Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Black sisters connecting with other Black sisters or sisters of color is never a given. But when you do connect, it is a hair letting down moment.  Knowing that you will be totally accepted no matter what degree, office, committee, or ministry position you held is the first hair pin drop. You stopped checking your expressions and emotions, and you got a break from the eggshells you often encountered. The first summer I attended the National Black Sisters’ Conference and saw over 100 sisters of African descent I immediately felt at home. Listening to other sisters’ stories of how they were able to be authentically Black and a SISTER was/is a healing experience. This annual event of checking into your roots is healing, rejuvenating, and the reasons why we keep returning and are still SISTERS.   Patricia Rogers, OP Glendale, WI

Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me…”   Mk 9:36-37a Sunday’s gospel brings to mind a teaching memory from years ago.  Kenny was in my 4 th  grade once a week art class and he was, to put it mildly, a handful.  He was hyper, always moving, unable to focus – his classroom teacher couldn’t wait to send him to the art room. Although so exasperating he created some great artwork, and I displayed a drawing of his for the fall Open House knowing he would not have any other papers posted with wonderful comments or good grades.  Greeting parents and students that night saw I saw Kenny with an older man, gray haired, wearing bib overalls. I pointed to Kenny’s drawing and said to him, “Did you see Kenny’s picture?”  The man looked up at it with a huge smile and then putting his arms around this youngster looked up at me and said, ...

So often this time of year there is a lot of focus on gratitude. However I have been pondering differences and acceptance. Perhaps the more pointed question is How to celebrate and appreciate what is?  All does not have to be a seen solely through ‘my lens’.   I visited a couple recently who had been bickering with each other. ‘Why doesn’t he compliment me?, Why does she not do things my way?’  Such opportunities to pause and to remember the goodness we see in the other. Just as we each have acquired talents or taste, so too we can explore differences and deepen acceptance.  In our congregation we post remembrances of a sister who has gone before us. What an acceptance treat!  Let’s glory in who we each are. KC Young OP Kirkland, WA

When we can’t understand the behavior of another, and perhaps judge them without knowing their situation, we may find it helpful to get to know them and understand them by walking in their shoes. That’s not easy to do. My home and ministry is at the Mound and Villa at Sinsinawa. The ages of the sisters range from 31 to 100 (with most in their 80s). The life experiences of our sisters are awe-inspiring. I have imbibed their wisdom as they tell their stories. We are changing in many ways and I am learning how to accept what’s going on in me and the sisters I love. Some of our sisters are mentally sharp while others are becoming more forgetful and even mixed up. Hearing and sight losses have greatly affected how they perceive what’s going on.  A key belief our sisters share is that “at the heart of everything is relationship.” A way to be in relationship is to be able to enter into the world of the other. I’m learning more about dementia and how to live in the world of ...