Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

It has been a struggle to find something uplifting to share in this blog. Although it is resurrection season, the news has been filled with excruciating stories of death and selfishness: the insurrection at the capital; 6 mass shootings since January;    3 million deaths world-wide from covid; the crisis at our southern border. But especially poignant and raw has been the agonizing murders of our black and brown siblings at the hands of law enforcement officers and other violent perpetrators.    How long will we tolerate these injustices? The sin of racism is imbedded deeply in our systems and institutions. But it can be uprooted with persistent and communal decisions and actions. Our Corporate Stance for Anti-Racism challenges us to show up and speak up in the presence of racism whenever it shows up where we are.    In this excerpt from the poem, “Here It Is!,” in her book,  Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart,  Alice Walker urges this further tran...

Sequestered, quarantined, moving our ministries and relationships to digital realities, and keeping a social distance in all that we do has not encumbered the Resurrection of Christ.     Nothing could ever impede God’s unending love.     Nothing ever will.     We see Resurrection in our movement from outside to inside, opening up the opportunity to deepen our relationship with the Risen Christ. We see Resurrection out the window and on our daily walks or bike rides as we witness spring happening everywhere, even with some Easter snow.   We see Resurrection in the indomitable courage and strength of the hospital workers and first responders who are bringing healing and hope.  We see Resurrection in the community spirit that fills balconies and porches every night to applaud these heroes and heroines of goodness. We see Resurrection in the naming of long-term disparities and the sin of racism behind them, which this global crisis ...

It has been such a strange Lent Everything seems turned on its head. I have been home for four weeks  socially distancing. Privileged to have a home in which to stay safe. I have been out for a solitary walk each day noticing as the signs of Spring begin to show themselves. Robins come to my balcony,  still the juncos and chickadees and woodpeckers and purple finches and nuthatches. I’ve seen green creeping into the tops of trees, buds  barely visible, yet all waiting. I have been trying to focus on what is important.  Staying connected through FaceTime.  Praying with our sisters via Zoom.  Trying to connect with and teach my students online. It’s still surreal.  Watching the liturgies streamed from our mother house Praying for their safety and for all who are working so hard to support us during this pandemic. No end in sight. We wait. We all wait as we move through these holiest of days. We wait in expectation...

We are in the Easter season and spring has finally come to the Midwest.  The temps are warmer and Earth is greening everywhere you look.  Gentle rain lulls you to sleep at night.  What a marvel to see the new growth of leaves, the green grass, and the unbelievable color in the recently budded flowers and bushes and trees.  I especially love the newness of the leaves…they look all wrinkly and squishy…. Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza says, “Resurrection does not simply spell the survival of the soul but requires the transformation of the world as we know it.”   (Jesus:   Miriam’s Child, Sophia’s Prophet: Critical Issues in Feminist Christology, 121) Springtime reminds me of transformation.   Can I be present to this newness all around me?   What do I notice? Where do I see beauty?      Springtime is such a gift.   With this new season comes amazing change.   All I need to do is open my eyes and ears and hear...

We don’t often think of putting the words “laughter” and “holy” together – at least I don’t!  Sometimes people assume as a sister-in-training I must be very serious.  In fact, in my experience of religious life, joy and laughter are central.  Recently, a sister shared a memory from her college professor days: a student, overhearing the loud laughter of sisters, exclaimed how much fun they were having while he was stuck in his room studying!  And, yes, she laughed as she told me that story. From another sister, I learned about a tradition I’d never heard of: the risus paschalis (Easter Laugh).   Homilists would tell jokes in their Easter Sunday preaching to make the assembly laugh all together – a welcome change after solemn weeks of Lent. Some sources say that the ancient practice of the Easter Laugh symbolizes the Resurrection’s triumph over evil.   Like the bells, flowers, water, and fire that are used during the fifty days of the Easter seaso...

I have always believed that living in community allows one to become an Easter person, or a person dedicated to resurrection and hope.   As Dominican women, we are offered the great gift of living in community “for the sake of our mission.”   In other words, our lives at home should give us all we need to be gospel women.   We live together to cherish gifts, inspire prayerful hearts, accompany each other in whatever struggle arises, learn to laugh, dream and act to make the world a better place, as well as occasionally love off the rough edges.   We can let each one become new, no matter what the circumstance.   Where do you find resurrection happening?   Where do you hear hopeful voices these days? Peggy Ryan, OP Whitefish Bay, WI