Paths of Kateri's Kin [Hardcover]

Kateri Tekakwitha, the renowned Mohawk convert of the late 17th century, symbolizes for thousands of American Indian Catholics today their own two-part cultural identity. Indeed, many feel a profound spiritual kinship with her as they travel the paths of Native American Catholicism.The Paths of Kateri's Kinoffers the first comprehensive study of the interweaving of Catholic and North American Indian ways from the French missionary days of the early 1600s through the complex tapestry of Indian Catholic spirituality alive today. These chapters take you down the many and various trails North American Indians have followed in expressing their Catholic identity and spirituality. Vecsey examines the fascinating dynamic between Catholic and Indian traditions in many tribal settings across North America and across nearly five centuries, always emphasizing the spiritual lives and practices of contemporary Native American Catholics.
 

“[I]t is high time for a fresh consideration of how native American communities wove Catholicism into the fabric of their lives. Rich in story and lean in interpretive overlay, the book will nourish efforts to rethink the history of missions, the study of native religions, and the breadth of American Catholicism.”

"[A] highly accessible and comprehensive survey of Native American/French contact from the early explorations of Cartier (1535) and Champlain (1603) to recent expressions of 20th-century Native American spirituality. Engagingly written, this study fills a major void in knowledge of Native Americans."
 

“This entire series is a must for both scholars and ‘ordinary readers’ alike, written as it is in such accessible prose. Theologians, hopefully, and especially theologians arising from the ranks of indigenous peoples, will certainly feel the challenge of creating a fresh hermeneutical method for interpreting the data Vecsey records l#Ï