Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

For most of my 9 years as a Sinsinawa Dominican, I have ministered among women on the margins of society; margins set by poverty, sexism, racism, domestic violence, and addiction among others. I know firsthand the plight of working women and working mothers, having been a single mother myself. I didn’t know what this life would be like but quickly became aware of the many privileges we as women religious have. It was from that limited, therefore faulty, perspective that made me hesitate ministering directly with our elderly sisters – I thought they had everything they needed and had all the help they needed. Thankfully, providence intervened. Last summer, I began ministering with our sisters at an assisted living facility in south-central Wisconsin while taking Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) classes. I see more clearly now something I thought I knew well … that need is everywhere. Hurt and loneliness are everywhere. Longing to live a life of meaning is common to us all.    ...

“Let us wake up then, open our eyes in apostolic charity, and if we are called, set out for any place where the work is great and difficult.” That statement by our founder, Samuel Mazzuchelli, has challenged me lately. Ministry with victims of domestic violence has been both life giving and energy sapping.   At times, I feel like Alice – not of Wonderland but of the Looking Glass.   Every day I am impelled to look into a mirror and claim what I see; to acknowledge some of my internal reactions to people I’ve met, situations I’ve encountered, and to the culture in which I find myself - a culture so different from my own experience and one that is negatively impacted by the effects of racism, poverty and white privilege – including my own.   This work, while so necessary, is painful for me.   Honestly, sometimes, it just seems too great and too difficult.   A friend recently suggested that perhaps the great and difficult work I am being called to is...

I walk down the hallway of the shelter and turn out the bathroom light. An hour later, I do it again. Two hours later, the same thing. 6-8 times a night, I turn off the bathroom light until …finally… Epiphany! A light goes on in my own head and heart… shining on the truth of a reality that to women and children living in the darkness of domestic violence... conservation simply means self-preservation, making your own light… maybe even leaving it on where you find it. As Christian women and men, we are called to be light to others… and to accept light from others… without judgment, without exception. May 2016 truly be a year of mercy compassion and love A year committed to ending violence in our world, in our country, in our neighborhoods and in our own hearts A year committed to letting our light shine… for the common good… for Peace   John 1:5 “ The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” ...