Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

It is a cave of sorts. A Global collection of people are crammed together with luggage piled floor to ceiling.  Unlike the donkey, trains were on strike.   All faces glued, to the fine print of the ever changing billboard, announcing arrivals and departures.   People with a mission and a purpose like Mary and Joseph. The door swung in, edging us closer together, and the door swung out, making room for anyone who came knocking.   Are you waiting for an arrival, or for a departure?  Is your purpose being lived?   Here is what I gave birth to, as I waited to depart:   Like Mary and Joseph, we carry a call.   All we know, is something beyond our womb is calling us.   We find ourselves whether male or female pregnant once again!   Do we abort? Do we carry to term?   We worry.  How will we feed this call?   Wakening, we hope all is a dream.   It is a reality.    We've been here before. Over and over throughout our...

How do you define what or who is most important to you?  Where does your energy go?  What would you grab if you had to run out of a burning building? There are so many ways to ask each of us what really matters.  For Dominicans, our mission to share with others the fruits of our contemplation centers our lives around the life of Christ.  We name mercy, love, peace, and justice as our main concerns.  Prayer, study, community, and preaching make up the rhythm of our days and our nights.  We work to free ourselves, our Congregation, and our world from racism.  We join with others to find ways to live sustainably. Gun violence, the protection of our planet, being concerned for the equity and inclusion of all of God’s children, the plight of migrant refugees and immigrants searching for ways to feed their families, fair voting, and making sure that all those who have been marginalized can tell that we are with them….these ...

  “Whatsoever you do to the lest of these you have done to me.” Matt. 35 “Yours are the hands through which Christ blesses all the world. ...Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” Teresa of Avila I have tried to live out my religious life following these two quotes, realizing they are addressed to lay folks as well. In 100 years from now, I hope people will remember the Sinsinawa Dominicans for doing this, responding to the needs of the day with courage and love, strengthened by living the 4 pillars of the Dominican order (prayer, study, community and mission) and knowing that we have each other's back. Stella Storch, OP

One morning I was on my 8:00am weekly transformational leadership growth group conference call.   Where some of us who are leaders in the local Catholic Church were sharing on what was our mission and purpose in our life.     When it was his turn to share the youngest member of our group who was in his early 30’s then proceeded to tell us that he did not subscribe to having a mission and purpose for his life.       Well, to say the least I could not believe what I was hearing.     Why would this thirty something year old not think that there was a purpose for his life?   It made me think of myself and my journey to discovering my purpose.  I did not always know what it was until I realized that you and I are here on this earth now for a reason.  It is not by chance or coincidence, it is to fulfill our purpose.  We are not called to merely exist, but to thrive.  Figuring out and living our purpose in lif...

Let’s celebrate St. Patrick’s Day—everyone is Irish on that day. Right? Though Ancestry.com testing might not indicate I’m Irish, the influence of the Irish culture lives within me. I will claim to be Irish by association.   On March 17 my “Spirit” circle will celebrate by sharing our insights from our study of Celtic spirituality. It’s my turn to choose our topic, offer resources, and facilitate our conversation. I’ve wanted to discover the essence of Celtic spirituality and I found it resonates with who I am.   Spirituality is a way of expressing who we are and how we live out what we believe. A central wisdom of the Celts is that all life is sacred and God is always with us, in us, all around us in the ordinariness of our lives.     The great discovery for me is how Celtic spirituality is so similar to Dominican spirituality. Celts have monastic roots. They pray always, not enclosed in a monastery but live in community wherever they are. Contemplation and stu...

Here’s a rousing cheer of gratitude for all the wonderful Sinsinawa Dominican women I live among and also all our small “s” sisters whose partnerships make our mission in the world possible and full of meaning and joy. Women seem to share a deep concern for the earth and all earth’s people. Daniel Ladinsky in  Love Poems from God says: “God has a special interest in women for they can lift this world to their breast and help [Him] comfort.”  What an honor to answer the call to vowed religious life in community, have the privilege of ministering with strong committed women, and help God give comfort!  Some of my favorite mission partners are women with whom I do jail visitation as part of the Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants. We meet with detainees from all over the world, but especially now from Central America and Mexico. We are a compassionate human presence for people who have experienced terrible trauma at home, during their perilous journeys here...

For many January 6 is just the day to put away the Christmas decorations and/or contribute our tree to the community bonfire.   But wait! What is this thing about some wise folks coming to see and then returning by a different way? When they found Jesus they offered their gifts. January 6, (first Sunday) is the day MOSES, (Madison Organizing in Strength, Equality and Solidarity) invites all to a general meeting.  We catch each other up on how we are doing on the mission to change the criminal justice system.  How can the system honor the dignity of each person? It is my job to find a clergy person to open the meeting with prayer/reflection. This time I feel called to do the opening myself.  I am especially honoring our member congregations that partner with another that is different by race/culture. Then members from two congregations that are currently working on an event together lead us in the song, “Let there be peace on earth.” ...

So often I think of “ministry” and “mission” as synonymous, both meaning “work” or “job.” As a candidate, conversations with sisters have challenged me to broaden my understanding of mission to include the other pillars of Dominican life: study, prayer, and community.  Investing relationships of love, trust, and mutuality with one another to build community offers a powerful witness.   In the broader culture as productivity-oriented Americans, our identity is closed tied with what we do from nine to five.   When we meet someone for the first time, we generally tell them our job title, and ask them theirs.   We tend to define ourselves on what we do rather than how we are with one another.   Of course ministries – teaching, preaching, social justice work, direct service, legislative advocacy – are important for apostolic women and all committed Christians.   However – especially in our polarized nation and world – our relationships with each other...

I spent this summer in Wisconsin at my motherhouse, not something I had planned on. To my surprise it turned out to be a summer embodying the many stages of religious life. We had celebrations of new novices, a Sister making first Vows, a Sister making perpetual Vows, a Sister completing her degree, 50 th Jubilees, and funerals.    I reconnected with Sisters and connected with “New Sisters” whom I didn’t know because they were out in mission.   I was given the gift to be fully present as Sister to my Sisters in assisted living.    I also met new lay people journeying with us in mission.   It turned out to be a summer of “unexpected gifts.”   What was an unexpected gift or surprise for you this summer? Priscilla Torres, OP

Megan is here!  A Sinsinawa Dominican Candidate shares life at Monona House before going to her next assignment.  What a whirlwind of blessings! It is also the last days for us to live at Monona House where we began a house with a mission 4 years ago.  Sisters and associates easily live with a strong sense of mission, but having a house with a mission may be unique.  We named it Monona House.  We live in  Monona, WI,  and the literal name, "Monona" says "beautiful."   We sought to be aware of the beauty of each person who entered Beautiful House whether to visit, to live, to meet or to perform maintenance tasks.  Four years later we experience the fruits of beautiful as we look through  Megan's eyes. The dining room table is where many beautiful people share bread and life stories. Many come to share while Megan is here. We share   Navajo wisdom with friend, Omie pictured here.   But others come by as well, our 80...

"Ok, I'm old."   That is what I say to the confirmation students during their retreat day prior to receiving the sacrament.   Then I tell them a couple of stories from my 'distant' past. I begin this blog entry with that thought because this past week something happened that took me to a similar memory. In the late 60's, I stay up all night riveted to the TV with my workbook from a geology class I had taken because WE were landing on the moon. Perhaps I would not have consciously thought of the two astronauts as representing the whole of humanity but looking back I do.   What happened this past week?   WE flew past Pluto.   Ok, a stellar probe flew past, but humanity has a marked moment with this event. What about the holy 'fly bys' that are happening in us and among us and around us. When someone or a group does something that is remarkable. Recently I heard about a group making a contemplative retreat who were sent throughout New York City...