THE GOOD NEWS
ARCHBISHOP BELTRAN

May 27, 2007

The Good News

...Saint Katharine Drexel

One of my favorite saints is Saint Katharine Drexel. Although I never personally met her, I was told about her in 1952 in my first year of seminary studies. My bishop sent me to Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary which was located in west Philadelphia. Katharine Drexel was then living in retirement at her convent just north of the city.  All of our professors knew Katharine Drexel and spoke highly of her on many occasions.

Katherine (she changed the spelling of her name when she entered the convent) was born into the wealthy Drexel family in Philadelphia on Nov. 26, 1858.  She died in 1955 at the age of 96.  Well educated and accepted into the socialist society of her day, she literally gave it all up. This included the vast financial heritage she inherited. She gave up fame, fortune and ease for the love of Jesus. She gave it all away and dedicated herself to the Gospel. She reached out personally and through the religious community she established to correct the rampant injustices perpetrated against American Indian and African American people.

Katharine   Drexel’s   dedication originally centered on her sincere concern for the Indian people of our country. She recognized that government inertia or bad faith was depriving them of the opportunity to hear the Gospel and practice the Christian faith freely.  Shortly after establishing her religious community to confront this evil social condition, she also recognized the plight of the African Americans in our country.

She saw the Gospel and education as essential elements to correct the grave injustices of the society of her day.  Thus she undertook to establish schools and a university to educate those who were being discriminated against because of their ethnic and cultural heritage.

The story of the mission of Katharine Drexel is an important part of the history of the Church here in Oklahoma. The many schools and institutions she opened here were the prelude to the growth and success of the Church in Oklahoma over the past 100 years. Her great undertaking while benefiting the Church throughout the United States did not stop there. Her vision and efforts are an important part of our national history.  Our civil society still reaps the benefits of the dedication and mission of Katharine Drexel.  It was she who, through faith and education, prepared our country to make the changes in law and the life of the civil rights movement. Many of the great leaders in the African American and American Indian movements of  the '60s were students and graduates of  Katharine  Drexel’s  schools  and university.

While Katharine Drexel made such a distinctive contribution to American history, she went about it quietly. She avoided fanfare and fame. She saw a cause where justice was needed and she supported it. She recognized that this cause is the cause of Jesus Christ expressed in the Beatitudes. She thus served God first and her brothers and sisters in need. Her mission and her contribution were total and complete.  She lived and practiced the Great Commandment of love.  She gave away all that she had and kept nothing for herself.

On Oct. 1, 2000, I was blessed to participate and concelebrate the Mass in which Pope John Paul II canonized Saint Katharine Drexel. She had inspired me since my seminary days and continues now to give me courage and joy in serving God and the people of this Archdiocese.

On Sunday, May 27, I will bless and dedicate the Saint Katharine Drexel Retirement Center in El Reno. This wonderful ministry has been in preparation for the past 10 years.  It is a ministry of faith sponsored by the  people of Sacred Heart Church in El Reno and approved and encouraged by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.  The name selected to honor Saint Katharine Drexel and to invoke her saintly help was the choice of the committee from El Reno. I gladly and enthusiastically accepted their recommendation and declared Saint Katharine Drexel Retirement Center as our newest ministry of service of the Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.