Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

As we step into the practices and  opportunities of this Lenten season I am aware that a whole year has gone by in our Covid reality. My nature appreciates solitude and my own company, but I do so miss my sisters. Even though I know they are close by and that I have lots of zoom and FaceTime opportunities, like millions all over the world I miss all the in person gatherings. My closest companions these days are the birds that flock to the seeds I put on my balcony. I have Chickadees, Cardinals, Woodpeckers , Juncos, Finches, Sparrows, Mourning Doves and the occasional Bluejay. I have learned  lots from these feathered ones this year.   How to take just what I need. How to share. How to take turns. How to stay  alert. How to just BE.   I think most of all they remind me of my own place in the great scheme of things. Like them I am but one expression of this sacred diversity of life. The birds, the trees, the lake awaken me to my small unique p...

Community “The search – for self, for wisdom, for love, for truth, for justice, for God – is strenuous and unending.   We need good companions in order to persevere in it.   In good company, in a community of conviction, the quest never loses its relevance, its urgency or its savor.” -   Kay Ashe, OP These words by Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Kay Ashe have been a source of much reflection for me lately as I continue through my candidacy year.   I find myself surrounded with “good companions” with whom I share not only vespers and meals, chores and groceries, cars and bank accounts, but also deeply challenging and deeply beautiful moments.   As someone who works directly with immigrant children, the national news has been deeply disturbing.   On a personal level, I have grieved some losses of loved ones in past months.   In the midst of this, life in community has been a source of genuine support, encouragement and growth.   “We hav...

Last Saturday I hosted a “Circle” gathering of Sisters and Associates at our house.  Although Sinsinawa Dominicans use the word “circle” for these, generally monthly, meetings, each group’s circle seems to be one-of-a-kind with little in common with other circles other than we all tend to sit in circles.  Circles have no canonical status; but from the way the members cling to them, it’s obvious that circles are important. Theoretically, the circle I belong to has 17 members.   But about 5 Associates and 10 professed Sisters usually show up for a gathering.   Someone may be out of town.   Another person may be sick.   Someone else may just have a conflict for the date we’ve chosen.   Individuals in our group are not necessarily close friends and may not often meet one another except at Circle gatherings where we snack a bit, pray, “check in”—meaning catch up on what’s going on in one another’s lives, what’s important, how each member is feeling abo...

Recently, our household, two sisters and two women, who hope to become associates,  circled together for a study session. Reading, " Being Dominican and Renewing the Face of the Earth" by our sister, Kaye Ash, started the conversation. A question from it stays with me: " Do our mourning and our deep gladness meet our world's deep hunger?" So many things to mourn! What are you mourning?   Racism in the aftermath of Michael Brown?   Denial of climate change?   Indifference to mass incarceration? (those are some of mine). What a gift to be able to share questions! What a blessing to be able to set aside time to study! No doubt each of us was born to study or else why would one of a child's first words be " why ?" My questions become more complex and more necessary as I seek not only to know why but also to know how to make a difference.   Study helps me to see a pathway through my questions, and also to frame new ones. Dominican wom...

A couple of Sisters of mine just returned from fishing in the Clearwater River in Idaho where one caught a 20-pound steelhead, which is a species of salmon. (Or maybe trout.)   It is a magnificent fish that, because it is endangered, was released after a quick photo.             Steelhead migrate from the ocean to their ancient inland spawning ground – their reproductive home - traveling up to 800 miles, jumping fish ladders and swimming upstream in the process.   Wow!   What keeps the steelhead going? I don’t know…dead reckoning, magnetic fields, smells, instinct? There are lots of theories behind animal migration.   All I know is the steelhead persevere; they just do it… year after year after year after year… always moving toward that which beckons.   And by doing so, they produce new life. There are times in our own lives when we might feel as though we’re swimming upstream, fighting current,...