Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

So now whether we are celebrating Lent, the time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving or Spring the time of green shoots, pussy willow buds and robins, today is our day with its glorious diversity.  It makes me think of change.  The daily paper wrote, “Turn over a new leaf” What do I want to do differently this year?  How can I be more supportive to the people in my life?  How do I respect earth? How can I be a stronger part of movements that call for making our systems more human? How can I turn a business call into a moment in which I acknowledge another human being? I celebrate that I get to be in a multicultural community. The Sinsinawa Dominicans have roots from African countries, from Trinidad and Tobago, from Spanish-speaking countries in Central and South America, from First Nations from Asian countries, the Pacific Islands, and from many European countries. Diversity is Dominican.  We come from and are sent to the diverse world wit...

Photo Credit:  Sheila Yousuf-Abramson/Fred Oskin We often spend time in Lent looking within.  What is getting in the way of our relationship with God?  We focus on fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.  For Dominicans, Lent must also have an outward focus and involve the world in which we live.  How is our relationship with God moving us toward those on the margins, our sisters and brothers?  Recently, Dominican University’s School of Social Work boarded buses at (UGH) 4:30 a.m. to go to our state capital, Springfield, IL.  We participated with other graduate programs in the National Association of Social Work Advocacy Day.  We met with legislators.  We connected policy to programs.  We stood up for our sisters and brothers who are left outside of access to basic human rights.  Lent calls us to this kind of accompaniment.  The wide mercy of God calls us to walk with...

Dear Lent, You snuck up on me early this year, old friend.   I wasn’t quite ready for you!   But here you are again, and this year, you’re asking me an important question: how well do I really know you? I admit, you aren’t everyone’s favorite season.   You don’t have a reputation for being cheerful, after all.   But the more I get to know you, the more I realized that you aren’t all about sinfulness and sacrifice, though those are realities you speak.   The practices you invite us to embrace – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving – are really about mercy!   If we embrace them well, they can nourish us, bring us outside of ourselves, and help us be more merciful with ourselves and others. Through fasting you invite me to take a break – either temporary or permanent – from the non-essentials.   This can help me to root out the parts of myself that get caught up in destructive habits or selfish behavior.   It can nurture gratitude and en...

Many years ago I came to realize giving up chocolate for Lent was not really helpful for anyone including myself.   I began to see Lent as a time to take up a good habit, to form a new way of being, and/or to learn something useful. At Pope Francis’ suggestion, I am giving up indifference for Lent.   And…I am trying to allow this to be a Spirit led process. Prayerfully, I am asking more questions of myself:   How am I indifferent to needs in my life, in my congregation of Sisters, in the Church, in the neighborhood, and beyond?   What are systemic evils that I choose to ignore?   What systemic evils do I need to do more than I am doing already?   What do I need to learn so that my indifference may be healed? Yes…healed! And will I be patient and trusting in the healing needed? One systemic evil the Sinsinawa Dominicans have called ourselves to face is our own internalized racism - not only personally but importantly as an inst...