Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Before I came to Alaska I would often defer to others I felt were more articulate or talented than I was, and I preferred to be in the background. As a result I never fully realized the gifts I had to share, especially with a faith community.  However, when I arrived in Juneau six years ago there were few resources here to help to nurture growth in faith.  I found myself more or less thrust into the position of being a leader of prayer at times when others were not available.  At first I balked: who was I to lead prayer for a community I hardly knew?  But I remember learning that God doesn't always call the qualified, but God qualifies the called. With that confidence and with a fair amount of courage I began to lead occasional weekday Communion services. When I was asked one day to lead a Sunday service in a nearby village I not only saw this as an opportunity to use th...

That's the question my uncle asked when I told him I was going to become a Dominican.  Little did I or my family of origin know what a family we would gain in my being a Dominican.  Recently about 50 members of our Dominican family gathered at the Catholic Multicultural Center in Madison WI .  Two sisters and two associates helped all reflect on the Dominican flavor of living into the future. One suggested "living our questions now."  Another said, "Run to the edges and get on with the preaching".   It is so encouraging to gather with our family and to experience how each one is courageously living out gifts of the Spirit, searchers of truth and witnesses of God's justice/love. In the afternoon Dominican Associates of the region renewed their commitment to the family, and Michael Childers became an associate (shown in the photo being welcomed by one of the sisters). We also belong to the world wide Dominican Family.  This mon...