March begins the sixth installment of our Year of Faith. This is where once a month I highlight a saint that has been listed on the USCCB Saints for the Year of Faith. The month of January is dedicated to St. Katharine Drexel.
Katharine Drexel was born into a family where the idea that wealth was simply loaned to them and was meant to be shared with everyone.
Upon a family trip to the west, as a young girl, Katharine saw first-hand the plight of the American Indian. Those early images are what convinced her to always strive to alleviate their condition. In the end, thanks to her personal and financial support there were several missions and schools named in her honor.
Later in her life, while visiting Pope Leo XIII, she required more missionaries to staff the Native American missions that she was supporting. To her surprise Pope Leo ask that she also become a missionary. That is exactly what she did. After speaking with Bishop James O’Connor, she dedicated herself to God. She used her inheritance to service the Indians and African Americans.
From then on, she supported a much improvised lifestyle, only requiring the bare necessities. On February 12, 1891 she professed her first vows as a religious, founding the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. their dedication was to share the message of the gospel among the African American and Indian population.
Katharine felt compassion for the African Americans also. She wanted to change racial attitudes and change the substandard way of life. She wanted to educate them so they would not have to continue to do underpaid menial tasks. She wanted them to enjoy the same constitutional rights as ever one else.
While she was alive, she opened over 6o missions and schools. Her crowning achievement was the Xavier University of Louisiana. She founded the predominantly African American catholic institution in the United States.
Katherine Drexel died on March 3, 1955. She was beautified by Pope John Paul II on November 20, 1980.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium Vidalia onion
3 tablespoons barbecue sauce
2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound ground bison meat (buffalo)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 large eggs
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan.
Add the onions and cook stirring occasionally until they are soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add the barbecue sauce and allow to cool slightly.
In a large bowl combine the salt, pepper, bison, bread crumbs and eggs. Mix to combine. Place into a grease 9 inch loaf pan.
In a small bowl combine the ketchup and brown sugar. Spread over the top of the meatloaf evenly. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The internal temperature should read 160.
Note: a pan of water placed under the meatloaf makes it moist and delicious
Copyright 2013 Veronica Gantley