Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Do you know that there are more than 24,000 Dominican Sisters in the world?   These Dominicans are living and serving in about 115 of the world’s countries.   Our Sinsinawa congregation is one of about 150 different Dominican congregations scattered over the planet. It’s a big sisterhood! During this past week, April 28 – May 5, the leaders of these congregations of Dominican Sisters from around the world gathered in Rome, Italy. This important assembly is organized by Dominican Sisters International ( http://www.dsiop.org ) and it happens every three years.   During these days, prioresses (elected leaders) will explore ways to collaborate in order to further their shared mission to preach the Gospel.   Imagine the Sister from Argentina discussing with the Sister from Ireland whether Sisters from Argentina might come to Ireland to study English.   Imagine a Sister from the USA discussing with a Sister from Zambia whether a Sister from the USA might volu...

“Let us wake up then, open our eyes in apostolic charity, and if we are called, set out for any place where the work is great and difficult.” That statement by our founder, Samuel Mazzuchelli, has challenged me lately. Ministry with victims of domestic violence has been both life giving and energy sapping.   At times, I feel like Alice – not of Wonderland but of the Looking Glass.   Every day I am impelled to look into a mirror and claim what I see; to acknowledge some of my internal reactions to people I’ve met, situations I’ve encountered, and to the culture in which I find myself - a culture so different from my own experience and one that is negatively impacted by the effects of racism, poverty and white privilege – including my own.   This work, while so necessary, is painful for me.   Honestly, sometimes, it just seems too great and too difficult.   A friend recently suggested that perhaps the great and difficult work I am being called to is...