There's an interesting AP article
at the NYT. It's about Kateri Tekakwitha, the Mohawk woman the Pope
recently declared a saint. Apparently this is viewed skeptically by some
Mohawks. Not all, but some, see this as an attempt to sideline their
traditional beliefs. Plus, it seems KT was a very strange woman:
A Catholic convert at 20, she settled in Kahnawake, a Mohawk settlement south of Montreal where Jesuits had a mission and where she and other women performed mortification rituals such as self-flogging as part of their faith.
Sorry, but that's never a healthy sign. George-Kanentiio is quoted in the article as saying:
"It should never obscure the best elements of our aboriginal spirituality, nor should Kateri's personal behaviors, given their extremities, be endorsed as a model for women anywhere," he said, referring to her self-mutilation with whips, thorns and hot coals.
"Women in particular need not kneel in supplication to any man or any god but to rise to dance and sing in true joy," he said. "We can never accept any institution which actively suppresses women or qualifies their potential."
Really interesting article; really weird church. Much more at the above link.
