Posted on 10/14/2006 5:24:57 AM PDT by kellynla
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- An Indiana nun once banished from her congregation by a bishop will be proclaimed a saint tomorrow, providing a model of virtuous life to America's Roman Catholics.
Pope Benedict XVI will canonize Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin as the first U.S. saint in six years, a span marked in this country by the scandal over the sexual abuse of minors by clergy.
The pontiff also will canonize a Mexican bishop and two Italians who founded religious orders.
The celebration of a new saint offers a respite from the lawsuits and settlements that have dominated much of the discussion of the U.S. church in recent years, and Mother Guerin's life story can inspire those struggling in their own faith, said members of the religious order she founded, the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods.
"The bishop here in Vincennes was impossible to work with, yet she always kept her faith. She held on to it," said Sister Marcia Speth, one of the order's leaders. "In that way, she witnesses to us how to be today in an imperfect, flawed, sinful church."
Mother Guerin led a group of six French nuns who arrived in Indiana on Oct. 22, 1840, to establish a community in the woods outside Terre Haute. She and Vincennes Bishop Celestin de la Hailandiere struggled over control of the fledgling order, and he dismissed Mother Guerin from her vows, threatened her with excommunication and banished her for a time from St. Mary-of-the-Woods. She did not return until after his resignation in 1847.
In that way, she is like many saints who found themselves bucking church authorities while alive, only to be acclaimed as saints after their deaths, said the Rev. Richard McBrien, a theologian at the University of Notre Dame
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
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Thank you for the post. I attended a summer school session for elementary & high school teachers at St. Mary of the Woods 35 years ago. A lovely campus and the sisters I met during the course were good people. I consider this an worthy act for a worthy person. The article did not mention Saint Elizabeth Ann "Mother" Seton who founded an Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph's,and St. Mary's College at Emmittsburg Maryland. But Mother Drexel was good, I went to St. Joseph's College of Indiana, which grew from an Indian School funded by Mother (Saint) Drexel.
I suppose a good role model couldn't hurt. :)
thank you for the link
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"...the first U.S. saint in six years, a span marked in this country by the scandal over the sexual abuse of minors by clergy. ...The celebration of a new saint offers a respite from the lawsuits and settlements that have dominated much of the discussion of the U.S. church in recent years,... she witnesses to us how to be today in an imperfect, flawed, sinful church."
That's like a newspaper announcing the birth of a baby in the sixth year of the parents' happy marriage, "a span marked by the disintegration of the grandparents' marriages,"... the celebration of this birth offers a respite from tensions over the baby's Uncle Max's arrest for DUI and her cousin Joyce's flunking of 5th grade...and we would like to remind you that she now faces being raised by her imperfect, flawed, and sinful Mom and Dad."
This is a celebration for an extraordinarily good woman's "birthday" in Heaven, fer cryin' out loud! Give us about a million breaks from the obligatory editorial gloom. And remind me not to invite Ken Kusmer to any family parties!
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LOL! You're right!
Thanks for the ping, and the personal testimony. It is good to have a report by someone who has seen the positive results of the life and work of anyone who is declared a saint. "By their fruits you shall know them."
My local news has now discovered a rabbi (gasp!) who molested children, so maybe the MSM has moved on to persecuting and trumpeting the failures of other religious bodies (instead of just the Catholic clergy).
BTTT!
ping
It's a neat story about the healing of someone!
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