Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

One, among the many blessings of Dominican life, is our connections around the world and the ways social media keep us connected. Recently I was at Sinsinawa for a meeting but also invited Springfield IL (Beth) and Iraqi (Habiba) Dominican Sisters to visit.  Beth and I have traveled to Iraq to be with the Dominican Family there and Habiba was a welcoming host to us. Now she is on sabbatical learning English.  Habiba also spoke to the Sisters at the Mound about life in Iraq since ISIS swept across the Nineveh Plain on August 6, 2014.  I have frequent shared news with my Sisters but the opportunity to hear firsthand account was so important. During the visit, Habiba asked Beth and I how we became friends.  I told her, that while Beth and I knew each other, it was our first trip together to Iraq and Habiba’s community that led to our friendship.  I also shared that the days we had together at Sinsinawa deepened the friendship for the three of us.  The...

As our melting pot of a country celebrates Independence Day, I’m celebrating a reunion with two of my sisters from the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate (CDN) – Christina Atienza, OP of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael and Bea Tiboldi, OP of the Dominican Sisters of Peace.   Together with two women who have since been beckoned by God to other life paths and with our two Directors, Joye Gros, OP (Peace Dominican) and Megan McElroy, OP (Grand Rapids Dominican), we shared space, experiences and an unforgettable year together in St. Louis in 2013-2014.   The seeds sown then have sprouted into deep bonds of affection, friendship, sisterhood and a life-long family connection!   Our little St. Louis family is a representative slice of both the larger Dominican family and the United States.   We are intergenerational, inter-congregational, and inter-cultural.   I was the oldest novice and a mother.   Bea (pronounced “Bay-uh”), originally from Budapest, Hung...

I live in a community composed of two Vietnamese and two Sinsinawa Dominicans.   That means we’re all learning about one another’s culture all the time. So within one week, we celebrated Tet (the Lunar New Year, which fell on February 8 th this year) and then Mardi Gras on the 9 th .   Vong and Lien decorated and invited a dozen guests for prayers and supper before Tet, but our Mardi Gras was relatively subdued.   Our house is, after all, a house of study and we’re weeks away from mid-term break.   Tet was an eye-opener for me.   I’ve learned that for many Asian countries, it’s the beginning of spring.   (When I check the newspaper, I find that from now on, the average high temperatures do actually rise.)   In Viet Nam and China, the celebration promises, or at least hopes for, abundance.   People give friends and family money and feast on the best foods they can find—a sort of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years combined.   Having b...

The other day, I wrongly referred to last year’s place of ministry as a day shelter for homeless women.   Why is this wrong?   It’s wrong because putting “homeless” in front of “women” reduces them to a label, a condition, with the result being that their essence often goes unrecognized. Rather, I should have said they are women who are homeless…and who are so much more! How do we label ourselves? Who am I ? I’m a mother, sister, aunt, and friend, a lover of God, people, animals, sunrises and coffee.   I’m a Dominican Sister - specifically a Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa. While each of these partially describes me as an individual, they are part of a much deeper truth that has slowly been revealed to me over the last several years. I am Dominican, which is different than being a Dominican.   Being a Dominican sets me apart as an individual.   Saying “I am Dominican” speaks of essence.   Being Dominican draws me into the embrace of an entir...

This coming Saturday, November 7th, Dominican laity, nuns, sisters and Friars worldwide will officially begin the 800th Jubilee Year of the founding of the Order of Preachers.  Here in Trinidad we have been preparing for this great event for some time now.   Our celebrations will officially kick off on Saturday too with Eucharist at the only monastery here on the island.  In fact most of the celebrations we have planned will take place at the monastery to facilitate the nuns' participation.    The history of Dominicans in Trinidad is as old and as rich as the history of the Church here!  Dominicans Friars, sisters and nuns sent out on mission, built many of our churches and schools.  I have vivid memories of the excitement it generated among us as children when we would see the parish priest, fully robed, coming up the road to visit with us at home.  Those were the days!  As I reflect on this time ...

Last week Mary Therese Johnson wrote about the Dominican Convocation that brought together nearly 400 Dominican Sisters and Associates.    In that crowd I met people that I hadn’t seen for years – all from San Rafael, California! One was my classmates, Maureen McInerny, who is now the prioress of the San Rafael Dominicans.   I met up with her at the last convocation we had three years ago.   Another was a friend from Fresno, California, (where I lived at that time) Margaret Diener.   We were both students at Dominican College (now University) in San Rafael. And another was a sister, whom I hadn’t known before, Sister Marie Sagues, who put me in touch with Sister Marguerite Stanka, O.P., librarian at Dominican College with whom I worked when I was a student there. Maureen, Margaret and Marie were all there in support of Pat Farrell, O.P., a San Rafael Dominican who is the current executive director of the DSC, sponsor of the convocation. Thes...

Recently, I was privileged to attend a weekend during which more than 130 Dominican women from 16 Dominican Congregations whose ministry is in 6 different countries gathered in San Antonio TX to: Pray and contemplate together Engage in significant conversations Share our wisdom Deepen our relationships Open up possibilities Through diverse prayer rituals, deep conversations, and sharing our collective wisdom, we did in fact deepen our relationships.   We quickly came to realize that despite the unique charisms, cultures, and languages of our Congregations, we were in fact one Dominican family.   At the beginning of the weekend as we stood to speak for our tables, we introduced ourselves as NAME, a CONGREGATION NAME Dominican.   By the middle of the first full day, we were introducing ourselves as:   “I am NAME, a Dominican.”   How enriching is this! When was the last time you became more aware of the expansiveness of your family? Are you dra...