New national Marian spiritual home in New Mexico

Spanish missionaries from Mexico were the first to preach the Gospel in New Mexico, not long after the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City in 1531. “Some indigenous peoples of North America embraced the Catholic faith long before many of our ancestors set foot on these shores,” Carl Anderson of the Knights of Columbus said. Despite many hardships and a history of brutality towards Native Americans, many still hold fast to the Catholic faith.

The Knights of Columbus hope that in the years to come the Saint Kateri (1) Shrine will become a “national spiritual home for Native Americans and for all Catholics in North America.” The shrine will feature a larger-than-life Rosary walk made up of 23 small shrines, 20 of them for the different mysteries of the Rosary that will imitate the example of Saint Kateri’s life and take advantage of the natural beauty that God offers to us.

Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico said, “My prayer for everyone who visits this—especially the Native American peoples—is that you come and walk and pray the Rosary walk, and as you leave the Rosary walk, that your faith might be strengthened, and your hope might be strengthened in the world to come.”

“We will rely on the intercession of Our Lady, under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who we know first appeared to an indigenous person, that being Saint Juan Diego. And so this shrine will be a special place for everyone, but especially to the indigenous people of this land, the Native American peoples of this land,” concluded the local bishop.

(1) Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680) spent her short life in what is now New York State and Quebec Province, having been introduced to the Catholic faith by French missionaries. She is the patron saint of Native Americans.

Adapted from an article by John Burger, Aug 13, 2019 Aleteia