1 DECEMBER: WORLD AIDS DAY MESSAGE

A World AIDS Day Message from Carolyn Woo, President & CEO of CRS

December 1 is World AIDS Day, a time when we pause to reflect on the ways in which the HIV pandemic has changed our world, when we celebrate the exciting progress made in the fight against HIV, while mourning the multitude of lives it has claimed.

Many challenges remain but this year we have good reason to be optimistic. Last week UNAIDS reported that Africa has cut AIDS-related deaths by one third. And in the last two years the number of people receiving lifesaving antiretroviral medication has increased by more than 60%, to 8 million.  However, there are still 7 million people in need of medicine who can’t get it. And in some parts of the world the epidemic is growing...

This is a key moment in the fight against HIV. With each passing day comes hope that more people will have access to lifesaving medication; that ongoing research will someday lead to a vaccine or cure; that fear, ignorance and stigma will be replaced by love and understanding.  Today, let’s challenge ourselves to think about the important role we can each play in what may be the defining challenge of our age. Someday our grandchildren may ask, “What did you do?” Let’s make sure we have a good answer for them.

Dr. Carolyn Y. Woo
President & CEO
Catholic Relief Services

A RETREAT ON THE YEAR OF FAITH ONLINE

Here is a link to a retreat that we can make during this Year of Faith. It introduces us to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. So have a go!!! and enjoy the Year ahead...

POPE JOHN XXIII SAID THIS ON 11 OCTOBER 1962

Dear friends, here is one of the most touching discourses I have heard. Uttered exactly 50 years ago in St. Peter's Square by the then pope "Good Pope John", it came after the first day of the Second Vatican Council was coming to an end. One can sense the simplicity, holiness and paternal solicitude that embodied "Good Pope John"...Thank you Holy Father for that example of what it means to be a pastor who cares for the flock especially the lost, the last and the least...

“Dear sons and daughters, 

I feel your voices! Mine is just one lone voice, but it sums up the voice of the whole world. 

And here, in fact, all the world is represented here tonight. It could even be said that even the moon hastens close tonight, that from above, it might watch this spectacle that not even St Peter's Basilica, over its four centuries of history, has ever been able to witness. 

We ask for a great day of peace. Yes, of peace! 'Glory to God, and peace to men of goodwill.'' If I asked you, if I could ask of each one of you: where are you from? The children of Rome, especially represented here, would respond: ah, we are the closest of children, and you're our bishop. Well, then, sons and daughters of Rome, always remember that you represent 'Roma, caput mundi' ['Rome, the capital of the world'] which through the design of Providence it has been called to be across the centuries. 

My own person counts for nothing -- it's a brother who speaks to you, become a father by the will of our Lord, but all together, fatherhood and brotherhood and God's grace, give honor to the impressions of this night, which are always our feelings, which now we express before heaven and earth: faith, hope, love -- love of God, love of brother, all aided along the way in the Lord's holy peace for the work of the good. And so, let us continue to love each other, to look out for each other along the way: to welcome whoever comes close to us, and set aside whatever difficulty it might bring. 

When you head home, find your children. Hug and kiss your children and tell them: 'This is the hug and kiss of the Pope.' And when you find them with tears to dry, give them a good word. Give anyone who suffers a word of comfort. Tell them 'The Pope is with us especially in our times of sadness and bitterness.' 

And then, all together, may we always come alive -- whether to sing, to breathe, or to cry, but always full of trust in Christ, who helps us and hears us, let us continue along our path.”

--Pope John XXIII 
Discorso della Luna ("Moonlight Speech") 
Window of the Apostolic Palace 
11 October 1962

MIND THE GAP

At railway stations and airports and bus terminals one common sight is the sign: "Mind the Gap". It is a caution to the distracted and a reminder to the forgetful. Be aware that you need to ensure your safety and that you do not put your foot where you can get hurt. Today's second reading from the letter of St James and  today's Gospel about Peter recall precisely this warning. The Lord is reminding us that often we can have in our lives a gap between what we 'say' and what we 'do'. This dichotomy creates problems for us as it did for Peter who later denied Jesus despite his awareness that Jesus was the Son of God.

We need to constantly examine our lives and ensure that we are 'bridging the gap' between our words and deeds, between the faith we profess and the lives we lead.

So we have a salutary warning to "Mind the Gap" and ensure that there is a relatively seamless interface between our lived life and our professed ideals. May we constantly ensure this by growing in coherence, transparency and credibility.

THE STARFISH THROWER

Here is a wonderful picture that tells the story of the boy saving starfish - it reminds us to do our little bit no matter how small - in the words of Mother Teresa: "What you do may seem to be a drop in the ocean but remember the ocean will be richer for that one drop!!!" Read on...

Josh Groban - You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)

WHAT ONE CAN DO WITH 'I-PAD'S

Well you have got to see this to believe what can be done with I-Pads - enjoy this promotion...

Jackie Evancho - Con Te Partiro

An amazing voice that sings - I will leave with you...

DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

On this very significant feast in the liturgical year - the octave day of Easter - we recall the Immense Love the Lord has for us his children. May our celebration of the Divine Mercy Sunday and in a special way the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, lead us to 'TRUST TOTALLY IN JESUS' MERCY' so that with St. Faustina we can say: "JESUS I TRUST IN YOU".

VIRTUAL STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Here is a wonderful way to make the Way of the Cross during our busy day even while we remain online...

Virtual Stations of the Cross - Busted Halo

MICHAEL COMBS SINGS "DRINKING FROM MY SAUCER"

A song that reminds us to be constantly grateful for all we have received...hat tip Genevieve D'souza...

HANNAH ARENDT (1906–1975)

Hannah Arendt was one of the seminal political thinkers of the twentieth century. The power and originality of her thinking was evident in works such as The Origins of Totalitarianism, The Human Condition, On Revolution and The Life of the Mind. In these works and in numerous essays she grappled with the most crucial political events of her time, trying to grasp their meaning and historical import, and showing how they affected our categories of moral and political judgment. What was required, in her view, was a new framework that could enable us to come to terms with the twin horrors of the twentieth century, Nazism and Stalinism. She provided such framework in her book on totalitarianism, and went on to develop a new set of philosophical categories that could illuminate the human condition and provide a fresh perspective on the nature of political life.

Arendt's theory of action and her revival of the ancient notion of praxis represent one of the most original contributions to twentieth century political thought. By distinguishing action (praxis) from fabrication (poiesis), by linking it to freedom and plurality, and by showing its connection to speech and remembrance, Arendt is able to articulate a conception of politics in which questions of meaning and identity can be addressed in a fresh and original manner. Moreover, by viewing action as a mode of human togetherness, Arendt is able to develop a conception of participatory democracy which stands in direct contrast to the bureaucratized and elitist forms of politics so characteristic of the modern epoch.

J. D. KRISHNAMURTHI (1895 - 1986)

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 – 1986) was adopted in his youth by Dr Annie Besant, then president of the Theosophical Society. Dr Besant and others proclaimed that Krishnamurti was to be a world teacher whose coming the Theosophists had predicted. In 1929, however, Krishnamurti renounced the role that he was expected to play, dissolved the Order with its huge following, and returned all the money and property that had been donated for this work. From then, for nearly sixty years until his death on 17 February 1986, he travelled throughout the world talking to large audiences and to individuals about the need for a radical change in mankind.

The core of Krishnamurti’s teaching is contained in the statement he made in 1929 when he said, “Truth is a pathless land”. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophical knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection.

Krishnamurti is regarded globally as one of the greatest thinkers and religious teachers of all time. He did not expound any philosophy or religion, but rather talked of the things that concern all of us in our everyday lives, of the problems of living in modern society with its violence and corruption, of the individual's search for security and happiness, and the need for mankind to free itself from inner burdens of fear, anger, hurt, and sorrow. He explained with great precision the subtle workings of the human mind, and pointed to the need for bringing to our daily life a deeply meditative and spiritual quality. His teaching, besides being relevant to the modern age, is timeless and universal.

PAULO FREIRE AND PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED

Paulo Freire (September 19, 1921 – May 2, 1997) was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of critical pedagogy. Coming from an economically deprived background himself, he envisaged the role of education in creating a more just society. Paulo Freire contributed a philosophy of education that was strongly influenced by modern Marxist and anti-colonialist thinkers. In fact, in many ways his Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) – a classic that is mandatory reading for any advanced degree in Education – brings to the fore this key idea.

In the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire attacks the "banking" concept of education, in which the student was viewed as an empty account to be filled by the teacher; which he counters with his theory of a 'problem-posing education'. In this approach to education the teacher-student teaches the student-teachers. This indeed recognizes a truth; it is never the case in fact that the teacher always knows and the student never does.

Educational method needs to be re-viewed to prevent it from becoming one more weapon in the hands of the powerful to subjugate the oppressed. Freire advocates that education should allow the oppressed to regain their humanity and overcome their condition. However, he acknowledges that in order for this to take effect, the oppressed have to play a role in their own liberation.

JACQUES DERRIDA AND DECONSTRUCTION

Just yesterday we had the MPh students defend their dissertations. Interesting stuff – rather heavy – but worth the while of all those present. Here are a few introductions to some of the topics discussed…

Post-modernism is the key word used today almost ad nauseam to describe anything that does not seem to fit into our regular ways of thinking. And standing at the helm of the postmodern cohort among others is Jacques Derrida (1930-2004).

On the first day of the school year in 1942, Derrida was expelled from his lycée by French administrators implementing anti-Semitic quotas set by the Vichy government. So we can say that he experienced in his own life the marginalization and discrimination he went on to strongly criticize. Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) is arguably the most well known philosopher of contemporary times. He is also one of the most prolific. Distancing himself from the various philosophical movements and traditions that preceded him on the French intellectual scene (phenomenology, existentialism, and structuralism), in the mid 1960s he developed a strategy called deconstruction. Deconstruction is not purely negative, but it is primarily concerned with something tantamount to a ‘critique’ of the Western philosophical tradition, although this is generally staged via an analysis of specific texts. To simplify matters, deconstruction seeks to expose, and then to subvert, the various binary oppositions that undergird our dominant ways of thinking. But even more than the re-conception of différance, deconstruction works towards preventing the worst violence. It attempts to render justice. Indeed, deconstruction is relentless in this pursuit since justice is impossible to achieve. Deconstruction has had an enormous influence in many disparate fields, including psychology, literary theory, cultural studies, linguistics, feminism, sociology and anthropology. Derrida's fame nearly reached the status of a media star, with hundreds of people filling auditoriums to hear him speak, with films and television programs devoted to him, with countless books and articles devoted to his thinking.

HOW EDUCATORS CAN BUILD CHARACTER - SOME TIPS

12 pt Comprehensive Approach - SUNY Cortland

Most educators today find it hard to fit in character building with all the rest of their curricular responsibilities. Here are some practical suggestions from the State University of New York College...

A TRIBUTE TO ONE OF THE ALL TIME GREAT SINGERS - WHITNEY HOUSTON

This song is quintessential Whitney Houston - and gives us a great message - Love is all that matters, once the dross of other realities are put aside and move away...And it is my wish that Whitney who gave the world the joy of her music may rest in the bosom of God the Eternal LOVING Father...