Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I’ve been thinking about edges lately. The edge of night and the new day. The edges of land and water and all the life forms that find home at the edge. Are you walking by the edge of a road? Are you on the edge of a decision? Are you between this and that? We all walk the edge between what is and what is not yet.   How are you navigating those edges? These places of transition and transformation? Such liminal spaces, full of beauty and possibilities.  Can be scary. The edge of the proverbial cliff springs to mind. Can be lonely.   My own physical edges have grown much more rounded than sharp, thanks in some way to the pandemic.   And perhaps also thanks to Covid I am now more appreciative of life living itself in me and inviting me to playfully explore the edge of all things.   Along which edges do you walk?   Isabel Rafferty OP Madison, WI

This time of year has mixed messages for me. “Hurry up and get ready for Christmas.”  “Slow down and “be” attentive to the season of Advent waiting.” This week the message is “Rejoice!” My heart likes the feel of finding joy. In our Dominican congregation we are in a time of transition. How blessed we are to have assistance in how to “be” in transition in a healthy way. In September we had a virtual assembly, an opportunity to tend to our heart and spirit in our transition. Our facilitators, Dominican Sisters Joye Gros and Teresa Tuite,  inspired us in a process of prayer, reflection, with music and story. At the end they left us with a song: “We Can Be Kind.”  This song is taking root in me. In my pastoral ministry at the Mound and Villa I promote  Mindfulness.  One of the aspects in living in the NOW is to have a daily intention. Since our September assembly I have encouraged the sisters to set an intention to “Be Kind.” Focusing on kindne...

More than five years ago, my blog entry was based on the title hashtag. It is a hashtag I have used in tweets. In my life, it is time to revisit this hashtag. This is a time of huge transitions for me.  The limits of space here precludes going into all that is happening but to say - I am no longer in Florida but now back near Chicago.  No more hurricanes but the potential of arctic vortexes!  It is all good and some days are difficult. Here's my current tweet:  #takewhatyouneed awake ~ nurtured ~ loved ~ trust ~ laughter ~ perseverance ~ open to chaos ~ seeking some order  ~~ Breathe in ~ Breathe out ~~ The breathing is important.  It is the kind that I consider contemplative and purposeful. The words and phrases became the list as I prayed and consider: 'What do I need?' What do you need? Is there one word from my list that you need for yourself right now?  Take it.  It is meant for you. And don't forget...

Several years ago one of our elder Sisters asked Sr. Ann Willits, OP this question:   Are we coming or going?   Ann was in the process of writing a presentation for an event as the Order of Preachers was celebrating our 800 th anniversary worldwide.  She said the question was just what she needed for her presentation. I have never forgotten this question and in times of transition it especially comes to mind.  For me this summer is a time of transition as I move from a long-time retreat ministry in Florida to my hope of developing an itinerant preaching ministry…and…moving back to the Chicago area. (Oh my – the artic vortex!) This time of transition is filled with the question – am I coming or going?  The only correct answer is: YES!  That little connector – “OR” --  belies the truth about transitions because these times in our lives include both. They include goodbyes and hellos, letting go and going forth, p...

Have you ever experienced in your life a time when you were at crossroads, an intersection, transition or whatever you called it?   A time when you were in-between two worlds or choices and both of them or several of your future options were all good?   Presently I am living in such a space.   It is definitely not the most comfortable space to be in.   I am in my fifth year as parish administrator and I strongly feel that the time is right to let go of this familiar ministry and people and move unto something new.   Yet I am not too sure what the something new is.   However, there are several options.   Have you ever experienced that? Another challenge that comes with knowing it’s time to move on is trying to live in the present and complete the present ministry in the last couple months; yet having that feeling of excitement when I think of the limitless possibilities of the next ministry.   I find myself having to be very intentional about ...

I received a beautiful card in the mail a few weeks ago from Sr. Joan Duerst with the quote: “If there was no change, there would be no butterflies.” This simple yet profound quote passes through my mind every time I walked by the beautiful Ginkgo Biloba tree that stood outside of Dominican High school on my way to the Campus Ministry room. I greeted this tree every morning with a smile, because I was excited to see its stages of transition when the Fall season began. Sure enough, the Ginkgo Bilboa tree transformed into a radiant and golden work of art. One day, I decided to take a picture of the beautiful tree and I am very happy that I did because at the end of that day, all of its beautiful leaves blew away. The tree is now bare, but I am so grateful that I was able to journey with this tree, even if it was for a short while. The tree reminds me of myself in so many ways, because as I continue to transition, grow, and transform during my candidate year, I know ...

Ever have one of those…days, weeks, months...fill in the blank?   Speaking of blanks, my mind is just that.   Blank.   Nothing.   Nada.   What?   Well, just because a woman is in a religious order doesn’t mean she has it all together all of the time!   What have I been doing? How has life been going in Spokane in Novitiate Year Two? There’s too much to write about. Remember when as a kid you would take a stack of index cards, draw a different picture at the bottom of each, and then flip through them quickly … making the cards look like a moving picture?   Sure you do.   Well, here’s my Novitiate ~ Part II in a stack of cards with words; close your eyes and use your imagination.   On second thought, open them or you won’t be able to read this. Spokane, laser tag (yep!), granola, sadness, gladness, community, St. Anne’s, working together, the Hearth, children, laughing, crying, homesick, praying, New Leaf, Gonzaga, Service Learning, p...

John 14:2-4 In my Father's house there are many dwelling places.   If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?   And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. These passages from John are particularly meaningful to me right now.   Before entering religious life, I had basically lived in one place near my tight-knit family.   In the last 2-1/2 years, I have moved six times… which means I’ve had to say my good-byes, but also my ‘hellos’, at least six times.   As difficult as the good-byes are for me, (and they are very difficult,) I am always surprised at how quickly the next place becomes ‘home’.   Yet the places and people I’ve lived with and loved along the way remain in the deepest part of me, too…..in one of those rooms. I am beginning to understand in a much more profound way that God truly dwells in each of us, in the deepe...