MONROE — St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the Lily of the Mohawks, endured physical and emotional suffering during her young life. She survived a smallpox epidemic that killed her immediate family, but suffered terrible facial scars. Raised by her uncle, the chief of her tribe, she was ridiculed and ostracized for her conversion to Catholicism at 19. Named the first Native American saint, she has become known as a powerful intercessor for young women.
Her feast day of July 14 was selected for a special retreat for young women of the diocese. Held at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, the one-day retreat was a chance for more than 80 young women to talk about their challenges in life, share their experiences, reaffirm their dignity as children of God, and deepen their faith. The parish ordered a special statue of the saint, and it arrived just in time for the event.
Father Benjamin Roberts, pastor, said he felt it was important to celebrate St. Kateri’s feast day with this retreat because he is aware of the many problems that young women suffer from in today’s culture. Those issues range from eating disorders, hypersexualization and pressure to have premarital sex, physical or emotional abuse, cutting and self-injury, and even attempted suicide.
More than 80 middle and high school aged girls from seven parishes came to the retreat, which featured talks by religious, clergy and laity, as well as Mass and time for reflection and fellowship.
“God has determined your identity as a beloved daughter,” Father Roberts told them. “No one else gets that choice – not your parents, not your friends, not the nice people at school, not the mean people at school.
“Advertisers don’t get to determine your identity. The world doesn’t get to determine your identity. Almighty God from all eternity has determined your identity and made it present and real for you at a particular moment at your baptism. So what God had planned from all eternity, He gave to you at a particular time and called you by name.”
Catholic convert Katie Holder also spoke to the young women about their physical and spiritual well-being.
In her work as a dietician, Holder treats people with eating disorders and she herself struggled with anorexia in her teens and early 20s. She is now a mother of three, with her fourth child due soon.
A parishioner of Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro, Holder and her family stay close to the sacraments, which she encouraged the young women to do – especially amid the pressure which society places on them to look perfect. She also encouraged them to stop comparing themselves to others.
“God designed you specifically how you are supposed to be,” she told them. “God doesn’t care what our outside looks like but what our inside, what our hearts look like.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter