POINTERS

Pointers for CL LT

Review the kid's Poem from Malawi
The definitions of the basic concepts:
Faith: Reason and Action/Ratio et Praxis
Fides Quaerens Intelelctum
Morality/ Ethics/ Freedom
The Role of the Church in Soceity
Gaudium et Spes 1

A Poem from a Writer in Malawi

A Poem from a Writer in Malawi
Posted on July 5, 2010 by saschristianliving4

Listen, Christian…

I was hungry
and you formed a humanitarian club
and discussed my hunger. Thank you.

I was imprisoned
and you crept off quietly to your chapel
and prayed for my release. Thank you.

I was naked
and in your mind you debated
the morality of my appearance

I was sick
and you knelt and thanked God
for your good health

I was homeless
and you preached to me
of the spiritual shelter of the love of God

I was lonely
and you left me alone to pray for me.

You seem so holy, so very close to God
but I am still very hungry, cold and lonely
and I thank you…

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SENIORS' HAND OUTS FIRST QUARTER

St. Andrew’s School

Supplementary Notes CL IV

Handout 1 First Quarter

As we face a new chapter in the leadership of our country, it brings us much hope and positive perspectives. Yet we can not truly say that we are standing on the shoulder of giants as we inherit the image and the issues left by the previous administration. Such an image was stated around two years ago by the study made by the World Bank.

June 25, 2008 issue of the Inquirer cited a World Bank Study: Corruption in RP worst in East Asia.

Written by Doris Dumlao, the study points to the Philippines to be the worst among East Asia’s leading economies and has shrunk even lower among those seen to be lagging in governance reforms.

While Indonesia was the worst last year, it was edged out by the Philippines this year. The World Bank defines corruption as the “extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including petty and grand forms of corruption as well as the capture of the State by elites and private interests.”

It is in this context that we begin the understanding of the Basic Concepts that we would need as we tackle the Social Teachings of the Church.

The Church and State, Morality and Poverty

As we enter the field of oral and written discussions and argumentation, one has to first define the terms we are to use for us to understand things on a brighter view.

The Church and State: Though we are to tackle the role of the Church in Society in chapter 3, allow me to give an initial definition of this concept that needs clarification.

- From the opening lines of the 1965 Second Vatican council’s document Gaudium et Spes:

Our Church leaders tell us that the Joys and Hope, fears and anxieties of modern man are also the joys, hopes, fears and anxieties of the Church… when we talk about the human church, the people that compose it, are also the same people who vote for state leaders, the same people who benefit from a good government or suffer from a corrupt one. Whatever issues in the family, in love life, in work or in the country as a whole which affects the person, also affects the persons capacity to worship, it also affects his/her prayer life in a positive or negative way. His experiences help shape his persona and forms or deforms the person. Thus one can say that the experiences of any common tao are also the experiences of the church as well.

Morality

Generally, morality will deal with asking ourselves what is the ought that I have to do. There are musts and shoulds that are found around us not because they are just required but because these norms, standards or mores are fundamentals that guide our human/religious ways. They help us deepen the root of our relationships with our fellow human beings, even in our faith. These mores should lead us to growth and change us for the better. They set the level by which we can meet each other that does not intrude nor violate others’ rights and freedom. Thus the ad found at the right aptly grants us a basic understanding or definition of morality.

Conscience, the voice of morality, speaks to us most often when we deal with events and experiences that are found in gray areas and often challenge or confuse us. Yet one has to carefully follow the See-Judge-Act paradigm of conscience to be able to truly say that his/her conscience is the voice of Morality and ultimately the voice of God.

Facing the Reality of Human Suffering and Poverty

The last concept that needs our definition is that of the experience of Poverty. Allow me to share a quote from an exposure/immersion experience of a student who went to a mountain to experience the life of the Dumagat (a local tribe in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija)…

The immersion experience gave poverty a face for me. I asked a little boy who was walking with out slippers and was just wearing a faded pair of shorts what he wanted to be when he grew up – Do you want to be a doctor or a policeman? He didn’t understand the question. He didn’t understand that there was a world outside of the mountain. That he could be anything he wanted to be. He said, “Rattan-gathering is all that I can do.”

From such a simple experience of the student with the local tribe of the Dumagat, one can easily identify Poverty as a multi-faceted reality, it is Multidimensional.

• §Material or Economic – lack of fundamental needs for human life, namely, food, clothing, shelter, access

to basic services, income

• §Political – lack of participation in decisions about one’s life and governance
• §Social – exclusion by virtue of one’s status or situation
• §Social Psychological – sense of powerlessness, lack of self-worth, despair, apathy, ill-health

Though several definitions can be found about what Poverty is and what it is not, for the purposes of our class, we shall define Poverty as a deprivation of possibilities that may lead one to growth and attain sustainable development.

To end this hand out, allow me to quote from a statement made by the CBCP…

“… the whole Church is powerfully reminded by the first encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, that the social concern "is as essential to her mission as the ministry of the sacraments and the preaching of the Gospel.The Church cannot neglect the service of charity any more than she can neglect the Sacraments and the Word"…. [O]ur present Philippine situation calls us to be more actively committed to living out the social teaching of the Church. Political turmoil, moral corruption, and environmental degradation have worsened massive poverty and scandalous social inequality. We are today especially concerned about a pervasive sense of weariness, cynicism, and hopelessness among many of our people.” -- from Building a Civilization of Love, CBCP, May 11, 2006

Handout 2 Chapter 3 First Quarter

The Human Person: Sacred and Social

• •The human person as central, created by God and destined for eternity with God, hence with a dignity and rights that do not depend on society or the state, he/she must never be simply a means to the end of another person or of society. (See for example Centesimus Annus [CA], no. 13).
• •He/she develops as a person within a supportive community and culture.

Human Solidarity is a Christian Virtue

• •In the encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis : “In the light of faith, solidarity seeks to go beyond itself, to take on the specifically Christian dimensions of total gratuity, forgiveness and reconciliation. One’s neighbor is then not only a human being with his or her own rights and a fundamental equality with everyone else, but becomes the living image of God the Father, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and placed under the permanent action of the Holy Spirit.” (no. 40.)

Work as a Perfection of the Human Person

• •By work, the human person “subdues the earth,” makes of it a home for humanity, and “also achieves fulfillment as a human being and in a sense becomes ‘more a human being.” Laborem exercens,” (nos. 4, 9).
• •John Paul II emphasizes the right to work the right to share in production, which will bring with it a share in the distribution of the wealth produced.

The Universal Destination of Created Goods

• •“The goods of the earth are originally meant for all.” Private property is under a “social mortgage,” (Solicitudo rei socialis, no. 43.) meaning that private ownership is never absolute but is conditioned by the primary purpose. Elsewhere (Laborem exercens, no 14) John Paul II insists that the only valid claim to productive property is that it is being used to serve the needs of all.

The Role of the State

• •The State can and should intervene to protect the environment, and to assure that those goods which a full human life requires but which cannot be guaranteed by the laws of the market alone — one thinks of health and educational resources for example — are provided. (CA, no. 40.)
• •The state must protect the interests of the poor and the weak (CA, no. 10),

Democracy

• “The Church values the democratic system inasmuch as it ensures the participation of citizens in making political choices, guarantees to the governed the possibility both of electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them through peaceful means when appropriate. Thus she cannot encourage the formation of narrow ruling groups which usurp the power of the State for individual interests ...”(CA, no. 46.)

Guidelines for our Youth Eye Witness Report on Poverty

Guidelines for our Youth Eye Witness Report on Poverty

1. You need to choose a place that is near you and that is safe to observe during day time.
   1. Better ask an older person to accompany you in this task.
   2. You can go as a small group accompanied by an adult.
2. If possible, you can conduct a short interview from the members of the Youth that are in that area. You can ask them the ff. questions.
   1. Ano ang kahirapan para sa iyo?
   2. Naaapektuhan ka ba nito? Paano?
3. Observe them for a day or at least an hour. When at home, write your observation.
4. In your paper, personally try to answer this basic reflection/reaction questions:
   1. Does God really want these people to suffer?
   2. Are the people you observed poor because they were lazy?
   3. What do you think do they, these poor people, have that goes beyond your expectations and even what you have?
   4. Is there hope for these people?
5. Format: Short Bond Paper, 1” margin all sides, 12, TNR, 1.15 spacing, 1 – 2 pages.
6. Report to be submitted during the week of July 19-July 23 CL Class Time
7. Please do not endanger yourselves by going somewhere too far or during the night. Always ask an adult to accompany you.

Sample Heading:

CN CL IV Date

Name Youth Eye Witness Report Section

________________________________________________

Poverty and the Youth: Kahirapan at ang Kabataan (Title)