BELOIT — Her “goal is to be a saint.”
When 16-year-old Kara Jackson’s mother, Christina, helps her daughter tell her story, it all starts there — she wants to be a saint.
While we might not know for hundreds of years if Kara will be canonized, her journey across all 50 states is generating enough material to fill a single volume of Butler’s Lives of the Saints — for herself and those in which she comes in contact.
Kara, from Middletown Ohio, was born with Down syndrome, but the genetic disorder does nothing to stand in the way of her faith.
For nearly two years, Kara, her mother, and her father Rick have been working their way to each state in the country as Kara completes her goal of serving in all 50.
Serving Mass in Wisconsin
After serving Mass on a recent Saturday evening in St. Mary Church in Westville, Ill. — state number 19 — Jackson arrived in Beloit the next morning to serve Mass at Our Lady of the Assumption (OLA) Parish in Beloit — state number 20.
Kara, along with three servers from the parish, served Mass together at the 10:30 a.m. Mass.
Pastor Fr. Paul Arinze welcomed Kara and her family to OLA joked when she makes her way to Hawaii, she should bring everyone in the parish with her.
She held the Missal while Father Arinze read the prayers during Mass, she assisted during the presentation of the gifts, helped Father Arinze prepare the altar for the consecration, and helped clear the altar after communion. Occasionally, the other servers helped Kara up the steps in the sanctuary.
Father Arinze thanked Kara for serving and wished her well as she goes on in her journey.
For Kara, it was another chance to do what she love.
She enjoys serving Mass because it’s a chance to “be close to the body and blood of Christ.”
She also said she feels “closer to God at the altar” and feels the “real presence of God.”
Getting started, gaining attention
Kara’s first time serving Mass in another state, other than her home state of Ohio, was at St. Mary Parish in Richmond, Ind. It was on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2013.
State number three was in Pennsylvania — at a parish in Pittsburgh. There the attention grew, in part because the parish had no regular altar servers.
Christina said people were coming up to Kara after Mass, wanting to meet her and talk to her, like she was a “rock star.”
Kara’s story gained national and international attention when she served Mass in Connecticut at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford.
Her story appeared in the Catholic Transcript, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Hartford. It was soon picked up by news outlets in the U.S. and around the world.
Kara’s dad Rick thought the story would just “stay local,” so the whole family is still is awe that word of Kara’s journey is spreading.
“Why are people interested in this?” asked Christina. “People want to hear something else, something more positive,” she added.
Stories from the road
A highlight for Kara is meeting the priests and parishioners at every parish at which she serves.
After Mass in Beloit, a couple from Connecticut, where her story grew in notoriety, came up and talked with her.
The story is the same at all of the parishes, with her fellow servers anxiously wanting their picture taken with her.
Twenty parishes in, Kara has a unique story from every one of them.
In Vermont, after an outdoor Mass, Kara took time to meet with two busloads of parishioners in wheelchairs who were there.
In Westville, Ill, while looking into serving at another parish, a search engine kept directing the family to St. Mary Parish.
“I can’t explain it, but you’re supposed to be here,” the pastor told the family.
Christina said Kara’s presence there helped the pastor cope with the recent loss of his niece. She added he was emotional during the Mass.
One of the more poignant stories happened in Temperance, Mich.
The pastor wanted to talk with Kara and her family after the Mass. He told the story of how he used to make fun of people with disabilities when he was in school, until later finding out one of them was his own cousin. “God finds me repeatedly and brings these children to me,” the pastor there told the family and added, “I have to make reparations for the rest of my life.”
The journey to 50
There’s no exact timetable set when Kara will serve Mass in state number 50, but the family hopes to have visited most of them over the next two to three years. The family will be travelling to the Gulf States between Christmas and New Years.
Many more stories are sure to come for Kara.
“Time after time, we’re lead somewhere, and we don’t know why,” said Christina. “This is something she said God told her to do.”