Robert_Wild_-_Catherine_Doherty_Servant_of_God

phers tell us, for something to remain the same, it has to
change.)
Not everything in her life is equally essential for, or
able to be communicated to, the community’s identity
and mission. Some graces are personal to her. (For example,
her sufferings and her degree of sanctity.) In order to
present a harmonious picture of her life and that of
Madonna House, I will, in each section, mention certain
graces of Catherine’s life, seeking to show 1) something of
the historical context through which she received them,
and 2) how these graces/charisms are presently manifested
in Madonna House. In this way we can achieve this more
holistic understanding of her life and community. It is the
Holy Spirit who gives birth to new communities in the
Church. Catherine loved to call the Holy Spirit, in her
Russian fashion, “the Crimson Dove.”
“I Am Russian”
Although Catherine, ethnically speaking, was only
one-quarter Russian, she had a Russian mind and heart.
People whose ancestors originally came from Western
Europe, and who had lived in Russia for centuries, became
russified. On one occasion, towards the end of her life,
Catherine expressed to a friend that, although she had
tried to conform, to some extent, to Western ways of
thinking and acting, she was never able to really do it. “I
am Russian,” she said, “and I always will be.” Her
Russianess will be important to remember as we look at
her life and try to understand who she was.
For those of us who knew her, it took many years
before we were able to re-focus our Western minds and
hearts and see her life, attitudes, and speech with something
of an Eastern mentality. Russians, and Easterners
generally, easily understand her; we Westerners have to
really work at it. We are literal-minded, logical. Her thinking
was more poetical, “iconographic,” you might say.
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