Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I enjoy going to the movies and have several friends that do as well.   With each of them I know their movie ‘tastes’ and who to ask to join me depending on the film.   My tastes run from Star Wars (I want to be the first nun in space!) to the most recent one I saw: Loving . Loving is a true story of an interracial couple who decided to get married but living in the state of Virginia in the 1950s, this was seen as a criminal act.   For some, the movie would seem slow moving, but the tension that happens because of the pace and the discipline of the actors playing their parts brings the reality of the horror of how people have been and continue to be treated in our country. The irony is that the film title is the last name of this couple and yet so very fitting for the love they had for each other.   Films like Loving provide much more than mere entertainment.   They are teachable moments of how we are meant to be with each other as c...

So often I think of “ministry” and “mission” as synonymous, both meaning “work” or “job.” As a candidate, conversations with sisters have challenged me to broaden my understanding of mission to include the other pillars of Dominican life: study, prayer, and community.  Investing relationships of love, trust, and mutuality with one another to build community offers a powerful witness.   In the broader culture as productivity-oriented Americans, our identity is closed tied with what we do from nine to five.   When we meet someone for the first time, we generally tell them our job title, and ask them theirs.   We tend to define ourselves on what we do rather than how we are with one another.   Of course ministries – teaching, preaching, social justice work, direct service, legislative advocacy – are important for apostolic women and all committed Christians.   However – especially in our polarized nation and world – our relationships with each other...