PROCESSION — A procession in honour of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha takes a break at the Kiwanis Waterfall Park in Regina Oct. 9. (Flegel photo)
Procession held in honour of Kateri Tekakwitha
By Frank Flegel
REGINA — Sacred Heart Community School has about 470 K-8 students, 80 per cent Aboriginal. The school was chosen by Campion College chaplain Stephanie Molloy to participate in a procession honouring Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the first North American First Nations woman to be canonized. That ceremony is to take place Oct. 21 in Rome.
“Last year we had a pilgrimage to mark the 400th anniversary of the Jesuits’ arrival in Canada. This year we thought it would be good to have another one, and on my way through the park one day, I thought of Kateri’s forthcoming canonization as a possible reason for one,” said Molloy. Campion would look after the pilgrimage/procession and the school would take care of the ceremony when the procession arrived.
It was a chilly day but the 47 Grade 7 and 8 students accompanied by three teachers and four from Campion including president Benjamin Fiore made the approximately 7-km walk in about two hours. They stopped for brief meditations at a totem pole in Wascana Park and Kiwanis Waterfall Park a few blocks from the inner city school.
The gymnasium was full of chattering, restless youngsters who greeted the pilgrims with applause as they came through the door. Prior to their arrival 15-year-old former Sacred Heart student Brennan Hoffman entertained with several pieces on his fiddle. Now in Grade 10 at Miller Catholic High School, he began playing the fiddle just four years ago and performed as a guest artist at the Canadian Country Music Awards held recently in Saskatoon.
The students witnessed a video explaining what is a saint and another on Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha describing her life and death from smallpox. The video explained the two miracles associated with Kateri, necessary for her elevation to sainthood. When she died the smallpox scars on her face disappeared and were witnessed by those who attended when she died. After her death the family of a child in the U. S. prayed to her for the child’s suffering from flesh eating disease. The child shortly after was cured.
The Regina archdiocese and the Saskatoon diocese has organized a pilgrimage to Rome for Kateri’s canonization and two of the Regina participants received a special blessing from Rev. John Weckend who accompanied the group from Campion College.
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