Catherine de hueck biography definition

Under the spiritual guidance of Father Paul of Graymoor they formed themselves into a dedicated band with promises and a simple rule of life. Soon opposition developed: a rumor spread that de Hueck herself was a communist. Misunderstandings also developed on the parochial level. The archbishop of Toronto supported her, but unable to work in a climate of suspicion, she moved to the United States.

As in Toronto, others were attracted by her life, and a dedicated laity formed into a small movement around her. In , Catherine married Eddie Doherty, a well known newspaperman of the time. Madonna House. Eventually problems also arose in the Friendship House in Harlem. In addition to disagreements about practices and structures, a deeper rift opened when some members wanted to focus completely on interracial work.

De Hueck Doherty always believed her vocation was broader, "to restore all things to Christ. But on May 17, , she went with Eddie Doherty to Combermere in the rural areas of Ontario where she established Madonna House and where the culmination of her life's work was to begin. In actuality, it is an evangelical community, inspired by Catherine's vision and imbued with her spirit.

By the time of her death in , the Madonna House community had about Catholic laymen, laywomen, and priests. By there were 22 missions. In addition there were about 70 associate priests, and several associate bishops and deacons. As her own spiritual life matured, she was better able to communicate to the West the treasures of holy Russia.

Her spiritual classic, Poustinia , is a call to prayer and the "desert" of the heart. Sobornost describes a unity in the Holy Spirit beyond any human effort or model. The People of the Towel and the Water reveals the gospel dimensions of the ordinary life. During her lifetime de Hueck Doherty influenced millions of people and received many awards, among them the pontifical medal "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" and, in , the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honor.

She now experienced great poverty, and the disintegration and, finally, annulment of her marriage. Her gift for lecturing eventually brought her financial security and success, but she was haunted by the call of God to forsake security and work among the very poor. The community moved towards formal vows and lifelong commitments, and in Eddie and Catherine chose to avow celibacy together.

Her humour and disarming directness showed that true holiness can have a very human face. A quick-thinking janitor hid her in a rubbish bin and wheeled her out to safety. Combermere and Madonna House. But the more painful rejection came from within her own community. Catherine had a particular vision of this movement of Friendship House that was inspired by God and emerged from her Russian background.

This vision was not shared by the American members who had been formed by democracy. In addition, Catherine had received an annulment from her first marriage and had secretly married Eddie Doherty, the top-paid reporter in the United States who had fallen madly in love with her, with God and with the Catholic Church. Understandably, this was a shock to the Friendship House staff, and the rift widened.

In they rejected Catherine and her ways. Catherine and Eddie then retired to a house in the backwoods of Ontario, Canada, outside a tiny village called Combermere. From that place of humiliation and failure, Madonna House was born. Once again, people found their way to Catherine, as they do when Christ is alive and calling. In fairly short order, a community of laymen, lay women and priests dedicated to Our Lady were given permission by the Church to live together in poverty, chastity and obedience.

Catherine and Eddie took the same promises. Within a few years, Bishops were asking for Madonna House staff to open houses in their dioceses, to live the Gospel of Love through soup kitchens, prayer houses, houses of hospitality and friendship. We now number about members, and have 19 houses in Europe, Russia, North America and the Caribbean.

In addition, more than associate deacons, priests and bishops find their home in our spirit, and live itout wherever they are posted. Madonna House is a microcosm of the Church: we are a blend of the East and West; we are men and women, clergy and lay, young and old, intensely active and deeply contemplative. With this background now painted, we ask the question: What is the spirituality of Catherine Doherty?

Thousands of holy men and women have been lovers of Christ, white martyrs of the Gospel and prophets of the Holy Spirit. What makes Catherine Doherty unique? Let us allow the Holy Spirit to answer through phrases He whispered to her through formative years — phrases that she eventually pieced together and called her Little Mandate from God.

This is the mandate that serves as the guiding light of her spiritual family, Madonna House. Arise — go! Sell all you possess. Give it directly, personally to the poor. Take up My cross their cross and follow Me, going to the poor, being poor, being one with them, one with Me. When Catherine first began to sense Christ calling her to a deeper life in Him, she turned to Scripture.

It became clear that she was to leave everything and follow Christ, but it was to be in the Russian way of giving her wealth directly and personally to the poor. Then she was to follow and serve Him there. This way of identifying with Christ in the poor was ingrained in her Russian background. For them, this tramp was Christ. This was to be a full offering, a full renunciation, a full identification.

This was the only possible way she could withstand the martyrdom that was to come. As we in Madonna House follow the Divine Pauper in our promise of poverty, we rely on our Heavenly Father for all our needs; hence we live by begging. We may keep money we have brought to the apostolate, but we may not spend it without permission. We live as simply as possible, to identify with the poor and to give of our surplus each year to those in greater need.

However, as Catherine taught us, physical poverty is the kindergarten level of this promise. True poverty demands a complete stripping of self, a total reliance on God at every level of our being. Little — be always little! Be simple, poor, childlike. Although she was an intellectual, a cultured, educated woman of the world, Catherine followed the example of the One who emptied Himself to assume the condition of a slave Phil Beleaguered by misunderstandings and calumny, [ 11 ] the Toronto Friendship House was forced to close in Two years later, with the backing of Fr.

As this work expanded to Chicago, Washington, D. Catherine's marriage to Baron Boris de Hueck was one of suffering caused by his emotional abuse and continual, flagrant infidelities. Their son, George, became a businessman, husband, and father, and was ordained a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church. He died in Catherine's marriage and her broader vision of the apostolate were sources of painful disagreement between the Friendship House staff and its foundress.

A new apostolate called Madonna House came into being. It would prove to be the most lasting and most fruitful phase of her work. The community grew into an apostolic family of laymen, laywomen, and priests, breathing from the "two lungs," East and West, of the Catholic Church [ 15 ] and offering a vision of the gospel lived out in everyday life.

At the training center in Combermere, guests share the life of the community, learning a Christian family spirit and to incarnate the gospel in everyday life.

Catherine de hueck biography definition

Catherine de Hueck Doherty died in Combermere on December 14, , at the age of The cause for her canonization has been officially opened in the Catholic Church and she has been given the title Servant of God. The core of Doherty's spirituality is summarized in a distillation of the gospel which she called "The Little Mandate"—words which she believed she received from God.

Arise — go! Sell all you possess. Give it directly, personally to the poor. Take up My cross their cross and follow Me, going to the poor, being poor, being one with them, one with Me. Preach the Gospel with your life — without compromise! Listen to the Spirit. He will lead you.. Be hidden. Be a light to your neighbour's feet. Go without fear into the depth of men's hearts.