The importance of identifying with saints and trying to become saints someday formed the topic of one of the first sessions at the recent National Black Catholic Congress XIII at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

Stefanie Miles, a young adult, led the afternoon breakout session “Identifying with Shared Personalities of Holy Men and Women” on July 20.

Miles, a Maryland native and a lifelong fourth generation parishioner of the Church of the Incarnation in Washington, D.C., leads a group of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) women in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.

At Incarnation Parish, she has served as a lector and as a catechist teaching religious education to high school students who have received the sacrament of Confirmation, and she has coordinated youth and young adult ministry there. 

She is a member of the Cursillo movement in the Archdiocese of Washington and is also a Tolton Ambassador, one of a group of lay people across the United States promoting the cause for the canonization of Venerable Father Augustus Tolton, the first recognized Black Catholic priest ordained for the United States 

At the session, Miles had attendees log their answers through Menti, a website that allowed for a poll to be taken for questions such as “How ‘holy’ are you?” on a ranking of first to fifth place. 

“[First means] I’m pretty much a saint,” Miles said as she explained the ranking. 

The results came in: the majority ranked themselves at fourth, then third, first, second, and fifth. A few attendees stated they did not feel they were not doing enough – which Miles challenged, asking what made them the judge of what is “enough.”

Miles then asked the crowd about the names of saints that they chose for their Confirmation. Responses included St. Martin de Porres and St. Catherine Labouré.

 Miles shared that she recently sponsored a young woman who chose Tolton as her Confirmation name, in honor of Venerable Father Augustus Tolton.

“Knowing that you have someone to look up to, that’s not Beyoncé…should put you more at ease,” Miles said of choosing a saint to live by. 

“Choose someone that you want to mirror or be like, whose attributes bring you closer to God,” Miles said.

Miles noted that the saint whose name she chose for her own Confirmation was St. Maria Goretti, who was the same age as her, 12, and that helped her identify with the saint.

The discussion moved in different directions surrounding saints, holiness, and what attendees are doing to help their communities, such as working at a food pantry.

 Toward the end of the open discussion, people discussed how they interact with others is important – that they make others feel loved and share their time motivating others through advocacy. 

Miles discussed her involvement in the Cursillo movement, which includes a “comprehensive enrichment retreat.”

“These happen all over the world, it started in Majorca, Spain,” Miles said. The organization was started by layman Eduardo Bonnín, and the main focus of it was showing how Christians how to become leaders in a three-day event. 

The discussion ended with a group prayer.

Following the discussion, Miles told the Catholic Standard that the discussion was not exactly how she planned. Since the Wi-Fi was down and she had to improvise, she “let the Spirit run.” She originally wanted to have more questions for attendees to answer, so they could explore what role they fall into. 

“[It was to] find out how people become holy men and women in the litany of saints,” Miles said.