Deacon Jim has been working with another family, local to him in the New York area, as he feels their daughter will have a cause opened for her sainthood. Deacon Jim has financed a beautiful grotto to Our Lady of Lourdes, a small school with classrooms, school bus and little shopping area in India for the Dalit Community all to honor the life of Kaitlyn Bernhardt. This has been done under the direction of Fr. Ben Chinnappan. Kaitlyn was a beautiful, spiritual soul and offered her suffering for souls for 2 years until she succumbed to the terrible disease of cancer.
She was to leave shortly before her death to go to Lourdes, France, but was never able to make it.
Kaitlyn’s young life deeply touched Deacon Jim. Kaitlyn’s mom, Jennifer Bernhardt, shared the following details about Kaitlyn’s life with me so we could also see her beautiful soul. She said, “Kaitlyn loved dolphins! She called them her ‘spirit animal’. Her best friend bought her a dolphin when she was very sick and enlisted her in a Historical Dolphin Academy. Kaitlyn swam with the dolphins before she was sick on a family vacation, we took each year to Curacao. Kaitlyn was a competitive swimmer and swimming allowed her to feel free. The open wound from her bone cancer prevented her from going back into the ocean, but they did allow her to swim in a pool. She loved the ocean and the beach, and while happy she could at least swim in a pool, we made an agreement that neither of us would go back in the ocean and swim until she was cured.
This brings us to that day in July in 2018, just two weeks after her passing, when I took my first walk to her favorite beach in Breezy Point, where she spent all her childhood summers, with both my dad and my husband Rob. I felt some sort of betrayal to go into the ocean. I felt like I should never swim ever again without Kaitlyn. I didn’t want to break our “pact” It was a month after her passing. The ocean was glistening, and it looked almost surreal for an ocean in Queens, NY. There weren’t a lot of people there, so I went in. And I cried. Then I saw the dolphins. They didn’t jump around us, but they came very close! I never saw dolphins in these waters before, and I had spent my life growing up at this beach. I was overjoyed. They swam away and I felt it was a sign that Kaitlyn was happy I went into the ocean, and she was ok.
As we were walking out of the ocean, my husband saw something floating in the water by the waves. It was a little clear bag with yellow and green rosary beads inside, beads that were as good as new, not eroded from ocean water. And floating? The significance of the colors goes back to the week Kaitlyn was supposed to be in Lourdes, but too sick to go. She was sleeping on the couch. She sat up excitedly smiling from her sleep and said, ‘Mom, Heaven is so beautiful! It has so much yellow and green, and lots of flowers, and the pastures look similar to the Microsoft screensaver (she was trying to explain it to me). Heaven is yellow and green!’”
Jennifer said, “We still have the rosary beads. She loved the Rosary, and she held them in her hands when she slept. Rosary beads came to every hospital visit, every ambulance ride, every treatment. She was an originating member of the Rosary Club at her grammar school, St. Bernard, before she was sick. Her devotion to Mary was unparalleled and continues to inspire me. The entire story is a miracle with lots of significance and tons of signs. Thank you for taking the time to hear it.
This is Kaitlyn’s website http://www.sweetkaitlynrose.com, which shares a lot of her story and different news articles and her recent TV interview. Her legacy lives on through kindness and love. I know together, Kaitlyn and Brittany will continue to make a difference in this world.”
I know Kaitlyn’s life has also touched yours and you can learn more about her life at the above link. I’m so thankful to Jennifer for sharing these details with me about Kaitlyn. We have another beautiful intercessor in Heaven.