Women of Faith · Week 1 · Grades 9–12
Guided Notes: St. Katharine Drexel
- Name
- Date
- Class
Follow along as your teacher presents. Fill in each section when its slide is on the screen.
An inheritance and a formation
Katharine Mary Drexel was born on November 26, blank 1, in Philadelphia, into one of the richest families in America. Her mother died a few weeks after her birth. Her father, the banker Francis Drexel, remarried, and her stepmother, Emma, loved her like her own.
Three days a week, Emma opened the family home to the poor and gave out food, clothes and rent money. Her father prayed for half an hour every evening. The daughters learned that money was for sharing.
When Francis died in blank 2, his daughters inherited about $14 million, worth hundreds of millions of dollars today.
From donor to missionary
Traveling in the blank 3, Katharine saw Native Americans living in terrible poverty on reservations. The government had taken their land, and their schools were falling apart. She began funding schools and churches.
In 1887 she asked Pope Leo XIII to send blank 4. He answered, “Why not, my child, yourself become a missionary?” The question shocked her and would not leave her.
In 1889 she entered religious life with the Sisters of blank 5 in Pittsburgh. Newspapers reported that Miss Drexel had given up seven million dollars. In 1891 she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to serve Native Americans and African Americans.
Building under threat
For about 40 years Mother Katharine crossed the country, founding more than 60 schools and missions. Some stood on reservations in the Southwest. Others served Black children in the South, where blank 6 barred them from white schools.
In 1925 she founded Xavier University of blank 7 in New Orleans, the first Catholic university for African Americans in the United States.
Many white people hated her for it. The Ku Klux Klan threatened to bomb one of her schools in blank 8. A few days later, a tornado destroyed the Klan's headquarters. She kept building. After a heart attack in 1935, she spent her last 20 years in prayer.
A life and a cause
Write what happened in each year.
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1858 | Write your answer |
| 1887 | Write your answer |
| 1891 | Write your answer |
| 1925 | Write your answer |
| 1955 | Write your answer |
| 1964 | Write your answer |
| 1988 | Write your answer |
| 2000 | Write your answer |
Apply it
A student with a large online following says, “Someone should speak up about how that new kid is being treated.” Which response best mirrors the challenge Pope Leo XIII gave Katharine? Circle one.
- A Agree, then tag a teacher in the thread so an adult handles it
- B Ask the student, “Why not you? You have the platform to do it.”
- C Suggest waiting to see whether the problem fades on its own
- D Share a general post about kindness without naming anything
Why is that the right answer?
Apply it
Katharine wrote, “Ours is the Spirit of the Eucharist, the total gift of self.” Which choice best fits what she meant by her life? Circle one.
- A Giving generously from what is left over after your own needs
- B Donating money so that trained experts can do the real work
- C Praying for those in need instead of acting on their behalf
- D Offering your whole person, not only your possessions, as Christ does
Why is that the right answer?
Take a side
The most effective way to fight injustice is to build something better, as Katharine built schools, rather than to protest what is wrong.
My side: ☐ Agree ☐ Disagree
- Katharine founded more than 60 schools and missions and a university that still serves students today.
- Segregation laws stayed in place during her lifetime; Black children were barred from white schools until the 1950s and 1960s.
- She died in 1955, at the start of the civil rights movement.
- Online, is posting about an injustice the same as doing something about it? What would building look like there?
My strongest reason, with evidence from the slides:
The best argument for the other side, and my response:
Let us pray
“For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”
Matthew 6:21
Lord Jesus, you give yourself to us completely in the Eucharist.
Free us from clinging to what we own.
Make us builders of justice for every person you have made.
St. Katharine Drexel, pray for us.
Amen.
My own prayer or intention:
Well done!
Katharine Drexel wrote, “If we wish to serve God and love our neighbor well, we must manifest our joy in the service we render to Him and them.”
One thing I learned today:
One question I still have:
How could the example of St. Katharine Drexel shape the way I live, online and offline?
Challenge: Name one resource you control: money, time, a skill or an online platform. This week, spend a real share of it on someone your community overlooks, and do it with joy.