Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

In May I started a new ministry.  A number of our sisters are at an assisted living facility which is not connected with our congregation.  How do you keep strong and ongoing connections with them? Well, I am one of five "caregivers", who visit 5 or 6 sisters once a week.  Though we are called caregivers our main purpose is to get to know these sisters, to see if all their needs are being met, to enjoy conversations together, and to have a few laughs. When this assisted living facility had to go into lockdown because of COVID cases we could not visit in person, but had to resort to calling.  When the restrictions on visiting were finally lifted we found out how much our presence has meant to the sisters we visited. They were overjoyed to see us!  However, we also discovered that we were just as happy to see them again.  In today's lingo I would call this a win-win situation, but also an example of the importance of connections, especiall...

As we began Community Days 2022 this week with great anticipation of being together – albeit virtually - we were challenged by this statement of Parker Palmer:   “Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it,  ask your life what it intends to do with you.”   It really is an illusion to think we are in total control of our lives. We are part of the unfolding universe, living in relationship with everything that makes up the Earth community, spinning in a tiny part of the Milky Way Galaxy, among millions of galaxies, some of which are coming into view for the first time through the lens of the James Webb Telescope.   Can we learn from the universe what our lives intend to do with us? We are inextricably tied to  planet Earth, and we are called to be her caregivers and life-givers and co-creators with our God. Whatever else we intend to do with our lives, it will be in the context of that primary responsibility. May we accept it with gratitude and j...