Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

This past weekend I participated in a spirit-filled gathering of Dominican women from several different congregations. The focus was "PREACHING the WORD: the Dominican Imperative Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow."   The opportunity to be with over 400 Dominicans who are enthusiastic about our Dominican mission strengthens my commitment and broadens my vision. Joy is a tangible quality of our Dominican gatherings. We embrace friends and discover new ones. Laughter, song and smiles brightened the days. Our "market place" displayed the many different ways that Dominicans are preaching the Word with their lives. In the "market place" I was at a booth that display ed what Dominicans are doing to support Dominicans in ministry among the native/indigen ous peoples. The organization is called Las Casas, named after a Dominican who, after a conversion of heart, ministered diligently on behalf of native/indigenous people over 500 years ago. Las Casas organizatio...

A theme has emerged in my short life as a Sinsinawa Dominican. As a candidate in Madison, I lived with a woman who was a knitting fiend (using ‘fiend’ in the very best sense of the word!)   She doesn’t know it, but I loved to sit and watch as her needles clicked away. As a novice in St. Louis, I was part of a little knitting circle of Dominican sisters and brothers who occasionally met at the priory to knit … and to talk. Last year, at Women’s Hearth in Spokane, I could always find groups of women sitting together, knitting extraordinarily beautiful pieces of work.   What I loved most, though, was just sitting with the women, listening to the banter that accompanied the whir of their knitting needles. Now, in Whitefish Bay/Milwaukee, one of the places I’ve started volunteering is at the Cathedral of St. John, where parish outreach is trying to get a knitting circle off the ground for parishioners and women in a nearby shelter.   In my short time with this...