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...

On the return home from a very long international flight I found myself standing at O’Hare baggage claim with the rest of the passengers waiting for my bag to slip down the chute onto the carousel. I became alert once the mechanism activated and the first of the bags started their descent onto the carousel. Everyone crowding around the edge, eyes all focused on each piece of luggage. Would mine be there? Did it make the tight connection?  Hundreds of bags slowly presented themselves, slipped down the chute and onto the carousel. All bags as different as the passengers. Different sizes, shapes, softness, colors. Each containing the belongings of those tired travelers. No sign of mine.   Slowly bags are claimed and removed. Less people now and I’m trying not to worry. I’m looking for a large, soft sided, dark blue case with some red yarn tied to the handle. Lots of dark blue cases but  not mine. I found myself mesmerized by the slowly circling bags and reflecting ...

Advent is a pause, but not an empty one. Rather, it is pregnant with need and possibility. As I write this, Brittney Griner has just been released from a Russian penal colony and is on U.S. soil. We rejoice yet should be acutely aware how, in other circumstances, her race and sexual identity still leave her on the margins – in this country and abroad. The Advent pause is pregnant with oppression and injustice that begs our attention.   One of my dear Dominican sisters recently wrote that her twin is facing a serious heart problem. Even in the midst of her own worry and anxiety, this Sister reminds us of her family’s gratitude for the privilege of healthcare to which they have access. Her generous heart points to the dire circumstances in which many people in our own country find themselves without access to adequate or affordable health care. The Advent pause is pregnant with real people facing social injustice and need. This pause begs our attention.   In  weeklyprayers@...

When the feast St Andrew was announced before morning Mass, bells went off inside me.  I suddenly remembered that it was on the evening of St Andrew I received the sacrament of Confirmation with other members of my sixth-grade class. It came to me that the bishop that confirmed us also commissioned building the Parish where I belong now.  I was smiling at this wonderful intersection when an older man, Tony, offered to walk me home so I would be “safe” on my long walk from the church to the sisters’ house where I live.  We both laughed, since it is about 50 feet away.   I learned that my escort had worked as a landscaper and had helped prepare the land where the Diocesan office now stands.  It is named for the same bishop! Tony talked about trees, and the gift of nature which provides us with clean air and nutritious soil.      I encouraged Tony to preach his truth. What truth are  we  called to preach these days?...

These are challenging and disturbing times to say the least.     Perhaps you have felt concerned and overwhelmed by all that is happening in our world.     The list is long:     too many wars on many fronts, our planet is in critical condition, so many immigrants needing a new place to call home, frightening virulent health issues worldwide and government disruptions in countless countries.     Here at home, we have our democracy teetering and people of various faiths strongly critical of each other.   Recently I was introduced to a ‘new’ song by our Dominican brother, Jim Marchionda, OP entitled ‘Become What We Pray’ and all of this angst began to settle, and I felt an inkling of hope.  It is a beautiful song, and you can go on  You Tube  to listen to it.  There are several hopeful phrases.  ‘When Believers truly practice what we pray’, is one of the lines that spoke to me.  I again realize t...

Some things not to love: “Fall back” in time (takes me days to readjust!), colder weather, no leaves left on the trees, and the apocalyptic readings in the lectionary leading up to Advent!     All of these require a “reset” of my body, mind, and spirit.  Each of these asks me to face change and challenges me to refuse to whine or complain, or to waste time wishing for warm weather and beautiful colors and only parables with happy endings.  I believe the cycle of seasons and the cycle of our liturgical life are essential to growth – in faith, in self-understanding, in willingness to look at hard truths and harsher realities.   I do not eagerly jump into these changes and embrace all that requires, but I know jump I must – except maybe for me it’s more of a slow and reluctant stroll.  I do think we each have to ask ourselves at this time of year, “Would I be content staying exactly the same?”  “Do I never want to experi...

Black sisters connecting with other Black sisters or sisters of color is never a given. But when you do connect, it is a hair letting down moment.  Knowing that you will be totally accepted no matter what degree, office, committee, or ministry position you held is the first hair pin drop. You stopped checking your expressions and emotions, and you got a break from the eggshells you often encountered. The first summer I attended the National Black Sisters’ Conference and saw over 100 sisters of African descent I immediately felt at home. Listening to other sisters’ stories of how they were able to be authentically Black and a SISTER was/is a healing experience. This annual event of checking into your roots is healing, rejuvenating, and the reasons why we keep returning and are still SISTERS.   Patricia Rogers, OP Glendale, WI