Your daily dose of Catholicism
Oct. 11th, 2009 11:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nonionayLocal boy's recovery could be final link to Blessed Kateri's sainthood
There's a Kateri Court next to my work, which contains low-income housing. I always thought it was an unusual and pretty name, but only now do I connect it with Blessed Kateri, whose statue I've seen plenty of times at the local church.
This story will probably infuriate some of you and fascinate others. Me, I like to walk the fine line between cynicism (co-opting the Indians, yeah!) and fascination. I'm not concerned with the historical Kateri. Maybe she was the only nice thing in a tribe of muddy savages, maybe she was the sort of self-righteous bitch who would turn in her neighbor to be burned as a witch. I don't care. I'm interested in the entity that people have shaped in her image. People create them, these little Mary Sues in the sky. And while as a fiction writer I hate to see it happen, they do need a few of their wrinkles ironed out to serve their purpose as bridges between humans and the unknowable.
I love the concept of saints. I don't think of them so much as intercessors but as filters and specifically directed pipelines for the vast power of God--however you want to frame your concept of god. I just use the word "god" for convenience. I'm not inclined to believe in a consciously motivated, anthropomorphic god. This is why I like Kabbalah. The concept of the Ain/ Ain Soph / Ain Soph Aur appeals to me in its lack of anthropomorphism. To me, that concept is what I equate with the Catholic God. The Ain Soph Aur is the Limitless Light. There is no motivation there, no morality or directed power. That only comes when its squeezed through Kether into the shape of the world.
Some people look at one of the limited shapes that have been extruded from the Ain Soph Aur like playdough through a plastic star and call that god. I think that's what a lot of Protestants accuse Catholics of regarding saints and the Virgin Mary, but I think that's what they're doing when they get all Creationist and moralizing and self-righteous.
I think I've wandered from my point, which I think was justifying my fascination with Blessed Kateri's possible canonization. I don't know, maybe she was a cool person in real life and not just a tool of the all-devouring Church of the Happy Fun Witch Burning and Colonizing Days. Like I said, I ultimately don't care, but it's nice to pretend. (Hey, I'm of the opinion that reality is such a fluid thing, that the only way we can have a stable life is to pretend and basically live a full-immersion role-playing game in full awareness that that's what you're doing. We're microcosms and Maya reigns. Just remember. Everything is Nothing. We all go back to the Ain.)
I'm willing to accept that the thought of her made some kid feel good, and that's good enough for me. The fact remains that no matter how their ancestors were converted, there are Native Americans who are Catholic of their own free will, and it's nice that they might have a saint they can identify with. Even if, you know, they're from totally different tribes on different sides of the continent.
blah blah blah
There's a Kateri Court next to my work, which contains low-income housing. I always thought it was an unusual and pretty name, but only now do I connect it with Blessed Kateri, whose statue I've seen plenty of times at the local church.
This story will probably infuriate some of you and fascinate others. Me, I like to walk the fine line between cynicism (co-opting the Indians, yeah!) and fascination. I'm not concerned with the historical Kateri. Maybe she was the only nice thing in a tribe of muddy savages, maybe she was the sort of self-righteous bitch who would turn in her neighbor to be burned as a witch. I don't care. I'm interested in the entity that people have shaped in her image. People create them, these little Mary Sues in the sky. And while as a fiction writer I hate to see it happen, they do need a few of their wrinkles ironed out to serve their purpose as bridges between humans and the unknowable.
I love the concept of saints. I don't think of them so much as intercessors but as filters and specifically directed pipelines for the vast power of God--however you want to frame your concept of god. I just use the word "god" for convenience. I'm not inclined to believe in a consciously motivated, anthropomorphic god. This is why I like Kabbalah. The concept of the Ain/ Ain Soph / Ain Soph Aur appeals to me in its lack of anthropomorphism. To me, that concept is what I equate with the Catholic God. The Ain Soph Aur is the Limitless Light. There is no motivation there, no morality or directed power. That only comes when its squeezed through Kether into the shape of the world.
Some people look at one of the limited shapes that have been extruded from the Ain Soph Aur like playdough through a plastic star and call that god. I think that's what a lot of Protestants accuse Catholics of regarding saints and the Virgin Mary, but I think that's what they're doing when they get all Creationist and moralizing and self-righteous.
I think I've wandered from my point, which I think was justifying my fascination with Blessed Kateri's possible canonization. I don't know, maybe she was a cool person in real life and not just a tool of the all-devouring Church of the Happy Fun Witch Burning and Colonizing Days. Like I said, I ultimately don't care, but it's nice to pretend. (Hey, I'm of the opinion that reality is such a fluid thing, that the only way we can have a stable life is to pretend and basically live a full-immersion role-playing game in full awareness that that's what you're doing. We're microcosms and Maya reigns. Just remember. Everything is Nothing. We all go back to the Ain.)
I'm willing to accept that the thought of her made some kid feel good, and that's good enough for me. The fact remains that no matter how their ancestors were converted, there are Native Americans who are Catholic of their own free will, and it's nice that they might have a saint they can identify with. Even if, you know, they're from totally different tribes on different sides of the continent.
blah blah blah
