Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I saw rolling waves of youthful faces above a sea of Wisconsin red t-shirts, last week as I drove near UW campus.  It was the freshman class of 2017 coming to the Chancellor's Convocation for New Students. There was undiluted energy in their steps, but also concentrated security in their walking with one another.   I wonder what was in their thoughts. A new beginning? like Georgia wrote about in her last blog. Changing the world?  Will they come to ask the question that Tanya asked in her blog, "How do we continue to fight the systemic nature of oppression and injustice?" The sisters and associates that I meet with in circle, and in antiracism caucus groups each month are also  creative waves of life and energy. We come together no longer needing the security of youth but enjoying the strength and challenge that comes from being sisters.  When we come together, we often challenge one another to fight systemic injustice.  There ...

Happy Labor Day!  No matter how old I get the Labor Day weekend always reminds me of new beginnings; the start of a new school year after the more relaxed atmosphere of summer.  As a child getting ready for the school year I always went shopping with my Aunt Marie for a new pair of school shoes and then stocked up on all the required school supplies.  Everything felt new and fresh.  No matter the failures or misfortunes of the previous school year, September offered a chance for a new beginning. God offers us this same opportunity.  No matter our screw-ups, our poor choices, we always have the opportunity to begin again.  Jesus gives us the opportunity to drink deeply of the Living Water of the Holy Spirit.  This grace helps us to discern how our personal gifts can be used to build the reign of God in our fragile world.  Two of my good friends have left home this summer to answer the call to religious life.  To what is ...