Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Dominicans talk about Study being one of the pillars of Dominican life. Lately, I’ve been thinking lately of how that means so much more than “book study.”   True, Dominicans are traditional students with degrees and certificates; some of us have impressive vocabularies and skills; these all evidence book-learning.   Study should, however, encourage so much more in us than piling up “credits.”   Study and everything else we do is, after all, in service to our mission: to preach the gospel.   Formal study is only part of an attitude of learning.   We keep learning from everything we do. That is what matters.   Recently, when I rewrote a book review for an academic journal, a couple of editors made suggestions that helped me write a better review.   One of the computer techs at Edgewood College helped me recall the ins and outs of an editing program I hadn’t used for years.   Dominicans do tend to read a lot of scripture and theology, but a...

Selfies have become a popular way of taking photos.  Even Pope Francis poses for selfies!  Last Sunday into Monday the four of us Trini Sinsinawa sisters met as usual for our monthly meeting and, voilá, we too posed for a selfie!   But really, we met to 'take' a more important kind of selfie.  Being the start of a new year, we met to self reflect on the past year on a personal and communal level.  We let the four pillars of Dominican life guide our musings.  Our meeting was very revealing and like selfies some things we saw about ourselves, as individuals and as a community we were happy about, and some things we wished were different.   Photos don't lie.  They reflect back to us who we are, what we look like on the outside.     I was grateful that this time of self reflection, also honestly reflected back to us how we were doing on the 'inside' in the areas of prayer, study, community and ministry.  Having seen where we we...