Notes for Teachers - CHRISTMAS 2002
from Gunnedah with love
A visit to the supermarket or department store at this time of year presents us with all the exciting Christmas images. Christmas trees sparkling with coloured baubles and tinsel; aromatic minced pies and frosted Christmas cakes; gaudy decorations and everywhere an abundance of goods. Above all, there is the fat man with the white beard in a red suit interviewing all the delighted and sometimes fearful children about their wishes and their conduct.
Carols and Christmas songs, some perhaps a little too familiar, help to wind up the excitement and anticipation. There also seems to be a quantity of artificial snow sprayed indiscriminately over everything while summer challenged citizens race to make the purchases necessary for the oncoming festivity.
Some of us sit back and complain about the inappropriate commercialism of it all and puzzle over the attempts to simulate winter in the middle of the Australian December. At Christmas time it seems to be important that we be made to feel as if we are living in a foreign country.
John Coleman’s article on the initiative taken by Joanna Cochran, farmer’s wife and mother of four, however, supplies us with some new and far more Australian images of Christmas. The ‘one horse open sleigh ... dashing through the snow’ has been replaced by two women and their daughters driving across the dry, brown Australian landscape with a trailer-load of toys, intended for the refugees imprisoned behind the razor wire of Woomera Detention Centre.
Students need to read the article focussing on the images it contains with a view to making a list of the truly Australian images contained in the article. Ask the students to discuss in small groups the generosity of the people of Gunnedah, who, suffering from drought themselves, are willing to put themselves out to help the refugees.
General class discussion could look at all the initiatives that have been taken by parishes, religious congregations and individuals to help those people who come to our country seeking shelter from persecution.
As a starting point visit the refugee services of the Mercy and Jesuit orders at www.jesref.org and www.mercy.org.au, to find out what is being done to assist those who arrive in Australia seeking refuge.
Students themselves might like to become involved in any number of ways; writing to politicians advocating changes to government policy; providing clothing and shelter to asylum seekers on temporary release visas; visiting detention centres in capital cities or contributing to the Refugee Children’s Fund run by the Sisters of Mercy. Alternatively you might like to invite a speaker from one of the local support agencies into the class to examine the issues more closely.
Gifts from the heart
A view of how another country dealt with an ingress of refugees is provided in Michele M. Gierck’s account of Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez SDB’s Caritas Dom Helder Camara Lecture at Genazzano FCJ Convent recently. Students could be asked to read the relevant section of the article and compare what happened in Honduras with what is happening in Australia today.
The class could then read together the passage in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 2:13-15), which tells the story of the flight into Egypt allowing time after this for quiet reflection.
The man who draws ducks
Michael Leunig is an artist who helps us to see our world through fresh eyes. When we think of his drawings, we see lyrical images like the duck, the teapot, the ordinary man, Mr Curly and Vasco Pyjama. His characters seem almost overwhelmed by the beauty, the tragedy and the ordinariness of life.
My own favourite Leunig cartoon is a picture of a father sitting with his son watching a beautiful scene on television, while behind them the same scene can be viewed in reality through the open window. Leunig seems to be encouraging us to view our own reality rather than its reflection in the media or other filters, which surround us in modern life.
Students could be shown a series of Leunig cartoons, enabling them to familiarise themselves with the style and substance of the artist.
If you can’t access his books, some of his work is on line at www.curlyflat.net and http://members.ozemail.com.au/~paulma/leunig.htm.
Students might then discuss the following statements:
- The artist shows us new ways to look at the world.
- Leunig cartoons help us to view things differently. He also helps us to see different things. Name some of these.
- In a Leunig cartoon, things are seen in a different order of importance.
- Leunig cartoons show the insights of ordinary people.
‘A lot of people have a phobia or a squeamishness about God.’ Leunig delights in asking the hard, to some people, embarrassing questions like: ‘Is there a God?’. His offer of a prayer to the editor of the Sunday Age instead of the expected cartoon and the editor’s reaction bears witness to the strangeness of giving attention to such things in everyday life. However, Leunig aims to take the spookiness out of the word ‘God’ and the popularity of his prayers among people who are not normally religious is proof of his success.
Divide the class into small groups and give each group a prayer and a cartoon from one of the Leunig prayer books. Ask the groups to prepare a presentation of their prayer and a commentary on how the images in the cartoon become a prayer in visual form. The group should decide on an occasion in which their prayer might be used such as a wedding, a funeral, in time of sorrow, rejoicing or thanksgiving.
Lord of the dance
Juliette Hughes paints a picture of nine year old Steven Heathcote watching the traditional Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker. Steven tells us how he was lit up with a passion for ballet which has illuminated his life ever since. He was fortunate in having parents who supported him in his desire to learn to dance and, finally to achieve his ambition to become a member of the Australian Ballet.
Steven sees dancing as a spiritual experience. Without this spiritual dimension the dance would have no meaning for him. The child of a Uniting Church lay minister, he was firmly grounded in Christian spirituality and he expresses this very strongly in his dancing. The class might like to discuss the following questions.
- Are there any ballet dancers in the class? What does dance mean for them?
- What other forms of dancing are there?
- What is your favourite kind of dance?
- Would you prefer to be a dancer or part of an audience?
- Have you ever been drawn into the performance experience as an audience member?
- Some kinds of dancing demand self-discipline and hours of tedious practice. What keeps these people faithful to their chosen path?
Some countries use dance as a form of prayer. I remember watching an African group dancing into a cathedral, including a fully vested, mitre-clad bishop, right up to the altar, accompanied by very lively music and a congregation expressing its enthusiasm by clapping and swaying. It was a far cry from the liturgical dancing seen in Australian churches especially during the sixties and seventies.
The Old Testament speaks of occasions when dancing was used as a form of prayer in times of rejoicing and thanksgiving. There was the celebration led by the prophet, Miriam, and the women of Israel after the successful passage of the people through the Red Sea; (Exodus 15:20-21) the occasion when King David danced before the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel: 12-15) and the beautiful words in Psalm 3 ‘0, You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.’
When do we dance? What emotions do we give expression to?
The view from Vatican II
For many students the events of the Second Vatican Council will be considered ancient history. That is, if they have even heard of it. Yet, it represents the greatest single shift in how the Catholic church understands its mission in the world in centuries. Daniel Marti’s interview with Vatican II scholar Fr Joseph Komonchak touches on some of the many changes instigated by the Council and hints at the church of the future inspired by the Council.
Junior students might like to interview older Catholic family members who remember what life was like for Catholics before 1962. What was it like to be a Catholic at that time? What were some of the rules and regulations Catholics followed? What was Mass like? Did Catholics associate with non-Catholic people? What was that relationship like? Answers to some of these questions will hopefully provide the basis for some interesting reports that can be made to the class.
Senior students might look at some of the documents that came out of the Council. Some of the more contentious documents such as Gaudium et spes and Humanae vitae still make for interesting and challenging reading. What are such documents urging Catholics to consider? What are the values the documents espouse? What was the reaction of Catholic people to these documents and their teaching? Compare some of the statements to the popular misconceptions about Catholic teaching that often abound.
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