7/10/11 - St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church

News You Can Use Page 9
FRESNO GRIZZLIES
presents
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP DAY
Friday, July 22, 2011 - 7:05pm
Gates open at 6:05pm
The Grizzlies will match each ticket purchased with an additional FREE game in August! You will
receive a voucher good for August 17.
Don’t forget the post-game fireworks!
For ticket information contact Adam Gleich at 320-2525 or agleich@fresnogrizzlies.com
St. Anthony’s School
Even though summer has just begun; it is not too early to think about the next school year. Have you
ever considered a Catholic education for your child? Wouldn’t it be nice for your child to attend a school where
God is the focus?
We would like to invite you to visit our website (www.sasfresno.com) for more information about the
quality education here at St. Anthony’s. If you prefer to speak to us in person. please contact the school office at
435-0700. Our office hours for the summer are Tuesday - Thursday 9:00 - 1:00pm.
St. Agnes Mission Church
What: Tamale Sale
When: July 30
Time: 12:00 - 4:00pm
Please call in your orders in advance to the church office at 439-2100
This fundraiser is to help with financial needs of our beautiful mission church.
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
Tekakwitha was born in 1656 in Ossernenon, a Mohawk village in upper New York, where Isaac Jogues
met his death. Her mother was a devout Catholic of the Algonquin nation but had been taken captive in a war with
the Mohawks. Tekakwitha’s father was a Mohawk chief. When a smallpox epidemic wiped out most of her people,
including both her parents as well as her brother, Tekakwitha survived with very bad eyesight and a scarred body.
Though her mother was Catholic, Tekakwitha had never been baptized. Now, orphaned at age 4, she was
adopted by her father’s family, who hated the Jesuit missionaries. But after a peace treaty allowed the Jesuits to
preach in the Mohawk villages, Tekakwitha met with them in secret and at the age of 20 was baptized and given the
name Kateri, for Catherine.
Kateri cherished time spent in the woods walking and kneeling for hours in prayer. But she was harshly punished for
refusing to work on Sundays and for refusing to marry. Punitive beatings, continual criticism, and mockery were constant. In 1677,
seeing her perseverance and fortitude, one of the Jesuits decided to send her away to Kahnawake in Quebec, where there was a large
community of Christian aboriginal people. There she was able to express and deepen her faith freely. Kateri lived a life dedicated to
care for the sick and aged, prayer, and severe penitential practices.
When Kateri visited Montreal she witnessed Marguerite Bourgeoys and her companions working and living in a convent.
On her return, Kateri, along with a widowed companion, tried to convince the priest to open a convent in the village. Finally, in 1679
she was allowed to begin a small convent at the mission.
However, in the spring of 1680, Kateri’s health deteriorated rapidly. Her pain soon became so great that she was not able to
move. When she died at the age of 24, her last words were “Jesus and Mary.” Those at her side said that as they watched all the scars
on her body disappeared and her disfigured face and skin shined.
Kateri was the first of the aboriginal people of North America to be beatified. She is invoked as patroness of the
environment and ecology. In Canada, she is remembered each year on April 17, and in the United States on July 14.
Copyright © 2001 Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1800 North Hermitage Avenue, Chicago IL 60622-1101; 1-800-933-1800; www.ltp.org. Text by Margaret Bick. Art by Steve Erspamer, sm. All