As we near the end of the liturgical year, in this month of saints, we consider 3 women who may one day have a place in the rank of American Catholic saints.
During the fall general assembly in Baltimore, U.S. Catholic bishops voted to advance the causes for sainthood for three American women. Two are lay women- a mother considered to be a mystic and a young campus missionary. The third was a religious sister who ministered to the poor and to African Americans.
Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki of Milwaukee, chair of the U.S.bishops’ Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance said: “Today we are blessed to hear about three women, each of whom followed unique paths. But each used their individual gifts to serve others — sometimes during great suffering and adversity — but who allowed themselves to be transformed by the love of God and which moved them to share the Lord’s joy and peace through the ordinary circumstances of their lives.”
In Dec. 2012 we did a short Blog on CORA LOUISE EVANS who was raised in Utahas a Mormon. Her first of many mystical experiences, was an apparition of the Blessed Mother, who came in 1907,when she was only 3 years old.
“I was without a God and religion but had gained a very wonderful husband,” she said after her marriage ceremony. “As I looked at him and learned to love him more and more, I resolved to help find a God for him. After 10 years of searching, we found the One True God in the Roman Catholic Church.”She and her husband Maclellan (Mack), had three children: two daughters, LaVonne and Dorothy, and one son, Bobby, who died when he was a baby.
Her parish priest, Father Edward Vaughn, wrote that Cora’s efforts inspired hundreds of Mormons to convert to the Catholic faith.
Yet, in 1941, the family decided to move to Californiabecause her husband faced religious and cultural prejudices while trying to hold a job.
Five years later, in 1946, Cora said that Jesus asked her to promulgate the mystical humanity of Christ, or, as the website for her cause describes, “a way of prayer that encourages people to live with a heightened awareness of the indwelling presence of Jesus in their daily lives.” Cora suffered from the stigmata, Christ’s wounds on the cross present in her own flesh. Cora tried to hide her gifts from her family, but her daughter still witnessed the stigmata and was greatly impacted by it.
Cora died in 1957 and before her death asked God to grant her the same ability as St. Therese of Lisieux — to spend her heaven doing good on earth. Since her death, her’ writings have been widely read and are a source of spiritual hope for many people.
The second lay woman being considered for sainthood is MICHELLE CHRISTINE DUPPONG, whom we did a Blog on July 9 of this year.
She dedicated her life to God, serving as a Catholic campus missionary for six years before becoming the director of adult faith formation for the Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota. She spent her, too short, life “seeking holiness in the ordinary.”
“Michelle’s holiness of life and love for God certainly touched us here in the Diocese of Bismarck, at the University of Mary, and throughout FOCUS, but hers is a witness which should also be shared with the universal Church,” Bishop Kagan.
He had hired Michelle as the diocesan director of faith formation, and she had worked with him in creating the “Thirst Conferences” that continue to this day, bringing in national Catholic speakers to inspire the faithful. Her main desire, Bishop Kagan said, was to share the joy of knowing Jesus. “Our Church, and especially our culture, needs models of everyday holiness — just as Michelle has shown us. Especially our young men and women, married or single, need Michelle’s example of faith, hope and charity. They need to know and see that real virtue is something for them, and it is never outdated.”
