The church was “charged with energy” as Archbishop J. Michael Miller celebrated Mass with the Stolo people on St. Kateri Tekakwitha's feast day.
Deacon Jamie Meskas said the buzz was generated by a powerful cultural and faith experience, as well as a “huge step towards reconciliation” between local First Nations people and the Catholic Church.
On July 14, about 50 people turned up at 9 a.m. for an annual street procession in Agassiz. They prayed the Rosary and played traditional drum songs as a fire truck guided them from the site of the old Catholic church (now a grassy field) to Immaculate Conception Church. At each decade of the Rosary, the crowd prayed a specific prayer intention for the local community, such as freedom from addiction.
Along the way, Deacon Meskas observed local residents waving from the doors of homes, while cyclists rolled by to see what was going on. Once the crowd entered the church, the group (which gained additional members along the way) participated in Mass celebrated by Archbishop Miller.
Parts of the Mass - like the entrance hymn and the bells during the elevation of the Eucharist - were replaced with drums, and the Our Father was prayed in the traditional language, Halq'eméylem.
“We hold the saint up, St. Kateri, and what she means to us,” the deacon said. “She became a saint and did not leave her culture or her language behind. She became a saint in who she was, a First Nations woman, with her faith in Christ. It was the combination of the two. We honour those two together.”
In his homily, Archbishop Miller called St. Kateri a shining example of God’s healing power.
St. Kateri’s family had died of smallpox when she was young, and though she survived the disease, she bore its scars for the rest of her life. “Minutes after her death, something absolutely astonishing occurred. The scars which marred her face disappeared, and her face became very beautiful,” said Archbishop Miller.
“While we might not bear physical scars, so many people today carry deep emotional, psychological, and even spiritual scars from the wounds they have suffered. These scars are not inflicted by smallpox, but by poverty, addiction, loneliness, and betrayal. They are caused by the cultural and sexual abuse suffered by Kateri’s modern-day Indigenous sisters and brothers in their time at Canada’s residential schools, many of which were run by the Catholic Church. So much pain, so many wounds, so much trauma, so many scars.”
Yet, he continued, “What we cannot bring about by ourselves and our own efforts, we can do with the grace of God. Guiding us along this path to truth, reconciliation, and transformation, from scars to healing, is surely one of St. Kateri’s greatest gifts to us, perhaps even the greatest miracle that the Lord has given to the Church through her intercession.”
Deacon Meskas, who has lived among First Nations people in Agassiz for three years, said the community was deeply moved by the archbishop’s message. One First Nations woman, who had been raised Catholic but not attended Mass in 15 or 20 years, “said she’s going to start coming to church again, she was so touched with what she saw.”
The day’s events closed with a barbecue, where the crowd grew even larger. Deacon Meskas said the clergy present gave up their seats at the head table so local elders could have a chance to sit down and dialogue with Archbishop Miller.
In thanks, the locals gave the archbishop a locally carved paddle – a sacred cultural symbol.
“It was a very powerful day,” said Deacon Meskas.
He plans to host a large celebration on St. Kateri’s feast day again next year, but with some significant changes. St. Kateri’s feast day is internationally celebrated July 14, but she is honoured in Canada on the anniversary of her death, April 17. Starting next year, plans are in motion to hold the Agassiz event on the Canadian feast day and at the site of the old St. Mary’s residential school in Mission.
That symbolic gesture, he hopes, will attract more attention and make the event a place of welcome and healing for First Nations people.
“We bring people together and we hope it builds bridges,” he said.
Several Catholic First Nations communities exist in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, including St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Agassiz, St. Paul’s Parish in North Vancouver, and Sacred Heart Parish in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
