As many of you have noticed, I have been off my blog for a couple of years now. Since my last post, I began a new ministry as a staff chaplain and co-director of spiritual care at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose. This ministry consumes much of my evening hours as I provide spiritual support for families who visit loved ones in the hospital in the evening after work. When I finish making my rounds and follow up on referrals for patients moving toward palliative care, comfort care, hospice care or end of life, I take time to pursue my passion which is writing. Some of my blog posts have now been incorporated into a book. I am writing about the way Dominican Sisters from the United States were transformed by the mission of Jesus Christ, especially as they ministered to people in other countries. My pastime as a writer led me to the Maryknoll Sisters in New York. I was excited to discover that they are members of the Dominican Order too, and their story is part of our story. Their experience of ministering in many countries politicized them, and I came to realize this is true for most religious women in the United States. Because the mission of Jesus Christ is fundamentally about social justice, and transforming society into a more just and compassionate social order, the Dominican mission is political, in the best sense of that word. While the men of the Order remained focused on teaching theology and preaching the Word, the women of the Order put the Word into practice through works of mercy and political activism. My book, Transformed by Mission, shows how the Dominican mission of mercy changed in the past century. Excerpts from my book will be posted to this blog in the coming months. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy the journey and that you, too, are transformed by Jesus Christ.
