Robert_Wild_-_Catherine_Doherty_Servant_of_God

Our joys, our gladness, our fun [at our home in Russia]
came from within. They sprang from that sense of security,
love, and belonging, which our parents gave us so lavishly.
They came, too, from the sense of Order. I spell it deliberately
with a capital ‘O’ because it stems from the great and
tranquil Order of God himself. When the life of an individual
or a family is rooted in that great tranquility of God’s order,
when its ends are Christocentric, and Faith is an essential part
of it, then joy, true laughter, and real gaiety flower abundantly
in that individual’s or that family’s life. Then children
grow up in an atmosphere of love and tenderness. Where love
is, God is. (13)
This is a simple but accurate description of the vision
she had for Combermere. Catherine had experienced a
loving family in Russia. After experiencing the revolution
and two World wars, and as a result of her long reflection
on the Gospel, she knew that love was the answer to all the
world’s problems. She would create a community of love to
show that it was possible for the whole world to be such.
I believe that her tragic first marriage was also a powerful
impulse to achieve the loving community that she so
longed for. In the early years of the Toronto community,
and then in Friendship House in the States, she had some
experience of forming people into a loving family. She also
learned more of what the problems were! Combermere
provided the opportunity for developing a community life
on a grand scale.
The Trinity
In the last 20 or 30 years, especially in the writings of
Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI—but in many other
books and articles as well—there has been a pronounced
emphasis on the Blessed Trinity as the ultimate model for
the Church, communities, parishes. In my own up-bringing
before the Council, I never heard much at all about
the Trinity as a model for our life in the Church. I’m sure
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