Reflection Part 3 for JS423

This third reflection I hope will round off what I have tried to learn throughout this semester. As you can see at the beginning I was completely overwhelmed with most of the information that I was ingesting. It has been a complete revelation to me on many levels and I hope that I will continue to feed and nurture this new perspective of my faith that I have been allowed to see and think about.
Our last lecture had us focusing on the present day sign's of the times in which terrorism is a ever increasing issue. With the help of the historical perspective of colonisation that has occured around this globe, I start to get the picture that wherever white man or should I say European man has invaded, it has been purely for the benefit of a European treasury/economy somewhere, this has repeatedly brought about inequity to the indigenous peoples of the country that has been dominated. To then witness the terrible acts of terrorism by Asama Bin Laden and his followers is a chilling reminder that the oppressed will finally rise up against the oppressors.There seems to be a relationship to all the revolutions that have occurred it wasn't the poor of France but the literate and educated that led the Reveloution in 1789. Asama wasn't poor or opressed he was exactly the opposite and that is what makes his crime even more heineous, but this issue of empathy, with that shame that is being inflicted on the least of our brothers is a profound experience.When I read the article "Nine key themes in Catholic Social Teaching",by Massaro, Sheed and Ward, I found a reconfirmation of why I hold onto my catholic Faith, it's depth and real awareness of the value of Human rights and dignity, solidarity and participation and the common good,as well as the sacredness and value of the human family. This particular article has given me some very foundational concepts and language to build my practice of faith upon.It also encapsulated most of the ideas we have been trying to understand during this course, put it under headings that are digestable. For example under the first heading this sentence is the heart beat of my belief,"Because we are intelligent and free beings,God intends us to be immune from all slavery, manipulation, or exploitation. At all stages of our lives - from the moment of conception through the vunerable years of childhood and old age to the very moment of natural death - we deserve the care and attention that belongs to beings of inestiminable worth" and of course this as a foundation can be very challenging as we have seen this very week with the debate on stemcell research and the words of Cardinal Pell to those in politics who had to take the vote.I have found a very interesting ethestist a Dr Margaret Sommerville who enters many debates that are often very confusing for the lay person, these are just a couple of the web sites connected to her http://www.intact.ca/othersites.html and http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/2679
The clarification that Catholic social encyclicals teach us that to be human is to experience not only rights but also obligations to others and that by living in community with each other we flourish and grow if we follow these teachings. while saerching through youtube I found this great piece on Social Justice being practive in the creative arts arena and though it applies to Martin Luther King and his fight for justice I can see it as a cool idea on which I could instigate a project within a school and community setting.
As I try to match what I will possibly have to undertake as an educator with my own personal beliefs, I still come back to looking at the issues that face young people today. Yes there are very big issues that we have to face in this world today but I firmly believe that the best way to lead young ones to an active and rewarding live within their faith is to get them actively identifying issues within the community around them. Make it real and relevant, set achievable outcomes that they can all reach, that benefit the community around them and keep it relevant to the Gospels and the teachings of Christ. And the beauty of all this is that no matter what area you teach in you can bring your won special talents and creativity to the experience and this will enrich the experiences of those around you and you are living out the parrable of the Talents and that is a truely wonderful thing to aspire to and achieve within your life.
Michael thankyou for a truely inspiring semester and you probably will never know what you have done for me on a personal level, this unit has reinvigorated my relationship with Christ and for that I thank you very much, I have been praying for this to happen for a long time in my life. God bless and all the best in the future Clare Rooney