Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Cards in the dark? Well, kind of… Only dim candle light helped us see our cards. At least we couldn’t peep over at someone else’s cards. Our dear planet needed us to remind one another that she is indeed fragile – hence Earth Hour all over the globe and in Atlanta, Georgia. Many of us are “in the dark” when it comes to the cries of Earth, kin to us and our Divine Companion. This 500 Rummy game proved to be delightfully humorous tinged with the usual competitive desire to win. I lost miserably but my wonderful community of sisters won in the light of new understanding of Earth’s needs. Sr. Patty Caraher, OP

Sister Nora Ryan tutors a third grade Burundian girl at the International Community School in Decatur Georgia. Recently the task was to talk about “sames and differences”. Naomi said: “You have white hair and I have black hair; you are tall and I am short.” Holding out her hand she said, “I have brown skin” and touching Nora’s hand she said, “Your skin is wh….” In a voice of surprise, she didn’t finish that sentence but instead said, “You’re not white!” She then picked up a piece of white paper and put it up to Nora’s hands and said, “This paper is white”. Nora asked, “what color am I?” Naomi said, “light brown” and that’s what she put on her paper. I love this story. What color are any of us and why is it such a sad significance in our country? As Dominicans of Sinsinawa one of our goals is to be an anti-racist congregation. You might be thinking, “Well, that’s easy. You are nuns.” Truth to tell, this is a life-long journey of recognizing white privilege and working to end racism whi...