REFLECTIONS AND NOTES CHRISTMAS 2004
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Making connections
Teacher notes page 2-3
Principal reflections
prepared by Chris Gleeson SJ
For the school assembly or newsletter
The Young Journalist Award 2004
Once again the Young Journalist Award has proved popular with our younger readers, with over 300 entries received. The high standard of entries made judging the competition a tough job for Melina Marchetta. In addition to their excellent writing, the finalists demonstrated a sense of empathy with their subjects.
'I felt that the winners used a good combination of techniques and structure and I felt that the writers had a deep connection to the person or people they wrote about', Melina explained.
The most prominent topic for the entries was body image, which dominated both the junior and senior categories at 31%. It was closely followed by drugs and alcohol at 17%, then bullying at 14%. Other topics chosen by students were many and varied, ranging from mobile phone debts to genetic modification.
Congratulations to all the entrants for their fine work, and thanks to Boystown for their genorous sponsorship of the Award. We appreciate to opportunity to encourage young writers and hope to see just as many entries next year.
Bullying
This edition of Australian Catholics contains a series of articles written by young journalists in which are outlined their concerns and interests. An issue which arises twice is bullying. Each writer takes a different aspect of the problem; Us and them looks at bullying on the grounds of race and culture, and Exposing teen torture unveils the subtle, but equally hurtful form, usually found among girls. We are social animals and, sadly, we use all kinds of techniques to maintain our position in the pecking order. Perhaps an inevitable part of being human, but, nevertheless, totally out of the ideal that Jesus modelled for us.
ACTIVITIES
Us and them: Australian Catholics p18
The article, Us and them, speaks about two young people who have been bullied because of their Muslim faith. The first describes the abuse and consequent lack of self esteem experienced by Aba. Salaam Abadaleia, who came to our country from Palestine, is allowed to tell her story of bullying and discrimination in her own words.
After reading the article, students might like to discuss the implications of living in a multicultural society.
1 Why do we find it difficult to accept people from other countries?
2 Why do we feel it is acceptable to tease and torment these people?
3 As citizens of a multicultural country, do we feel obliged to learn about other countries, cultures and religions?
4 Why is Aba being teased?
5 'Freak', 'stupid Muslim', 'go back to your own country'; what do these expressions tell us about the people who use them?
6 What were Salaam Abadaliea's expectations when she first arrived in an Australian school?
7 What kind of welcome did she receive?
8 How did September 11 affect her relationships with school friends?
9 How did it affect her personally?
10 'I am no terrorist. Don't judge us for others' mistakes'. What are the implications of failing to see the individual differences among members of religious, cultural and national groups?
ACTIVITIES
Exposing teen torture: Australian Catholics p20
Students might like to read the article Exposing teen torture.
1 Female teasing manifests itself in many ways; compile a list of these behaviours from the article.
2 Why do young females resort to bullying?
3 What kinds of people become the target of bullying?
4 In what ways does female bullying affect its victims?
5 What remedial measures can a person who is bullied take?
6 'This type of bullying is more prevalent, and in many cases more harmful than physical bullying'. Do you agree with this statement? In groups of five or six, students might produce a role play of the situations described in the two articles and finish the lesson by writing their own comments about the issue.
Travelling
There are many ways of travelling. You can travel by car, bus, train or aeroplane; you can travel in time by revisiting history or dreaming of the future or you can just live your life, mostly in one place, and know that it is the most absorbing trip of all.
In the extract from his book, Bypass, Michael McGirr tells us about some of the people he met in his travels on the most famous of Australian roads, the Hume Highway. Travellers with and without destinations; firemen, holiday makers, an excessively annoyed Catholic bemoaning the lack of a vegetarian dish on Good Friday; the golfer who declared that Asia was deserted; not to forget, the caravan devotee; all these and more made the Mundoonan rest stop an agreeable diversion on the bike trip along the Hume Highway.
Ted Egan, whose trip to the Northern Territory as a sixteen year old was intended to be only a stop-over on the way to Brazil where he really wanted to travel, ended up as a lifetime of fascinating and rewarding adventure and travel in the Territory. He is now the Administrator of the Northern Territory, interested in the people he meets and the stories they have to tell. The article, Man of the People, tells us some of the facts of his very full life.
For our journey in time, the destination is Cowra, NSW, in 1944. We arrive to witness the breakout of the Japanese POWs who were held there during World War II, written about in the article, Compassion in Cowra. Once again, it is the people who absorb our attention: the Japanese who were impelled by their shame and desperation to risk their lives in a hopeless enterprise, and the kind-hearted woman who looked after the escapees who turned up on her doorstep, seeing in them not enemies but fellow human beings.
ACTIVITIES
Compassion in Cowra: Australian Catholics p32
As Australians, we should be expert at researching and empathising with people of different cultures. After reading the article, Compassion in Cowra, students might enjoy going to the library and finding out what they can about the military culture of Japan. In particular they could research the extreme sense of dishonour in being made prisoner and the loss of self worth it implies.
Students might like to write short story, either from the point of view of one of the Australian guards or of one of the prisoners, or former prisoner returns to
Cowra to visit the place where he was held during World War II.
For information about the Cowra breakout see: www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/cowra/
Prayer
The articles which deal with prayer are Dying, we live and Praying with children. They confront us with the most momentous moments in human life: birth and death. In doing this, put the idea of praying, of attempting to contact God, into its true perspective. The miracle of birth brings an intense joy and the dream of unlimited possibilities contained in this new life; the finality of death reminds us of our human limitations and our absolute dependence on a loving God.
ACTIVITIES
Dying, we live: Australian Catholics p22
Students might listen to a reading of the article, Dying, we live, and then be directed to sit in circles of eight, each student to represent one of the people who came to speak about praying to Terry Monagle, the author of this article, who is dying of cancer:
The singer, Patrick, the faith healer, Bill, the nuns, Sr Silvia and Sr Geraldine, Charlie, who has been cured of cancer, Angela a long- term sufferer from the disease, Merle, the devotee of Mother Teresa, the conservative Catholics, the progressive Catholics and the choir master.
Each person in the circle is then asked to say in turn what advice he/she gave about praying for Terry.
Each person in turn then answers the question: What does your character's method of praying tell you about their understanding of God?
The groups could then be asked to discuss this paragraph from the article:
I marvel that these Catholics have such diverse gods and techniques for accessing divinity. But it is redeeming that each of the diverse believers is deeply loving.
The session might end with the singing of a Christmas hymn.
ACTIVITIES
Praying with children: Australian Catholics p24
The second article on prayer is about birth, children and family gatherings, and therefore has a clear feeling of Christmas. Students might like to read the article, Praying with children, by Elizabeth Kerr. The session might begin by a sharing of anecdotes about the birth of a new child into the family. After reading the article, students might be asked to write the answers to the following questions in their journals.
1 What is the essence of praying with children as described in the article?
2 'They become absorbed in looking with love on the infant in arms'-in what ways is this a perfect image of contemplation?
3 What is meant by the expression 'praying to God with skin on'?
4 'Perhaps what I have discovered is that praying with children is more important than teaching them to pray.' Have you ever had the experience of praying with someone?
Students might like to make a card, write a story or a poem, expressing their idea of prayer at Christmas.
Principal reflections
Prepared by Fr Christopher Gleeson SJ
For the school assembly or newsletter
One summer afternoon my wife and I went for a long walk in the woods ... set in one of the finest natural parks in America. 7,500 acres of virgin mountain-side in the middle of which is Lake Mohonk ('lake in the sky'). Aeons ago some giant upheaval of the earth cast up these sheer cliffs. You come out of the deep woods on to some noble promontory and rest your eyes on great valleys set among hills, rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun... We walked under the trees and talked and then fell silent... listening deeply to the quietness. In a strict sense, the woods are never still, but nature makes no strident noises, regardless of the vastness of its operation. Nature's sounds are quiet, harmonious. Just as we were falling under this spell, through the woods came three young people (one of whom was) lugging a portable radio ...
Three young city people out for a walk in the woods tragically enough were bring-ing their noise along with them. It occurred to me to ask them to turn that thing off and listen to the music of the woods, but I didn't feel it was my business to instruct them. They could pass through this peace-fulness and not give ear to the music that is as old as the world, harmony which man has never equalled: the song of the wind through the trees, the notes of birds singing their hearts out, the whole background of the music of the spheres.
From The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. Spirituality is about listening, paying attention to the Mystery in every moment. Michael Whelan SM
God always listens even when we can't hear
Quite a few years ago there was a film called The Man Who Played God. The main character was a prominent, rich musician who became bitter, angry and cynical with life because he was losing his hearing. Not only did he turn his back on his friends, he also turned his back on God. He moved into a penthouse where he began to learn the art of lip-reading. From his penthouse window overlooking a park, he would look through a set of high-powered binoculars and try to read people's lips.
One day he concentrated on a young man whose lips were moving in prayer. He determined what it was the young man was praying for and then dispatched his butler to deliver it to him. On another occasion he read the lips of a woman who was telling another about something she needed and wanted desperately. Again, the wealthy musician saw to it that she received what she needed. And each time he performed one of these services, the cynical musician would look up to heaven and laugh in God's face. He found it laughable that he was playing God but didn't believe in God.
As time went by, however, and he kept reading peoples' lips and fulfilling their needs, a strange thing happened to the rich musician. The man who was playing at being God started to discover God and love him again. Through the game he was playing the game of serving people's needs the very God he didn't believe in became real to him, because God is a God of service.
Quoted in Christopher Gleeson SJ, A Canopy of Stars; some reflections for the journey, David Lovell Publishing, 2003, pp 128-129.
A Christmas reflection
Christmas is the commitment to life made incarnate. It is the call to see God everywhere and especially in those places we would not expect to find glory and grace. It is the call to exult in life.
Christmas is the obligation to see that everything leads us directly to God, to realise that there is no one, nothing on earth that is not the way to God for me. I knew instantly that the moment we begin to really celebrate Christmas, to look at everyone and everything as a revelation of God, to say 'thank you' for them, that racism would be over, war would be no more, world hunger would disappear, everything would be gift, everyone would be sacred.
Indeed, it is simple, but, oh, so clear: All we have to do to 'make straight the way of God' is to say 'thank you', to learn to live intensely, to have a zeal for life, to develop a passion for life.
Joan Chittister, Gospel Days, p.149.
Listening
Listening at the end of the day = tuning in before turning in
- What can I thank God for today?
- What was the best thing I did today?
- What was the best thing I did for someone else today?
- How did I let myself down today?
- How can I best show improvement tomorrow?
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