Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Recently I participated in a water walk around Lake Monona.   The walk was lead by Grandmother Josephine Mandami, Anishinawbe, who helped us to pray our way around the lake while carrying water from the lake some of its water. We asked Creator to send the Spirit and let the Spirit of the Water bless us. Then the walk, not a stroll, began.   Less than half way around the 13 mile lake I realized that I wasn't going to make it at the clip we were going, and I joined others on the trolley provided by the walk organizers.    I had lost track of my walking partner, but he had the courtesy to check on me, the sister.    And so at one of the trolley stops the driver received a phone call.   "Joan," he announced to all.   "Joan, the nun, is she on the bus?" Up until   then I was just an anonymous rider.   The passengers were delighted, however, to know that they had their own "nun on the bus". I was grateful to be identified with th...

Gardening is my ongoing teacher.   Putting my hands in the soil, smelling the depth and beauty of earth makes my heart sing.   I have enjoyed raised bed gardening as well.   This year this garden is teaching me about tenacity and willingness.   You see I have two nasty weeds that have tried to ‘wheedle’ their way in beside the beets, the mustard greens, the cabbages, the artichokes.   One weed has a broad pervasive root system.   It likes to spread.   The other goes deep deep down and I have yet to find its end!   These weeds teach me about how hard it is to change and to let go.   Really I can be quite stubborn about changing my habits, my ways of perceiving a situation or an event.   These weeds are inviting me to look at the earth all around them and not to be solely belligerent about their growth.   I am excited because this week I am returning to the Mound for our annual Community Days.   It will be so wond...

I spent Saturday and Sunday at the Mound celebrating with sisters who are themselves celebrating 25 and 50 years of service and membership as a Dominican of Sinsinawa. It gives me such joy to celebrate our lives together as sisters.   I go there to “work” but I gain so much more than I give.   I always come home from the Mound with renewed energy! Even though we are so individual and different, we are of one mind and heart. We are able to discuss issues of justice, issues with the church and issues relating to politics all with an open mind. Maybe I should say most of the time with an open mind! We give each other hope in a church and a world struggling for hope and for peace of mind. And we leave, having expanded our thinking. Over the weekend we meet families of our sisters, we laugh together and we have fun. We break bread together and we celebrate Eucharist. We visit our older and infirm sisters who pray every day for us. What a grace ...

As a newcomer to this community and blog space, I originally thought the best way to contribute would be to reflect on the many daily blessings and those challenges life continues to shower on/throw at me as a Sinsinawa Dominican candidate.   Events of the past weekend though, have taken me to a deeper contemplative space where I found the spirits of St. Dominic, Father Samuel, Catherine and so many other holy Dominican women and men quite alive, extremely well, and dancing up a storm! July 14/15 was Jubilee weekend, a celebration of the lives and ministries of 22 amazing women.   It was my great honor and privilege to help serve these holy servants, our sisters, and their guests. Last year at this time, I was in the initial stages of formally discerning a call to religious life with the SDs.   I helped serve at the July, 2011 Jubilee but, quite frankly, remember very few other details, except that it was hot, there were a LOT of people with JOY to match th...