Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

"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...

Care of Earth For Earth, our common home, we pray.    Let us protect all creation. 100 million people could die by 2030 from climate change. Crops are withering. Water is dirty. Species face extinction. Do your part. Value and protect our common home. Play It Forward.....Care of Earth

Like many of us, I look forward to my morning cup of coffee! This morning, I wondered how often we consider the people who grow our coffee. I am on a committee our Congregation created years ago called the Alternative Investment Committee . It's sole purpose is to make loans to nonprofit organizations that help low-income women and families around the world. Small Farmers in Latin America these past two years have suffered great losses due to torrential rains that have destroyed their coffee trees. The loans from Root Capital make it possible for local co-ops to provide training and loans, helping small farmers buy new trees and seeds as they learn how to diversify and not  depend on their coffee crop to survive. Many of these farmers are seeing their income rise thanks to the International markets now available to them via the co-ops and the variety of local produce and animals they can sell locally.  This morning, I am thinking about these farmers a...

I feel sad.  My body longs for light. I think that I should be a bear so that I could hibernate for this dark season.  SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder is descriptive of what this northerner experiences this time of year. Seeing the Christmas lights are a little comfort. For me taking time to light one advent candle at a time is more than just a symbol that Christmas is coming. When I sit in stillness the season of SAD and Advent reminds me that my soul also longs for light….. for enlightenment so I can let go of selfish plans and desires for freedom for 22,000 people in my state's prisons (Wisconsin) for healing for families I know that long for reconciliation for wholeness for the wounded earth smothered by carbon emissions for fullness of the universe where love and justice reside What are longings of your heart?   During Advent we pray for light.   Advent can be a time to share our longings with others in our life. Then we can remember, the ...

I’ve been spending a lot of time at a farm lately, where I’m learning how critical a plant’s root system is for its ability to flourish.  Tomatoes aren’t transplanted from their starter trays until the root system is tight and full, and then they’re planted deep in the ground to allow extra roots to sprout from the stem. We humans also put down roots.  I’ve moved four times in the past three years, and I know it’s not easy to put down roots in a new place or community.  Now I’ve begun this itinerant Dominican life, knowing that I’ll probably be called to live in many different places throughout the years. Yet no matter how grounded or ungrounded I may feel in a given place, I will always be rooted in something more certain: God’s love!  Ephesians 3:20 reminds me of this: “May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” In the midst of transition, I’m learning to let my heart be rooted and gr...

What is calling you to newness this season? The tree out my window, barren a month ago, is now rich with new green leaves. So many seeds buried for the winter are sprouting, and the songs of birds announce hatchlings. Recently I responded to a call to dream and plan with a group that is taking a long look at our stewardship of the land at Sinsinawa, the Mound.  On Memorial Day, Mark Shepard came as a resource person to the group.  His vision of permaculture agriculture helps me to see that care of people, concern for fair distribution of resources and care of earth is one rich piece.  We hope to visit his farm, New Forest Farm, Viola, Wisconsin this summer. (see www.newforestfarm.net ) to see how permaculture might apply to the Mound. The call that I experienced in my youth, to give my life to care for others, and to search for and teach truth  has come together in a new way. We, Sinsinawa sisters, stated our vision and mission for 2011-2016 thi...