Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Recently, our household, two sisters and two women, who hope to become associates,  circled together for a study session. Reading, " Being Dominican and Renewing the Face of the Earth" by our sister, Kaye Ash, started the conversation. A question from it stays with me: " Do our mourning and our deep gladness meet our world's deep hunger?" So many things to mourn! What are you mourning?   Racism in the aftermath of Michael Brown?   Denial of climate change?   Indifference to mass incarceration? (those are some of mine). What a gift to be able to share questions! What a blessing to be able to set aside time to study! No doubt each of us was born to study or else why would one of a child's first words be " why ?" My questions become more complex and more necessary as I seek not only to know why but also to know how to make a difference.   Study helps me to see a pathway through my questions, and also to frame new ones. Dominican wom...

Advent has begun, a time to hope, a time to reflect and a time to prepare for the coming of Christ.    My Advent check-in is to ask myself how is Christ present in my life and what do I need to do for a deeper relationship with Christ?   I begin Advent with a heavy heart because of the pain and anger I see in people around the world: Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo (United States) and the 43 students abducted in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero (Mexico), the people of Iraq and the Ebola deaths in Africa.   As a Christian, I am called to see every person as a human being, beyond stereotypes of race, class, religion, status, illness, and to see all people belong to one human family.     In paraphrasing Sofia Nelson, when we fail to see a person, as not human, we justify dehumanization.    The Gospel calls me to see everyone as sisters and brothers in Christ.      “Todos Somos Ayotzinapa,” we are the people of Ayotzinapa, we are one hu...