Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Let’s celebrate St. Patrick’s Day—everyone is Irish on that day. Right? Though Ancestry.com testing might not indicate I’m Irish, the influence of the Irish culture lives within me. I will claim to be Irish by association.   On March 17 my “Spirit” circle will celebrate by sharing our insights from our study of Celtic spirituality. It’s my turn to choose our topic, offer resources, and facilitate our conversation. I’ve wanted to discover the essence of Celtic spirituality and I found it resonates with who I am.   Spirituality is a way of expressing who we are and how we live out what we believe. A central wisdom of the Celts is that all life is sacred and God is always with us, in us, all around us in the ordinariness of our lives.     The great discovery for me is how Celtic spirituality is so similar to Dominican spirituality. Celts have monastic roots. They pray always, not enclosed in a monastery but live in community wherever they are. Contemplation and stu...

We just celebrated St. Patrick's Day! It's a day of great music, dancing, everything green, including beer. I am not Irish but I enjoy celebrating this day because it taps into a cultural pride. Everyone gets into the spirit of the day. There are even buttons that say: Irish for the day. Our community has as one of its goals to become a multicultural, anti-racist congregation. One small way we can do this is to learn about festivities for each of the many cultures we are connected with. Part of my background is Polish. Three years ago I traveled to Poland and when I walked through the cities I felt I was walking on ground my ancestors would have walked on. It was a profound experience and made me appreciate my ancestry even more than before. It also made me more sensitive to the cultural roots of others, and I returned from that trip more eager to learn about and celebrate those cultures, too. How do you learn about/celebrate cultures that are not your own? M...