Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I’ve lived in four communities of sisters during my discernment with the Sinsinawa Dominicans: my local community at the Mound, as a Candidate in Atlanta, as a Novice in St. Louis, and now as a second year Novice in Denver.  As I begin this third year in community, I’m reminded how creating community is a somewhat awkward process—especially at first.  Learning about each sister—her personality, how she adds to the “mix” of the community and how I can best relate to her—is often a trial-and-error process requiring patience and intention.  Developing new relationships is a time of great excitement, requiring both openness and vigilance.      Today it strikes me how integral community-building is to being human, not just a woman religious.  Right now I’m visiting my cousin in California during the birth of her second child—yesterday she and her husband had a beautiful, healthy baby boy.  I spent the day with their 3-year-old daughter, Gabrie...

"Called forth by God's expansive love and mercy for all creation...we commit ourselves to the urgent summons of Laudato Si to care for Earth, our home."  These words taken from our Direction Statement 2016-2021 will be my inspiration this week as beginning today at Dominican Wellspring, I host a camp for kids.  This will be the second year for the camp that has as its main aim to introduce the children and their families to our responsibility as earth dwellers to become better caretakers of all of God's creation.   The children will be immersed in activities which will model caring for creation, from reducing consumption and waste to being thoughtful about reuse and recycling.   I feel very happy to have this opportunity to raise awareness in children, of the need to care for our planet, and I am grateful that I belong to a congregation that extends its ministry of mercy to include all of God's creation.   What are you doing to care for Earth, o...

Have you ever after facing a challenging situation in your life in retrospect realized that it had helped you to grow and shaped you into a better person?  It assisted you on the journey of finding the true you? We the Sinsinawa Dominicans believe at the heart of ministry is relationship.  This became a reality for me while being the parish administrator at New Grant R.C. parish.  It was through the challenges of that ministry for four and a half years that assisted in shaping me into who I have become today.   It was through my daily interaction with all types of people, people I was expected to love and through various life situations that required me to lead by example.  I literally had to practice what I had preached on weekends and it was far from easy!Without those experiences my faith and ability to love and forgive would not have been tested.  My prayer life would not have been tested and strengthen.  My relationship with Jesus Chr...