In this essay, I will examine the conflict experienced by Kateri Tekakwitha caused by her Indian culture and her subsequent conversion to Christianity. I will also examine the division from her fellow tribal members which resulted from her conversion.

Tekakwitha was first exposed to Jesuit missionaries as a young girl, but did not receive any Christian teachings until several years later. She was baptized in 1676, and given the "Christian name of Catherine" (Shoemaker 53). Tekakwitha fled her home village due to harassment by the non-Christian majority, and went to Kahnawake, which had become a "haven from the alcohol-induced violence plaguing Iroquois villages in the 1600s" (Shoemaker 53).

While at Kahnawake, Tekakwitha became even more a devout Christian; she "built her own shrine in the woods and prayed to it," forgoing meat so as not to be away from daily devotions (Shoemaker 54). Once again, Tekakwitha experienced family and tribal pressure to marry, which was necessary for a woman who depends upon a man for meat and clothing. But Tekakwitha refused, saying she could "have no other spouse but Jesus Christ" (Shoemaker 54).

Thereafter, Tekakwitha and another woman, Marie Therese, formed a bond to serve Christ and model their lives after the Catholic nuns. They adhered to the vows of chastity and penitence, routinely practicing self-mortification. Shoemaker asserts that the conversion of many Indians was relatively easy since many of the Christian tenets are similar to traditional Iroquois beliefs. However that may be, Tekakwitha experienced hardships from many of her fellow tribal members due to her conversion, but she remained faithful to her adopted religious beliefs.

Bibliography

Shoemaker, Nancy. Negotiators of Change: Historical Perspectives on Native American Women. Taylor & Francis, Inc., 1994.