Pointers 2nd LT
SAS seniors,
Please review and reflect on the following as we prepare for the 2nd LT.
Chapter 1 (text book)
Does God want His people to suffer?
What are we called to do as we share in God's mission?
Sa bawat talata o saknong na iyong mababasa sa pahinang ito, layunin nilang dalhin ka sa bungad ng aking sariling pag-iisip... at nawa maakit ka rin upang mag-isip at mamangha...
SAS seniors,
Pointers for CL LT
A Poem from a Writer in Malawi
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.
to basic services, income
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
Human Solidarity is a Christian Virtue
Work as a Perfection of the Human Person
The Universal Destination of Created Goods
The Role of the State
Democracy
Guidelines for our Youth Eye Witness Report on Poverty
Sample Heading:
CN CL IV Date
Name Youth Eye Witness Report Section
________________________________________________
Poverty and the Youth: Kahirapan at ang Kabataan (Title)
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