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...

What a time we are in and how creative we are called to be. How prayerful we need to be of those globally who have contracted COVID-19.  But I have an issue... with the phrase "social distancing." As this time of sheltering in place and paying attention to potential symptoms, I realized what I am asked to do is be  physically distant .  With limited physical shared space besides the Sisters with whom I live, it is interesting to see how staff at the grocery stores & pharmacies do their jobs with and for us and also keep distance. We need not be unsocial in our interactions but cautious with our physical presence. We all need social, spiritual, emotional and soul-filled connections. Where I live, we may take walks and be mindful of physical space, but a greeting and wave is a way to socially acknowledge the other we see. Some of my walks are silent meditations, some I listen to a podcast or a radio station.  The best are those when I call a frien...

Last month I wrote on the topic: Anticipation, because I was heading to Rome for a global gathering of members of the Order of Preachers.  I promised to share some of that experience here. I had to let that my first trip to Rome was not going to be as a tourist.  A bit of extra time before the conference started and aspects of the schedule did allow for some sites/sights to be seen. With my travel companion, we had just enough time to see St Peter’s Basilica and even able to get into the crypt church below the altar.  By sheer chance we ran into two other Dominicans and spent the rest of the evening with them.  Most evenings of the Mission Congress concluded at various worship sites including the main church for the Order, Santa Sabina, the Great Synagogue of Rome and more. What does stand out for me is the new and renewed connections with Dominicans from around the globe.  On this side of the Rome experience, I carry the conversations and learnings I...

As Dominicans, we talk a lot about connections and relationships; and connecting is so much a part of us that most of the time, we don’t even think about it.   Recently, someone asked me what I’ve been doing lately; and I realized how much of my time had been spent connecting with others.   I respond to a lot of emails. I regularly forward useful information or contacts to former colleagues and students.   I check in on Facebook every so often.   I share daily meals, prayers, and conversations with the Sisters with whom I live.   I send a lot of notes, letters, get-well, sympathy, and birthday cards.   I’m often on the phone as well. None of that is surprising since relationships matter to Dominicans. Maintaining connections is part of what we are. But this also made me think: as my wise sister-in-law used to tell her growing children, prayer is an on-going conversation.    She’d tell them that they had to keep that connect...

This morning, I found myself in a quiet house, with a cup of good coffee, a book of poetry, and a window inviting me to simply sit, be still and reflect on the goodness of God. A gnarled knot on the thick tentacle that was a maple tree branch stared back at me, like the eye of an octopus.   While neither the tree nor the ‘eye’ was God, I could see God in both.   In that moment, a connection was made between God, a tree, an ocean creature, and me – reaffirming the interconnectedness of all Creation.   The pregnancy of that moment birthed thoughts and images of so many people who are part of my life – family, Sisters, friends, former co-workers, people with and for whom I’ve ministered - life-long connections and connections only days old. Those connections between a wood knot, an octopus eye, God’s omnipresence, and the people in my life, prompted me to ponder the meaning of St. Paul’s exhortation to “pray without ceasing”, a challenging one for me.   Could ...

Last week Mary Therese Johnson wrote about the Dominican Convocation that brought together nearly 400 Dominican Sisters and Associates.    In that crowd I met people that I hadn’t seen for years – all from San Rafael, California! One was my classmates, Maureen McInerny, who is now the prioress of the San Rafael Dominicans.   I met up with her at the last convocation we had three years ago.   Another was a friend from Fresno, California, (where I lived at that time) Margaret Diener.   We were both students at Dominican College (now University) in San Rafael. And another was a sister, whom I hadn’t known before, Sister Marie Sagues, who put me in touch with Sister Marguerite Stanka, O.P., librarian at Dominican College with whom I worked when I was a student there. Maureen, Margaret and Marie were all there in support of Pat Farrell, O.P., a San Rafael Dominican who is the current executive director of the DSC, sponsor of the convocation. Thes...

An email picture -- associates and me at a conference-- reminded me of an article sent by Sinsinawa's Relation For Mission team --"Concentration on Connections Will Keep Religious Life Alive." I am connected to Faith Communities of Madison through an organization called MOSES (Madison Organizing in Strength Equality and Solidarity.)     I am the leader of its religious leader caucus.   I bring the clergy and other spiritual leaders of our 20 some organizations together to strengthen the spiritual bonds of individual communities that are helping bring an end to mass incarceration. In order to build relationships with the leaders and people of the various faith communities, I take time each week to attend special events and/or Sunday services with Lutheran, African Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, Congregational, Unitarian, Unity or Friends communities. Last Saturday I joined James Reeb Unitarian community   as they ordained their new minister.   I neve...