Our name, Caterina Benincasa Dominican Monastery, tells who we are.

Caterina: We have chosen St Catherine of Siena as our patroness, model and guide. May she continue to inspire us to look deep within ourselves as she did to find God there; and in finding, searching, pondering, offer God to the world and bring the world to God.

Benincasa: House of welcome, house of blessing – St Catherine’s surname. Catherine discovered her own “cell of self-knowledge” in the heart of her family home; and it was to her family home that she continually returned to recenter herself in God. We desire to emulate the contemplative aspect of Catherine’s apostolic zeal.

Dominican: We are Nuns of the Order of Preachers. We share the charism of the whole Dominican Family – to contemplate and give to others the fruits of contemplation.

Monastery: The monastic way of life is essentially a journey to the depths of one’s soul where alone God is to be found. We center ourselves in a rhythm of prayer and study, work and leisure, solitude and communal sharing.

WHAT:

What does it mean to be monastic in an Order dedicated to proclaiming God’s Word?

It means that we believe and exemplify the Dominican ideal that contemplation is the source and font from which all apostolic labor springs.

It means that the basic structure of our life rests on the four pillars of the Order: prayer, study, community and witness.

It means that we are imbued with an authentic Dominican spirituality, oriented toward truth and beauty and freedom, the balancing of many diverse elements, and friendship.

It means that our contemplation – our gaze upon God – is at the same time extended outward to include the entire world and the needs of all peoples.

HOW:

How do we fulfill our contemplative, apostolic calling?

As Nuns of the Order of Preachers, we proclaim the beauty of God in the solemn celebration of the liturgy. Our undivided quest for God is itself a form of preaching.

Our share in the Preaching Mission of the Order consists in seeking and pondering the Word of God; then calling upon God in solitude so that the Word proclaimed will bear fruit.

We too proclaim the reconciliation of all things in Christ by building community among ourselves and in becoming one mind, one heart in God.

Grace builds on nature. We affirm and utilize our various gifts and talents, sharing with others what we ourselves have received, always within the parameters of our monastic calling.

Because “more good is wrought by prayer than this world dreams.”

Because we believe that the greatest gift we have to offer the world is our own search for God, mysteriously fruitful, as leaven, in the world at large.

Because the world’s greatest hunger is hunger for God. We hope in our small way to express and satisfy this hunger.

Because our very existence stands as sign and wit-ness that there is no greater happiness, no greater truth, no other hope than that found in God.

WHERE:

Where are we located?

Near a community of Dominican Friars, visibly manifesting St Dominic’s original vision: contemplation and preaching are one.

We are a newly founded community still in its temporary home, on the premises of Holy Spirit Parish, New Castle, Delaware.

Delaware is within easy access to the major cities of the eastern sea board: New York, DC, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Home is where the heart is. For us this is a community bound together in its search for God.