Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

During these early August days, we mark the 71 st anniversary of the first and only use of nuclear weapons for warfare.  The two bombings -- Hiroshima (Aug, 6th) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9 th ) -- killed at least 129,000 people in 1945.  I learned only recently that Nagasaki was home to the largest Catholic population in Japan; St. Mary's Urakami Cathedral was used by the bombing crew as its target.  How is it that national identity can “over-rule” our shared identity as followers of Jesus?  Too often, we make national differences more important than being children of the same God and members of the same human family.  How can we nurture a world view that treasures what we have in common as human beings and that celebrates our rich diversity?  Did you watch any of the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio? The gathering in one place of nearly 11,200 athletes from 206 countries gave me some hope for our world. ...

As I pondered what I would write about this month, much crossed my mind and heart.  In particular, this summer, I have been thinking about and praying for our Iraqi Dominican Family as the first anniversary of their night of terror (August 6) was observed this month. I am part of a US Dominican Committee whose focus is on the situation for the Iraqi Dominican Sisters and Friars and the people they are serving in displacement camps and refugee centers. We prepared and sent out a prayer for the anniversary and other ways to observe this time including an origami peace crane project. This latter project tied into the 70 th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. A horror no one should ever repeat again.  The peace crane has become a symbol of hope in the face of terror and tragedy.  And yet more comes into this few August days.  One of our oldest sisters died on the eve (August 7) of St Dominic’s Feast Day – just as two women were receive...