Testimonials from Catherine newsletter #8 — Fall 2004
I begin this section with a different kind of witness, not exactly about Catherine, but about some of her contemporaries who were united with her in her journey to Catholicism. Perhaps many people believe that Catherine’s entering the Catholic Church from Russian Orthodoxy in 1919 was very unusual, and that hers was an exceptional case. Not true.
We came across the web site recently of our friend, Pavel Parfentiev (www.catholicmartyrs.ru), which opens with the statement: “The following is the list of candidates proposed for beatification among Russian Catholic Newmartyrs.” From the few lines of biography given for each it is not clear if they were all martyred or sent to the camps, or even if all were converts from Orthodoxy. Some are specifically spoken of as converts. In any case, they are presently Russian Catholics whose causes are being considered for canonization.
What struck me, especially, was the date of birth of all these people, more or less in Catherine’s time frame (b. 1896). There is not much about the reasons for their entrance into Catholicism, but it would be a fascinating study. Here is the list. I’m sure Catherine must feel especially united with them in the “cloud of witnesses.” Perhaps they could become part of our own devotion?
- Mother Catherine Abrikosova (b. 1882, Moscow). Received into the Catholic Church, Paris, 1913. She died in a camp hospital. Pavel has written her life.
- Fr. Epiphany Akulov (b. circa 1900) He was attracted to Catholicism through the influence of Blessed Leonid Feodorov, the Catholic Exarch of Russia who also died in the camps.
- Fr. Constantine Budkiewicz (b. 1867, Zubry, Dvina Province)
- Fr. Frantiszek Budrys (b.1882).
- Fr. Pavel Chomicz (b.1893).
- Fr. Anthony Czerwinski (b. 1881, Bilgorai, Lublin, Poland).
- Fr. Potapy Emelianov (b. 1884, Ufa Province).
- Sr. Rosa of the Heart of Mary (b. 1896 Vitebsk Province)
- Camilla Nikolaevna Kruczeinicka (b. 1892, Baranovichi).
- Bishop Anthony Malecki (b. 1861, St. Petersburg).
- Bishop Edward Profittlich, S.J. (b. 1890 near Coblenz, Germany)
- Fr Stanislaus Szulminski, SAC (b. 1894 Odessa, Ukraine).
- Fr. Jan Trojo (b. 1881 Grodno Province (present Belarus).
"Dear Sisters and Brothers: glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever. We have been on this site for quite a few months now, and can only say this one thing: “The breath of the Holy Spirit” was truly not just on Catherine, it overflowed in and out of her. We are Russian Orthodox and we will write to you for the canonization cause news letters. We pray all churches one day will be with our Holy Father, the Pope. Catherine’s intercession is very, very powerful, for we feel it in these pages. May the Lord Jesus and his all pure Mother, the Bogoroditza, and all the Saints intercede for you, grace you and may God bless you. We have a personal prayer request.
Catherine, intercede for us. "
— Your Brethren, Russian Orthodox Old Rite Monks, Holy Nativity of the Mother of God Skete-Russian Orthodox Old Believer, Voltaire, North Dakota.
"Catherine most certainly is a saint for me. Her love of God and of creation was always inclusive and passionate. She combined Eastern rite traditions with Western ones in ways that spoke to me personally, as my mother was Catholic and my dad Orthodox. But my dad did not go to church. Indeed, he was a fan of Communism and rejected organized religion. So the community in Combermere showed how faith and religion function at their best. And this struck me as a particular blessing as the Soviet Union was still very much in power. One of the miracles she wrought was right here: she transmitted to North Americans, many of whose immigrants had suffered directly or indirectly as a result of Soviet totalitarianism, she transmitted a sense of God’s love for Russia. Now I ask Catherine to pray to the Lord for a miracle: my great nephew Sam, age 12, who suffers from schizophrenia." — EM, Toronto, June 2004
"We receive, at the chancery, the newsletter you publish regarding the Servant of God, Catherine de Hueck Doherty. I became an admirer of Catherine when I was in the Seminary. Particularly influential were her classic works, Dear Seminarian and Dear Father. How relevant are those teachings today. Because of her love for the priesthood we should especially seek her intercession regarding the clerical scandals, which have harmed so many souls in so many ways." — TT, Lincoln, Nebraska, Jan. 2003
"I met Catherine in the late 1930’s and she brought me to Chicago to work for Bishop Bernard Sheil in 1943. Catherine truly influenced Bishop Sheil in interracial justice. As a result, he hired black people to be department heads, wrote about interracial justice, and was a powerful apostle. I am an old friend of Dorothy Day and went to N.Y. and met with Cardinal O’Connor re Dorothy’s cause." — Nina Polcyn Moore, Evanston, IL.
"On a cold March day many years ago, a cab dropped me off in front of a storefront called Friendship House on 135th St. in Harlem. The lady at the desk wore a blue dress. She had blue eyes, blonde hair and a wonderful voice. She was direct. She was charismatic. She was like no other person in the world. She was the Baroness de Hueck and she changed my life. Friendship House was an infinitely personal experience. It taught me about love and charity. It gave the tools with which to fight injustice. It showed me how to see beyond the ugliness that poverty often breeds in the very poor. Years later, Friendship House was with me in our urban jungles, in our prisons and in the jungles of South America. FH was innovative. It preached and practiced racial equality, and, if love is innovative, we were taught to love our fellow man. I am a luck lady to have been part of this. I am also damned, in a way, because my commitment never ends." — Mary Jerdo, 1978 Memoir
Testimonials from Catherine newsletter #7 — Summer 2004
Thomas Merton :
“I was deeply moved by the poustinia project. That is ideal. It is just right. It will be a wonderful contribution. It is the kind of thing that is most needed. And though it is certain that we must speak if and when we can, silence is always more important. The crises of the age are so enormous and the mystery of evil so unfathomable; the action of well-meaning men is so absurd and tends so much to contribute to the very evils it tries to overcome; all these things should show us that the real way is prayer, and penance, and closeness to God in poverty and solitude.” — Letter of Thomas Merton to Catherine, November 12, 1962, in response to her telling him about the poustinia at Madonna House.
Bishop Daily :
“The arrival of the Cross of Christ to the Americas five hundred years ago is an historical event that Catholics should look upon from a perspective of faith. [After listing many of the martyrs, missionaries and holy people of the Americas, the bishop continues:] “Not to mention a host of Gospel bearers, some of whom are in the process of beatification—Mary Elizabeth Lange, Henrietta Delille, Julia Walsh, Francis Clement Kelly, James G. Keller, Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, Frank Sheed, Fulton J. Sheen, Thomas Merton, William Howard Bishop, Joan Overboss, Catherine de Hueck Doherty.” — Bishop Daily, Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., An Ephipany of Faith:Pastoral Letter on the Occasion of the Fifth Centenary of the Evangelization of the Americas.
From Spiritual Innovators :
“[This book contains] fascinating profiles of the most important spiritual leaders of the past one hundred years. The result of a nationwide survey of experts in leading universities and seminaries, as well as leading representatives of dozens of religious traditions and spiritual persuasions, this authoritative list of seventy-five includes martyrs and mystics, intellectuals and charismatics from East and West.” Catherine is among them. — Spiritual Innovators: Seventy-Five Extraordinary People Who Changed the World in the Past Century
Dick Rauscher :
“To grow spiritually we must increase the silence in our lives. Catherine Doherty in her book Poustinia reminds us that spiritual growth happens only when silence and simplicity are tightly woven into our lives. She reminds us that we have forgotten that simply sitting in the silent presence of one who loves God is often enough to bring healing to the deepest of wounds.” — “A New Paradigm of Christian Ministry for the 21st Century,” by Dick Rauscher
Dorothy Day :
“Thursday, May 15. Marge is packing up to go to West Virginia, but finding time to plant the garden in the little yard of one of the two small houses which we have named St. John of the Cross, and St. Teresa of Avila. They are the nearest thing we have for our young volunteers to use as a poustinia, which Catherine de Hueck Doherty of Combermere, Canada, has introduced us to through her book by that name. Most of the winter I have lived in one and Marge Hughes in the other with her son John. But now the winter has come to an end, and I must go to the farm at Tivoli for a brief visit to Unity acres and Unity kitchen in Syracuse.” — Dorothy Day, ‘On Pilgrimage,’ The Catholic Worker, June, 1975.
A Russian Visitor :
“Yekaterina [Catherine], when she left all to follow Christ, remembered a common but very special kind of Russian believer—the poustinik. Every so often some peasant, or less frequently a wealthy person in Russia like Pyotr, would get rid of his or her things and take to the poustinia, a word that means desert. The poustinik, however, did not go to a literal desert. He only put on rough linen clothing and went to live in the barest, simplest house in the village. There, with no lock on the door, he lived with nothing but the Bible, his daily bread, and his clothes.” — reflections of a Russian visitor to Madonna House in Combermere.
Richard K. Weber, O.P. :
About Poustinia: “Of the many books on prayer that have been published in recent years this is simply the best.”
Ronald Rolheiser :
“I once saw a wonderful interview with Catherine de Hueck Doherty. She was already more than 80 years old and, reflecting on the struggles of her spiritual journey, said something to this effect: ‘It’s like there are three persons inside of me. The “Baroness” is spiritual. Another person whom I call “Catherine” enjoys this life and doesn’t want renunciation or poverty. And finally, inside of me too there’s a little girl. I think the “little girl” might be who I really am.’ These words come from a spiritual giant, someone who attained both wholeness and sanctity after a long search and difficult struggle. Like Catherine, all of us have a number of persons inside of us.” — Ronald Rolheiser, in The Catholic Herald, Sept. 2003.
Sargent Shriver :
“I certainly hope the Canonization process will soon decide that Catherine Doherty will be declared a Saint in the Catholic Church.” — Sargent Shriver (President John F. Kennedy’s brother-in-law)
A Sudanese Priest :
A Sudanese priest living in Canada said to one of our community: “You know, when I was still in Egypt, an Irish woman gave me a book that she thought I might enjoy. It was about Madonna House and how you pray, and about your foundress. It was called Poustinia. What do you think about that!”
Testimonials from Catherine newsletter #6 — Fall 2003
Father Émile-Marie Brière :
Our very dear Fr. Émile-Marie Brière, Catherine’s closest associate, ‘fell asleep in the Lord’ on June 16, 2003. I know it would please him to now give his testimony about Catherine and some favours he received through her intercession:
What is it I saw in Catherine? Her faith, trust, humility, love. She was relentless in her pursuit of God. She picked up on everything, that is, she corrected everything, so that you would love God more. That is why she got so impatient with rationalization. She wanted you to get to God.
She lived under inhuman pressures. You think you have problems! You have none in comparison to Catherine. She faced them, irrespective of the cross. She didn’t care if people liked her or hated her. She had a terrific personality, but she loved you too much to draw you to herself—because then you wouldn’t love God, you would love her. You would be emotionally, sentimentally attached to her, when she wanted you to be strong in love. She didn’t attract you to herself.
She was the most tender person I have ever met, understanding of human frailty and human weakness. To her, love was complete and full. The love of Catherine was a very good image of the love of God, which is very gentle, very tender, yet very firm and strong. It wasn’t the love of a person who doesn’t purify. We have to be purified. We have to die to self. We might lead a mediocre life, but in her eyes we would be wasting our time because we were not loving passionately.
There were so many painful experiences in her life, and you never knew when something would bring a strong association with those experiences. She had many sleepless nights. One of the greatest pressures was the tremendous suffering that she underwent during the Revolution. A number of her family were killed; that was very painful stuff. She saw the last priest killed, before escaping with her husband.
The Scripture passage about the ‘Valiant Woman’ can be applied to Catherine. Her love for you was constant, whether she was ‘nice’ or not. She got impatient, and said publicly that she wanted to become more patient. When she loved a person, she loved them as they were. She had no animosity toward those who hurt her. She prayed for them.
Catherine trusted in God very simply and directly. Her love was not what we equate with love. We think someone who is ‘nice’ to me, who does things for me, loves me. Her love was a gentle, strong, tender, yet pitiless love, which was a shadow of the love of God. She had to discipline us, purify us. Sanctity is possible if we give all and hold back nothing.
The things to look for in Catherine are faith, trust, and joy. With her the cross was joyful. With her Christ was a real Person. Our Lady and the Blessed Trinity were very real to her. There was no pietistic stuff. No religiosity or sentimentality. It was from the heart. She loved God passionately. She was very childlike. She had a childlike faith.
Doug Roche :
Doug Roche is a Canadian senator. He is currently Chair of Canada’s National Committee for the 50th Anniversary of the U.N. He is a long time friend of Madonna House. During a recent visit to Combermere he said:
Growth here since the seventies is phenomenal. I can feel the energy in this room and I can also feel the presence of both Catherine and Fr. Eddie. Over the years Catherine taught me much about different elements of social justice and I want to pay a special tribute to her, to Fr. Eddie, and also to Fr. Brière.
M.F., Quebec, Canada :
I read the information sent to me about the cause for canonization of Catherine Doherty and the request for testimonies, and I decided that I should relate my experience.
In 1961, when I was sixteen, I spent two weeks at Madonna House. One night I was invited to attend a meeting in the small library overlooking the river. Catherine was speaking about Absolute (or Universal) love. I think she was sitting when she first started to speak and then got up and stood behind her chair during the talk.
I was inexperienced with the feeling that filled that room—although I had experienced similar feelings during bells at Mass and Benediction or sometimes when our parish priest spoke about Jesus or repeated words attributed to Jesus.
But I wasn’t thinking about any of those things. I just listened and felt a powerful feeling in the room as Catherine spoke about Love. It was a really unusual and unforgettable experience. At one point, after she had been speaking for quite a while, I glanced at her and noticed that she was lifted up in the air. She had risen up behind her chair so that she was just a little bit higher up than she was when standing normally—perhaps six inches. It was just high enough that I understood immediately that she could not be that high up while standing on the floor and it was unquestionably clear to me that she was lifted up physically without any physical factor involved. She had not stepped up onto anything—that would have been obvious. Anyway there was nothing there for her to step up onto. Also the whole experience was inconsistent with any such thing. There was complete silence in the room except for the simple words which she had been speaking about love.
It was not until several years later when similar experiences connected with understandings about God and Love triggered the memory of that event—and only then did I actually realize what had happened.
I didn’t speak about this to anyone and I had and have no way of knowing whether or not anyone else saw and felt what I did. Everyone else around that table appeared to be concentrating intensely on what they were hearing. It seemed to me as though everyone had their eyes closed in prayer and I may have been the only one who actually glanced over at Catherine while she was speaking. It did not occur to me to speak about it at the time, although in recent years I have mentioned this experience to a few people. Later when I studied about mystical experiences and followed my search for truth into some understandings of that other dimension of possibilities and being, I returned to that memory and made sense of it. Not that I had ever doubted it—I just had no perspective from which to react—other than to know that it was an honest and unexploited reality which was a result of the concentration which Catherine was exerting in contemplating Love.
There will always be a little part of me inside my heart that is connected to Madonna House and to that kind spirit whom I know as Catherine.
Testimonials from Catherine newsletter #5 — Summer 2003
Father Francis Bonano, OFM
(former postulator for causes of saints in the Holy Land) :
Catherine was no ordinary Christian. She has affected the lives of so many people through her books (especially the one entitled Poustinia), through her organization and family of Madonna House, and through her personal life and example. The grace of God has been powerful in her, and “By their fruits you shall know them,” Jesus said.
Her work for the poor and downtrodden showed a great love for neighbor. Her love for the poustinia and her zeal to live the mystery of Nazareth showed her great love of God and contemplation. I remember in 1984 seeing her on her sickbed a year before she died. She had her hair in pigtails with ribbons like a little girl in spite of her eighty or so years. I wondered if it were senility or a human touch. I judged the latter when she lucidly encouraged me so strongly in building the House of Prayer at Emmaus based on the poustinia model.
Why would Catherine’s life and teaching be particularly edifying for the Church of today? I think Catherine grasped a synthesis of Eastern and Western spirituality, unique in the history of the Church. The Holy Father is anxious to bring East and West together spiritually and ecumenically; Catherine helped in this great process. For ordinary Christians, her insistence on Nazareth and doing the little things well out of love can be a model and source of imitation.
Donat Chiasson, Archbishop Emeritus, Moncton, NB :
On July 5, 1979, I met Catherine Doherty for the first time. She invited me to a staff meeting and I was much impressed by her teaching. She talked about the breakdown of our North American society and the call of God to be witnesses of his divine love. I believe that every Christian is aware of some evil in this world, and we have all heard about the immense love of God. What struck me very powerfully was the realization that here was a woman who seemed to live those two realities at a new depth.
The weight of evil in our society pierced her heart in a way I had not witnessed before. I also felt that when she spoke about the love of God it carried all the qualities of personal experience.
I believe she had the grace of a Foundress. Many people feel called to live the Gospel with greater commitment and are enriched in becoming, in a way, her disciples. Many people from all walks of life recognize in what is called the Little Mandate a translation of the Good News of Jesus for today.
Mary Creegan, Dundee, Scotland :
I said to my confessor that I loved the spirituality of Catherine, and he said to me: “Who is this Catherine de Hueck Doherty? Can you bring me any books?” I did so, and since then my love for Catherine has become a great influence in my very ordinary everyday life. She directs me, and I am absolutely delighted.
I am thrilled to know that you, dear Father, have been given the great work of making Catherine known. She is the great woman of this day and age. I am positive that one day she will join the great women saints of the Church. Catherine has obtained for me a great love of priests and the Mass in my life.
Helen Coolen, Cleveland, OH :
As for ‘B’ [nick name for Catherine], she has been the second great blessing in my life. My mother was the first. She set my feet on the path of faith and tried to keep me there, nourished my faith, and still does from heaven. ‘B’ further nourished my faith. First I was introduced to the Eastern rite, a blessing in itself. Then the Office of Prime and Compline, the encyclicals. More than everything, though, it was how she lived the Gospels—showing me our black brothers and sisters through the eyes of Christ. You said be brief. That’s hard when relating to ‘B’: so enriching, so much grace. How she listened to the Spirit, and taught me to do so. In fact she still does. I hear her voice so clearly.
Father Lorenzo Maria T. De La Rosa Jr.,
Prior, Carthusian Charterhouse of the Transfiguration, Vermont :
Please know that I join in your prayers for the Church’s official recognition of the virtues of our sister Catherine. I feel personally that she is so needed in our sad times, she, who in her word and by her life, has pointed so clearly to the magnificent love and ineffable goodness of our Lord, and the road of beauty that one finds oneself [on] when she/he traverses the way of the Cross in self-forgetting love.
Beverly King, Marengo, IL :
Ever since I “discovered” our Servant of God, Catherine Doherty, I feel that I have found a real friend. Though I only know her through her writings and through her followers, as seen in Restoration, I still feel comforted. I venture to say that Catherine Doherty as well as Josemaria Escriva are two of the most important people in my life—I think because they appeal to us Regular Folks in the pew.
Testimonials from Catherine newsletter #4 — Fall 2002
Most Rev. Remi De Roo :
I think Catherine’s life warrants the
opening of a cause with a view to possible canonization.
Having herself known persecution and marginalization,
Catherine was very conscious of the alienation brought about by ideologies
which do not respect the sacredness of the human person. Her dedication
to the cause of the poor was a sterling example of a leader who with
total trust in divine Providence could call and lead others to heroism
in the transformation of society. We need more lay women of her caliber
as role models in a time of great cultural upheaval.
Most Rev. Donat Chiasson :
I met Catherine for the first time in 1979.
She invited me to a meeting with her Staff and I was much impressed
by her teaching. She talked about the breakdown of our North American
society and the call of God to be witnesses of his divine love. What
struck me very powerfully was the realization that here was a woman
who seemed to me to love those two realities at a new depth. The weight
of evil in our society pierced my heart in a way I had not experienced
before. I also felt that when she spoke about the love of God it carried
all the qualities of personal experience. I believe she had the grace
of a foundress.
Father John T. Catoir :
It was in Combermere that I first met Catherine
nearly 30 years ago. When I first came to Madonna House I was deeply
moved by the spirit of love and holiness I found there. The spirituality
of Catherine is the inspiration behind this amazing community. The people
of Madonna House are deeply moved by the spirit of love and holiness.
It was Jesus who said, “By their fruits you will know them.”
My own opinion is based on the fact that Catherine’s life is still
bearing rich and abundant fruit, and will probably continue to do so
for many years to come.
Brother Paul Pavivaraj :
It is a joy and beauty to know of the life
and work of Catherine in this day and age. She is a woman who had the
courage to act as she was instructed in the Gospel. It took sheer guts
and courage, but she did it. We may not be able to do it as powerfully
as she did, but it is an example, and we too can follow. Every time
we go out to speak to a lonely person, or give food to the hungry, or
meet the needs of the poor—we honour her work and memory. We help
to perpetuate the truth that people can live the Gospel and be Christians
even in 2002.
Teresa de Bertodano :
With regard to my inclusion of Catherine Doherty
in the anthology Treasury of the Catholic Church, I believe Catherine
to be one of the inspirational figures of the twentieth century—inspirational
not only for the Roman Catholic Church but for the world. I believe
that a book such as Treasury would not be truly representational of
the riches of Roman Catholicism if Catherine’s name was omitted.
You ask how I came across Catherine. I think that
I originally heard of her from members of the communities of l’Arche
and I recall that Poustinia made a great impact when it was first published.
I regard her as inspirational in the same way that Brother Roger of
Taize, Mother Teresa, Jean Vanier and Dorothy Day are inspirational.
All have had a tremendous effect upon the young (and not so young!)
in terms of giving them a vision to which to aspire, and a viable and
demanding way of life in which to follow Jesus. Catherine has been very
important in terms of the inspiration to build viable Christian community.
Testimonials from Catherine
newsletter #3 — Summer 2002
Robert Lax :
Robert Lax, a Jew who became a Catholic, was
brought to Harlem by his friend, Thomas Merton, to meet Catherine. In
her book, Not Without Parables, in a story entitled, “A
Son of Israel,” she reflects on her relationship with Lax: “Yes,
I love Jews greatly because Christ was a Jew and so was Mary, his mother.
In Bob Lax I saw both the child of Abraham and the Son of Mary—both
Judaism and Christianity. Alleluia!” At the time when I wrote to
Lax asking him for a testimony about Catherine he was living on the
island of Patmos, awaiting the parousia! He has since died.
“Dear Father Robert,
I dream of a long, long letter extolling Catherine’s
saintly qualities, and it only keeps me from writing the brief note
you asked for.
So, briefly, in answer to your first question: Yes.
Her life certainly merits the opening of a Cause.
Secondly, if she were canonized, what would be the
significance of her life for the Church and world of today?
All the significance that a grace-filled, often joyous,
dedicated, energetic, tirelessly loving and compassionate, human-divine
life can have for the Church and the world and the Heavenly Kingdom,
now and in eternity. The apparently perfect fusion in her life and personality
of well-directed and effective action with constant, profound and deeply
loving contemplation and urgent, confident prayer is the quality, the
combination of qualities, that I associate first with Catherine.
May Catherine’s Cause prosper, for Heaven’s
sake, for hers, for ours and for the world’s.
Robert Lax”
Father Godfrey Diekmann :
Father Diekmann, one of the outstanding liturgists
of the 20th century, was acquainted with Catherine through his association
with the eminent liturgist, Dom Virgil Michel, O.S.B. (Both were from
Collegeville).
In the book mentioned above, Not Without Parables,
Catherine relates her meeting with Dom Michel in the early 1930’s:
“How does one begin to thank another human being for opening eyes
that were still partially sealed? That day Dom Virgil Michel gave us
postulants and novices in the then-unknown novitiate of the lay apostolate
the vision of the whole. He showed us the whole Christ who was not crippled
by compromise or touched by the fear of human respect.”
I wrote and asked Dom Diekmann for his testimony:
“Dear Father Wild,
I am delighted and grateful to God that the bishop
of Pembroke is promoting the Cause of Catherine’s beatification
(canonization). But whether I can personally contribute anything to
the furtherance of the Cause seems perhaps unlikely.
For the simple reason that, though I knew relatively
much about her, I personally met her face to face only a few times,
and then rather briefly in each case. The first time in the mid-thirties
when she came to St. John’s to visit the four black young men from
Harlem whom Father Virgil Michel, O.S.B. had accepted as college students
(at a time when few if any Catholic colleges, even in the North, were
admitting blacks).
So I can only report impressions and conclusions
from witnessing the powerful influences she exercised on others.
Impressions: I’ve met very few people in my
life that radiated such vitality and almost overwhelmed you with a contagious
joie de vivre. She so obviously believed most firmly in her apostolate
and knew that the Lord would answer that trust.
She was the exact opposite of the simpering plastic
saints that popular religious art had almost convinced us to regard
as “normal.” She loved life. All of it.
Conclusion: Perhaps as a consequence of the above
character traits she was able to inspire a unique brand of enthusiasts
and seemingly unquestioning loyalty and devotion. I think of such persons
as Dr. Herbert McKnight (one of the four black students from Harlem
of whom I spoke earlier), Betty Schneider (the Chicago Friendship House)
and Father Peter Nearing. She was a flame that ignited others—for
life!
Rev. Godfrey Diekmann, O.S.B.
Saint John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota”
Testimonials from Catherine
newsletter #2 — Winter 2001
Thomas Merton :
Catherine was very influential in Merton’s
journey towards God. Their relationship would make a book in itself.
He treats extensively of his association with her in Part Three, Section
2, of The Seven Storey Mountain, “The Sleeping Volcano.”
Also, see the introduction to his Secular Journal and more recently
his published diaries. He spent several months working with her in Harlem,
and we consider him one of the pioneers of our apostolate. He includes
his correspondence with her as the very first entry in his first volume
of letters, The Hidden Ground of Love, (pp. 9-24). His own actual,
personal relationship with her was not long or intimate, but they carried
on an intermittent correspondence over the years. And, considering his
keen perception of human nature and expertise in spirituality, his witness
is especially valuable. “Catherine de Hueck is a person in every
way big: and the bigness is not merely physical: it comes from the Holy
Ghost dwelling constantly within her; and moving her in all that she
does.” (Seven Storey Mountain, 414).
And from his Secular Journal: “She was one of
the most energetic and generous people I have ever met—and one
of the most simple. Everything she says and does... goes right to the
heart of the issue. The Russian Revolution had made her poor, but far
from resenting this, she embraced it as a marvelous grace from God.
She resolved to make poverty her vocation with a vigor and directness
that was thoroughly Franciscan.”
Helene Iswolsky :
Helene Iswolsky was a noted author in her own
right, and a personal friend of Catherine’s. Both were exiles from
Communist Russia. Some of Helene’s books include The Soul of
Russia Today and Christ in Russia. Her father was the Russian
ambassador to France before the revolution. Her autobiography, No Time
To Grieve, she writes of Catherine: “I had the support of a Russian
woman who, like myself, was a Catholic, and deeply attached to the Eastern
Catholic heritage. She was Catherine de Hueck, known to the American
lay apostolate as the ‘Baroness,’ later Mrs Eddie Doherty.
I had first met Catherine in Paris where she was a reporter for Sign
magazine, but her main interest was centered in New York. She had just
founded ‘Friendship House’ in Harlem, to promote a true Christian
relationship between the white and black people of America. She was
a pioneer in a field which in those days, with only a few exceptions,
was a subject taboo in American society. She displayed great courage
in defending her position” (237).
Olga Laplante :
Olga Laplante, a Canadian, was only 19 years
old when she became one of Catherine’s very first followers, joining
her in Toronto in the early 1930’s. She became a full-time staff
member of her spiritual family and remained there until 1939, when she
joined Catherine in Harlem. She married in 1943, but remained a friend
of Catherine’s thoughout her life. She often visited Madonna House,
and I was privileged to know her. I quote from testimony she gave in
September, 1987.
(about Toronto) “The first impression which
never changed over the years of knowing Catherine, is, this woman knows
God. No doubts of mine ever raised their heads about her faith, love
and conviction in living as a follower of Christ. I finally found someone
who lived her beliefs totally. That doesn’t mean she had no failings,
only that she walked in Christ’s footsteps and all life was lived
in relation to him. This total union was an influence that shaped my
thinking and living: there was always Christ, such as she presented
him.
“The shifting of the needs of self to the background,
the awareness of the needs of others, was brought into strong focus
by Catherine. It was so rare to hear about our own needs; always the
‘poor ones’ were in the spotlight - the hungry, homeless,
sorrowing, or the victim of sin. Compassion was as much a part of us
as breathing. Her ability to see others in relationship to God gave
such a value to the least movement of a heart to God. Living with her,
prejudice faded out. I learned to see people, not colour or ethnic groups.”
(about Harlem) “I was given working papers,
so I joined Catherine in Harlem. Her spirit of service grew and the
work flourished. She seemed to not know weariness, always giving of
time and self. She knew no colour barriers, and those who shared her
work left behind previous prejudices, seeing people not colour. Poverty
was an essential part of her life, living, as she did, in the ghetto
of Harlem. Never did we feel that Catherine assumed the airs of an uppity
administrator. She was one of us and most often the servant of all.”
Maisie Ward :
Maisie Ward was the wife of Frank Sheed, and
together they founded the Sheed & Ward Catholic Publishing House.
She was one of the outstanding women of the 20th century. She was deeply
interested in, and in touch with, most of the new movements in the Church
at that time. She visited Harlem and knew Catherine. Here are some of
her comments about Catherine from her autobiography, Unfinished Business.
“Catherine’s cries of despair and bursts
of tears punctuated on page after page [of her books] the stories she
tells of human waste and suffering, of spiritual desolation. The witness
of Friendship House was its most important act. They battered at the
doors of every Catholic college, asking for opportunities for the boys
and girls of Harlem. We had rejoiced in both the Catholic Worker [of
Dorothy Day] and Friendship House, because they were doing so richly
what the world really asks of Catholics in the social field; acting,
not just theorizing—and acting with immense self-sacrifice.”
(pp. 246-251, passim)
Father Richard John Neuhaus :
Fr. Neuhaus is Editor-in-Chief of First
Things magazine, and one of the outstanding thinkers and commentators
in the Christian world today. In the December, 2000, issue of the magazine,
he reflects on his first, and then a more recent visit to Madonna House.
“[Catherine’s] little book, Dear Father:
A Message of Love to Priests, can be summed up: ‘Yes, but do
you believe, do you really believe, the wonder of who Christ is and
who you are for him? Show it! Live it!’ One is reminded of Chesterton’s
remark that the only sin is to call a green leaf gray. Catherine railed
against a world and a Church that seemed so indifferent to the luminosity
of love.
“Poustinia, perhaps her most influential
book, is a strongly moving account of a practice of silence, solitude,
and prayer drawn from the Russian experience of pilgrimage and time
apart in which a poustinik lives in a small hut—for days or months
or years, or for a lifetime—in an isolation that is also total
availability to the community. The heart of the poustinia is kenosis,
joining Christ in the emptying of the self, as described by Paul in
Phillipians 2. ‘I think that God calls the poustinik to a total
purgation, a total self-emptying,’ writes Catherine. She cautioned
against the impulse to be relevant by doing something useful as the
world measures usefulness. ‘If you want to see what a “contribution”
really is, look at the Man on the cross. That’s a contribution.
When you are hanging on a cross you can’t do anything because you’re
crucified. That is the essence of a poustinik. That is his or her contribution.’
Poustinia is one of the more insightful and disturbing books
on prayer I have read in a long time.
“As with Dorothy Day, Catherine’s ‘cause’
has been begun. It is possible that somewhere down that path she may
formally be declared a saint. Like Dorothy Day, Catherine’s faith
and piety came to be viewed as ‘conservative’ because so radically
orthodox. (Catherine was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church and
part of the continuing apostolate of Madonna House is reconciliation
between East and West, a purpose close to the heart of John Paul II.)
Both Dorothy and Catherine understood that orthodox Christianity is
ever so much more radical than the radicalisms that the world regularly
throws up to challenge or recruit Christian faith; and they understood
that the way of high adventure is not to trim the Church’s teaching
but to penetrate ever more deeply into living the mystery of Christ.
“The last half century, and especially the years
of this pontificate, has witnessed an astonishing resurgence of renewal
movements. Among the better known in North America are Cursillo, Opus
Dei, Focolare, Legionaries of Christ, Regnum Christ, and the Neocatechumenal
Way. The explosion of similar movements in Latin America and Africa
is perhaps without historical precedent. These are mainly movements
of lay people, married and celibate, locked in communal determination
to live the gospel of Jesus Christ without compromise. The Madonna House
Apostolate is part of this remarkable phenomenon. The life of Catherine
de Hueck Doherty—in both its pyrotechnical brilliance and silent
deeps—begat a movement that has changed lives beyond numbering
by its invitation to a disciplined adventure into a revolution of love.”
Testimonials from Catherine newsletter #1 — Summer 2001
Archbishop Angelo Palmas :
Archbishop Angelo Palmas was the former Pro-Nuntio
in Canada.
“On my part, I thank God every day for
the grace I had to meet several times the servant of God. She warrants
very much the public opening of her cause.”
Cardinal Jean Marie Lustiger :
“I met Catherine de Hueck briefly a number
of years ago and she impressed me very deeply. Aside from this meeting,
I know of her life and action only by her writings and the witness of
the members of Madonna House.
In my limited information, it seems to me that the
life of Catherine presents extraordinary signs of the action of God.
In the first place, the fruits of holiness in the service of charity
and as far as the poor and the conversion of sinners are concerned.
If she is canonized, her life will speak to our contemporaries by:
- the example of
a consecrated lay sanctity.
- the fruitfulness
of service to the poor carried out in total detachment.
- the power and
the necessity of the contemplative life in our civilization.
- the strength
of love of the Church and the grace of forgiveness which give birth
to an authentic Marian piety.
Everything that I have learned and have been able
to intuit about Catherine makes me desire deeply that her cause will
be opened and that it will result in a positive decision of the Holy
Father. That is one grace that I ask of God for the Church.”
