Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Since the beginning of 2020 and COVID following shortly thereafter, we Dominicans of Sinsinawa have said good-bye to 53 of our Sisters who entered eternal life.     Three of those Sisters left behind a biological sister who is also a member of the congregation.     This becomes an even more significant loss for those Sisters.     We, both as a community and also as individual human beings, are mourning our losses.     Our beautiful wake/remembering services and funeral liturgies do help.     Since COVID restrictions have become less stringent, we have been able to accompany a Sister’s remains to the cemetery.     This also assists us saying our “good-byes.”   Although we are happy for the Sister who has entered eternity, nevertheless, we are grieving.  Today, I gathered the memorial cards for all of these Sisters, held each of them and all of them in prayer, and recalled my connection and encounters with each Sis...

My apostolic year in Spokane – a year of challenge, growth and many blessings, is quickly coming to an end; the process of anticipatory grieving and saying good-byes – a difficult part of religious life - is well under way.  I like to gather and keep ‘treasures’ from the places I’ve lived…pine cones, leaves, seeds, feathers, etc.  My most prized ‘treasures’, though, are the people I’ve met, things they’ve said and written.  Here is a sampling: “I feel like I went through a knothole backwards.” (A Women’s Hearth participant’s response when I asked how she was doing.   When I think I’m having a bad day, I think of this woman and so many others who face unbelievable challenges on a daily basis. Pretty humbling.) “Listen or your tongue will keep you deaf.” (From a Women’s Hearth staff meeting reflection.   Good advice and a morning mantra.) “Why did I ever come to a Jesuit university?” (I had to smile at that one, which was on a bathroom wall in Gonzag...