We return, this week, to our adventures through the life and service of Catherine Doherty. Last week’s episode ended with Catherine and her husband, Boris, struggling to survive starvation, illness, and isolation in Finland. In an unexpected turn of events, Finland turned against the Communists, and in doing so, gave Catherine and Boris a chance to survive. The pair eventually returned to Russia to fight in the country’s ongoing civil war, but an injury forced them to leave the country again.
Catherine and Boris spent some time together in both London and Toronto, and they had a son, George. Unfortunately, their marriage struggled, and their poverty forced them to make decisions that split up the family. Catherine ended up in New York alone, and she found professional and financial success as a storyteller for the Chautauqua speakers circuit.
In the United States, however, Catherine also experienced a depth and inequality of poverty unlike the wartime poverty she’d previously known. Her experience of poverty in North America rekindled a childhood dream to live like St. Francis, and over the course of several years, she gave away all of her fortune and decided to live among the poor, serving them in any way she could. Catherine, like those she served, begged for food and fuel, and although she intended to work alone, others soon came to join her ministry. Unfortunately, Catherine’s ministry was not without controversy, and she eventually shut it down.
How does Catherine adapt and continue in her service to the poor? Join us next week to find out!
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Recommended reading:
"Fragments of my Life" by Catherine Doherty
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