For the last 2 Sundays in Winnipeg, I've chosen to hear mass at the Kateri Tekakwitha Aboriginal Catholic Parish along Ellice Street, at the West End of Winnipeg.
As what has been written "The Parish exists in response to the expressed need of the Catholic Aboriginal people of Winnipeg for a church of their own - a church not only in the sense of a place to attend mass and celebrate the sacraments, but a church as the central place in the development of an Aboriginal Christian community. This ministry of social justice provides liaison and assistance to individuals and families attempting to obtain services from the various social agencies in the city, and support and help to individuals and families in crisis. Church Mass: Sunday at 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m."
Everyone seemed to knew each other. Elders would go around the room shaking hands with people and welcoming new comers too. At the end of the room was a platform for the choir. To the left of the altar was a small teepee on a table, on the side a small candle that lit up its corners. The pillars had hanging artworks with inspirations from the locals. Lovely paintings.
I found myself shaking the hands of some of the locals, on my first Sunday there. It was part of me that wanted to see the community of the natives. Not the typical Cathedral style, but I thought, this was far more better experience for me. I wanted to see how the celebrated mass and how the church looked like, and even more how they were to each other on a Sunday morning.
Excerpt from google:
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, baptised as Catherine Tekakwitha[2][3] and informally known as Lily of the Mohawks (1656 – April 17, 1680), is a Roman Catholic saint, who was an Algonquin–Mohawk virgin and religious laywoman. Born in present-day New York, she survived smallpox and was orphaned as a child, then baptized as a Roman Catholic and settled for the last years of her life at the Jesuit mission village of Kahnawake, south of Montreal in New France, now Canada.
Tekakwitha professed a vow of virginity until her death at the age of 24. Known for her virtue of chastity and corporal mortification of the flesh, as well as being shunned by her tribe for her religious conversion to Catholicism, she is the fourth Native American to be venerated in the Roman Catholic Church (after Juan Diego, the Mexican Indian of the Virgin of Guadalupe apparitions, and two other Oaxacan Indians).[4] She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica on October 21, 2012.[4][5] Various miracles and supernatural events are attributed to her intercession.
Tekakwitha professed a vow of virginity until her death at the age of 24. Known for her virtue of chastity and corporal mortification of the flesh, as well as being shunned by her tribe for her religious conversion to Catholicism, she is the fourth Native American to be venerated in the Roman Catholic Church (after Juan Diego, the Mexican Indian of the Virgin of Guadalupe apparitions, and two other Oaxacan Indians).[4] She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica on October 21, 2012.[4][5] Various miracles and supernatural events are attributed to her intercession.
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