Writer Defends Research of Mother Delille’s Life

Had I not been the writer of the Lifetime movie criticized in Renee Tawa’s article on Mother Delille (“Order of the Day,” Aug. 18), I might have enjoyed Tawa’s story immensely. However, it’s unfair to reference Sister Thibodeaux’s remark about the writer doing only one weekend of research in New Orleans without hearing from the writer as well.

While it’s true that the network would finance only a brief trip to New Orleans, I made a subsequent trip at my own expense. Furthermore, I spent the weekend she refers to interviewing Thibodeaux and other members of the order, a fact Tawa neglects to mention. Sister Thibodeaux spent a good part of that weekend with me. She gave me all the information she had on Mother Delille and my perusal of the information did not end there.

A writer’s research can be extensive on a subject such as this, but it would be naive not to recognize that the network’s objective is not merely to give facts, but to entertain. If the facts are not deemed dramatic enough, license is inevitably taken. So I do understand and respect the sister’s concerns, but I trust that as the Vatican considers the beatification of Mother Delille it will discern the real life of a saint from a Hollywood depiction.

--TONI ANN JOHNSON

Los Angeles

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I am very grateful to Renee Tawa for her story on the efforts to canonize Mother Henriette Delille. But I would like to clear up a couple of points she made about saints. When she says that it took more than 800 years for Bede the Venerable to get beatified, she is misinformed. Leo XIII in 1899 declared St. Bede to be a doctor of the Church, but Bede had been fully recognized as a saint since shortly after his death in 735. There was no formal canonization process during the first millennium, and the honorific title “Venerable” given to Bede had nothing to do with the first-stage process of later times. As for “the fastest canonization ever,” St. Theresa of Lisieux may hold a modern record (28 years), but in earlier times there are much faster cases: For instance, the businessman saint, Homobonus of Cremona, who died in 1197, was canonized two years after his death, and the same was true of St. Francis of Assisi.

--ANDY KELLY

Via E-mail

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Your article on the Sisters of the Holy Family in Compton and the beginning of the canonization process of their founder Mother Henriette Delille was heartwarming and inspiring. The article reflected the little-known fact (outside the Catholic Church) of the women of color in various religious orders who are devoted and dedicated to serving their communities. It is unfortunate that so few young women, in this society, do not see this as a worthy vocation. Unfortunately, this is common to many religious orders today.

In the article you mentioned two other women of color who are in the canonization process: Sister Thea Bowman and Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange. There is another woman of color in the canonization process you forgot to mention. Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha is a Native American of Mohawk and Algonquin ancestry. When she was 4 years old, Tekakwitha survived a smallpox epidemic in her village that claimed the lives of her parents and baby brother. Like the other candidates, she dedicated her life to serving the sick and aged in her community. She also taught prayers to children. This devoted and faithful servant, at the age of 24, was struck with an illness that claimed her life on April 17, 1680.

On Jan. 3, 1943, she was declared Venerable by Pope Pius XII and beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 22, 1980. We encourage you to pray for the canonization of these inspirational, devoted and dedicated women.

BRAD PETERS

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Parish

Santa Clarita