Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

As Dominicans of Sinsinawa we are committed to working for justice. One of our main goals is to become an antiracist, multicultural congregation. Many of us have participated in intense workshops sponsored by Cross Roads , an educational organization that supports and guides people and organizations that are striving to become antiracist. We made our formal commitment at our Chapter in 2000. Each month I take part in an antiracist caucus group. There are five of us in my group. There are probably 15 caucus groups with 5-8 participants. We’ve shared our own personal stories of racism and have been significantly changed in the process. We come to know in a deeper way the influence of racism in our American culture of white privilege. Each caucus group communicates its monthly dialog on the internet so we can all benefit from the wisdom of one another. Personally I continue to caucus because I want to and need to become more antiracist. It is not easy to admit that rac...

Leading retreats fills much of my ministry life.   I do this with a congregation of priests known as the Passionists - working with them at their Spiritual Center in Florida. The retreats we offer bring women and men from particular parishes each weekend for most of the year.   Our hope is that we are sending people back to their parishes nourished spiritually. Around this time each year, we – the retreat team – need to make a decision about the theme for the next season (which starts in September.)   While we bring ideas to the table, we also let them settle into our spirits – listening to the Holy Spirit for guidance. This year it seemed to come a little easier.   Together we heard a passage from the Letter of James read at Mass and afterward discovered several of us were thinking the same thing:   There’s our theme: “Draw near to God and God will draw near to you.”   (James 4:8) We also develop an image for the theme.   This ...