At a fairly young age, St. Katharine became aware of the difficult living conditions in some minority communities. For the rest of her life, she dedicated herself to that cause. Even when she realized that it meant giving up her desire to live a quiet contemplative life of prayer, she strengthened her resolve and took the hands-on approach.
Of course, the civil rights movement didn’t begin until the late 1960s, a full decade after her death , and about seven decades after she founded her first mission boarding school for Native Americans in New Mexico and began opening schools for African American children in the south. She was certainly a woman ahead of her time.
Fortunately, she had the means to accomplish a lot of good work. While it would have been easy for her to just take advantage of her financial status and live a life of comfort, Katharine gave up her fortune. She took the vows of religious life, including poverty, and directed her full inheritance to support the mission efforts for minority people. While she was at it, she built an entire community dedicated to that same cause, to ensure that it would continue.
It is fairly remarkable, isn’t it? Yes, her parents set an example of generosity and service as she was growing up, and I’m sure that played a part in her devotion. But I am struck by the insight that she had into the inequities that existed for Native and African American people. What can we learn from her example?
I think the most important thing to notice about St. Katharine is that she didn’t just run around talking about injustice. She didn’t rely on other people to do all the work. She jumped right in with her own time and treasure. What do I do with my time and treasure? Of course, my treasure doesn’t begin to measure up to the Drexel fortune, but we all have something to share. Am I doing all I can for people who might need me?
I worry that society has lost some of our sense of community. We hear a lot of people talking about what they believe is wrong in the world, but we don’t have enough basic love of our neighbors. When I was a kid, I could tell you the names of the families in almost every house on our block, and even more in the surrounding neighborhood. Today, I don’t know anyone in my neighborhood, really. I know a few names, and we wave and smile at each other, but if anyone is suffering and in need of support, I would have no idea.
We do have other communities. Most of us have communities of people at work or school who we support from time to time. Some people are involved in valuable ministries at our churches. Thank goodness for those connections. I hope they will continue to be nurtured.
But let’s face it, the popular culture in most of the world doesn’t promote a particularly Christian approach to relationships. I’m not saying everyone has to take a vow of poverty, but it feels like we have become easily angered and quickly offended. Some of the progress toward healing divisions seems to be slipping away from us. We make snap judgments about people with very little information and assume the worst far too often.
We need the spirit of St. Katharine to get us back on track. Certainly the Holy Spirit guided her throughout her ministry. Are we open to hear His call? Can we escape the pop culture influence that threatens to draw us into the spirit of division? Let’s change the trend and make it popular to just love your neighbor.
Dear Lord, thank You for the many blessings in our lives. Help us to hear Your call to make the best use of our time and treasure. Guide us to the path You planned for us.