Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

One hundred years from now, I hope people will remember this about our community: We were people who spent our lives advocating for the rights of women, people of color, native peoples, immigrants... all the while treating each person we encountered with profound dignity.   Carol Fox, OP

  The Quest Never Loses Its Savor   Who was this young student-sister whose final essay in English comp at Rosary College she titled “The Image of Man in Western Civilization” (Sister Julie said, “Let Christopher Dawson do this.”) And whose final paper for her MA she titled “Man in Search.” (inclusive language had not yet been invented.)   It could only be the daughter of a mother and father, Third Order Dominicans, whose daily reading as she grew up was publications like  America ,  Commonweal ,  Integrity , and  The Catholic Worker . Not that I understood a word of it--though I did try, once…   But I did catch the Dominican quest-bug, even as we children crouched near the radio for “Nick Carter Master Detective” and “The Shadow” while our parents went off on Sunday afternoons to Marquette Poetry Teas and meetings of the Thomist Association they started for the theological education of laity.   Thus, I found myself, three years after my sister Monica, joining the Sisters at Sinsinawa,

Soon and very soon we will be stepping into the Advent Season. I love this time of year when the whole universe waits in tingling anticipation for the birth of our Savior. Of course, you might say, He was born already a long time ago. He entered into the human race at a specific moment in time and in a specific place – of course! Our time is here and now and our challenge and gift is to trust that He is being born again in us. Our Dominican brother Meister Eckhart says, “What good is it that Christ was born in a stable in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago if he is not also born in me?”   When Mary was invited to give birth to Jesus her response was, “How can this be?” and we might also respond in kind. Let us remind ourselves that the power is in God and not in us and with God all things are possible. For our part, we are being invited to open our whole being to that power in order to cultivate a spirit of gratitude and a heart filled with compassion. “We are all meant to be mothers of Go

One hundred years from now, I hope people will remember this about our community: that we used our talents and time to reach out to people in need. Sheila Griffin, OP