‘I don’t believe what I’m seeing!’ My mother said: ‘Well, what are you
seeing?’ He said, ‘His body is reconstructing anatomy.’ My mother said:
‘Well, we’ve been praying to Katharine Drexel and we believe this is a
miracle through her intercession.’ And he said: ‘I have no other explanation.’”
NARRATION:
AT THE SHRINE OF BLESSED KATHARINE DREXEL, ROBERT GUTHERMAN PRAYS TO
THE WOMAN HE AND THE CHURCH BELIEVE RESTORED THE HEARING IN HIS EAR. AMY
WALL WAS BORN WITH NERVE DEAFNESS. HER FAMILY PRAYED TO KATHARINE DREXEL
AS WELL. AND WHEN AMY WAS NEARLY TWO, HER HEARING WAS RESTORED.
AMY’S MOM:
“It was so remarkable that, I guess, I had to be told because I never
expected something like this.”
NARRATION:
IT WAS, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BELIEVES, THE SECOND MIRACLE BROUGHT ABOUT
THROUGH PRAYERS TO KATHARINE DREXEL. BUT PROVING BOTH CURES WERE MIRACULOUS
AND NOT MEDICALLY BASED WAS A LONG AND INVOLVED PROCESS. MONSIGNOR ALEXANDER
PALMIERI.
MONSIGNOR ALEXANDER PALMIERI:
“The Church doesn’t do it on its own, it does it with the help from
medical experts in the particular field of medicine.”
NARRATION:
IN AMY WALL’S CASE, THE DOCUMENTATION FILLS A BOOK.
MONSIGNOR ALEXANDER PALMIERI:
“It’s probably about 600 pages altogether.”
NARRATOR
BUT THE CANONIZATION OF KATHARINE DREXEL IS NOT ONLY ABOUT THE MIRACLES,
BUT ALSO WHAT SHE ACCOMPLISHED IN LIFE.
MONSIGNOR ALEXANDER PALMIERI:
“People around the world can look at the example of Katharine Drexel
and follow her life as a life of virtue worthy of following, and a life
that always points to Christ himself.”
NARRATION:
KATHARINE DREXEL WAS BORN IN 1858 TO ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST PROMINENT
AND WEALTHY FAMILIES. SISTER RUTH CATHARINE SPAIN SAYS KATHARINE DREXEL’S
CHARITABLE WORK BEGAN EARLY IN LIFE.
SISTER RUTH CATHARINE SPAIN:
“She traveled west as a young woman with her father and saw the terrible
conditions amongst Native Americans in the West and immediately, as a lay
person, she began to help finance, because she couldn’t do it herself.
She figured she could help finance things and she founded 15 schools amongst
Native Americans before she even became a religious.”
NARRATION:
SHE WOULD GO ON TO FOUND A RELIGIOUS ORDER OF NUNS, THE SISTERS OF
THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. AS MOTHER SUPERIOR OF THE ORDER, SHE USED HER INHERITANCE
OF 20 MILLION DOLLARS TO SPREAD THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS CHRIST AND TO ESTABLISH
SCHOOLS FOR NATIVE AND AFRICAN AMERICANS. SISTER RUTH CATHERINE.
SISTER RUTH CATHARINE SPAIN:
“The whole atmosphere at the time was to eradicate the Native Americans,
get rid of them. The other one was -- hold African Americans down, keep
them in the place where they were at, at that particular moment. Of course,
Katharine’s idea was: these were children of God, they should have the
same opportunities as everyone else.”
NARRATION:
SHE SAW EDUCATION AS A TOOL FOR FIGHTING OPPRESSION. ONE OF THE SCHOOLS
SHE FOUNDED WOULD BECOME XAVIER UNIVERSITY IN THE SOUTHERN U.S. TODAY THIS
INSTITUTION GRADUATES MORE AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS THAT GO ONTO MEDICAL
COLLEGE THAN ANY OTHER COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY IN THE U.S.
SISTER MARY INEZ WITNESSED MOTHER KATHARINE’S DEVOTION FIRSTHAND.
SISTER MARY INEZ:
“Just to see her come in and see her walk… Just her very walk and her
very demeanor and the very way she held herself -- she was very different
from everybody else. And then she would come to her kneeler – the ‘stall,’
as we call it –and she would kneel down there and she would begin to pray.
And she would look so earnestly and sincerely, that you just knew the Lord
had to answer those prayers.”
NARRATION:
KATHARINE DREXEL DIED IN 1955. SISTER MARY INEZ NOW LEADS OTHERS IN
PRAYERS AT HER TOMB LOCATED AT THE SHRINE.
NATURAL SOUND (Praying)
NARRATION:
BUT IN THE END, ALL MIRACLES ARE A SIGN OF FAITH, TO THOSE WHO FEEL
THEY WERE BLESSED BY ONE, TO THOSE WHO COME TO THE TOMB OF BLESSED KATHARINE
DREXEL AND PRAY FOR ONE.
TIMMY:
"Ever-loving God…”
TIM KELLY
“In particular we ask…”
TIMMY:
“In particular we ask…”
TIM KELLY
"That You would heal Timmy’s skull…”
TIMMY:
“That You would heal Timmy’s -- that’s me -- skull…”
TIM KELLY
"And his eyes.”
TIMMY:
"And his eyes...”
TIM KELLY
“Anything else you want to say to Katharine Drexel?”
TIMMY
“I hope that in your life you came along great.”
NARRATION:
BETTY VAN ETTEN, VOA-TV
For additional information on Saints in general, and for a list of American Saints, go to:
