Author: D. Sader

RS 15: Awakenings Assignment

Directions: Answer the question below.  The page titled, Movie Assignment Rubric,  will be used to access this reflection.  It can be found on the left side (fifth from bottom) under pages.  When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S. Remember, Assignments are worth much more than reflection questions.

Introduction: An American bioethicist argues that patients diagnosed to be in a permanent vegetative state (PVS)  should NOT be kept alive.   [To see the article, click on Bioethicist argument]   Dr. Malcolm Sayer’s post-encephalic, catatonic patients  seem to fit the definition of PVS, therefore some people (like the American bioethicist) might argue that euthanasia should be practiced on these patients because they are no longer human beings.

The Statement:

Christian Churches, especially the Catholic Church, would argue, Euthanasia should NOT be used on Dr. Malcolm Sayer’s post-encephalic, catatonic patients because these people are still human beings?

The Question:  Do you agree with the statement above?  Why or why not?

Write a response (at least one typewritten page) answering the above question.  You MUST support your answer using examples from the movie, Awakenings.  Be as specific as possible when describing the scene or person in the movie.  You must use at least three of  Catholic catechism’s seven traits of human beings in your response.

  • Humans are created in the image and likeness of God.
  • Humans are called to happiness and holiness.
  • Humans are rational and free.
  • Humans are moral beings.
  • Humans have passions or feelings.
  • Humans are blessed with a conscience.
  • Humans are able to sin.

You may draw upon other explanations of what a human being is discussed in class to support your argument.

RS 15: Awakenings Reflection #1

Directions: Answer ONE the question below.  The page titled, Reflection Rubric,  will be used to access this reflection.  It can be found on the left side (third from top) under pages. When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S.  Use the following information in your response.

Catholic catechism provide seven answers:

  • Humans are created in the image and likeness of God.
  • Humans are called to happiness and holiness.
  • Humans are rational and free.
  • Humans are moral beings.
  • Humans have passions or feelings.
  • Humans are blessed with a conscience.
  • Humans are able to sin.

1.   Just after Dr. Malcolm Sayer got his job at the chronic hospital, he was taken on a tour of the facility.  During that tour, the following conversation occurred:

Dr. Sayer:             “Excuse me.  What are all these people waiting for?

Guide:                   “They’re not”

Dr. Sayer:             “How are they supposed to get well?”

Guide:                  “They’re not.  They’re chronic.  We call this place the garden.  All we do  is feed and water.”

What does this conversation tell you about the view of the patients in the chronic hospital?  Does the hospital staff see these patients as human?  Explain, using one or more of the statements in the Catholic catechism, if the catatonic patients are human or not.

OR

2.  Dr. Sayer discusses his post-encephalic, catatonic patients with a doctor who once treated them.  The retired doctor describe these patients as, “insubstantial as ghosts”, “children who fell asleep” and as “people who were once normal but are now elsewhere”. Leonard’s mother when describing her son’s progression said, “He never spoke again.  It was like he disappeared”.  Were these people dead (not in a physical sense)?  Explain.  If these patients seem “dead”, then are these patients  human?  Explain using one or more of the statements in the Catholic catechism.

Tradition

The fundamental source of human knowledge is encounter with the world and its history through experience. The guiding intent for the curriculum is to educate people to become fully alive and free human beings. In a Catholic context this source and this guiding intent both point to the experience of the community, an experience where Jesus Christ is encountered and the values of the Reign of God direct human action and being. Simply put, we learn through life.

Catholic education brings a focus to learning to discover, evaluate, interpret the human experience, which is always in transition, in ways that enhance and deepen appreciation for the gift of creation and provide insight into how learning can lead to fullness and freedom for all people.

Strategies to develop a respect for the life-giving dimensions of tradition:

  • Provide access to the tradition of human culture–works of art, literature, etc.–as a way of engaging learners in conversation with the past
  • Invite learners to bring the symbols and artifacts of tradition into their own lives with a questioning and interpreting attitude
  • Invite learners to come to know for themselves the wisdom, knowledge, or beauty, of the tradition
  • Allow for the occasion for moral discourse and provide access to models of responding to the moral questions raised by the study of the past
  • Invite learners into a critical assessment of experience so they may discern what is life-giving and life-enhancing
  • Celebrate the hope that comes with recognizing God’s continuing action in the life of the community

How can tradition be life-giving in Catholic education?

Religous Studies: The Human Experience Reflection #2

Directions: Answer the question below.  The page titled, Reflection Rubric,  will be used to access this reflection.  It can be found on the left side (third from top) under pages. When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S.

Experience II:  The abandoned children of Peru

Anna Halpine, World Youth Alliance stated, “In the West today, many young people do not have a meaning and purpose to their life. They’re looking to say, does my life matter? Do I have a unique contribution to make… In the developing countries, this is much more clear…for them it…[is a] a need to survive…to get an education…a job because someone needs me…when you recognize that you have a real mission, an indispensable contribution to make, then you embrace life, you celebrate life in a completely different way”.

Questions: Have people, especially young people, in the Western World lost their way? In other words, have they lost their sense of purpose and as a result no longer live life fully and joyfully? Provide reasons for your answer. Could it be true that people in the third world (e.g. Africa) really do embrace life more fully and celebrate life more than us in the 1st world?  It states in John 10:10b, “I [Jesus] came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  What is it about Jesus and/or his message that might allow people to live life fully and joyfully? If you are not familiar with some of Jesus’ messages, click the link, Jesus’ message of love.  Could love (in this case agape love) bring joy and fulfillment? Always justify your answers with examples, supporting quotes, etc.

Community

The fundamental task of Catholic schools is the integration of faith and culture and the integration of faith and life. The task is reached by integrating all the different aspects of human knowledge and in the growth of the virtues characteristic of Christians. Through this integration, the Catholic school models the kind of community that forms students to be citizens who care for the common good and and people of faith committed to the reign of God in the world. Catholic schools contribute to the common good of society.

Strategies to develop the Community Dimension of Catholic Schools:

  • Invite reflection on the mission statement of the school and/or school jurisdiction
  • Encourage committees that will animate the life of the school
  • Celebrate the unity within the diversity of the school population
  • Celebrate and participate in societal and community events and church sponsored initiatives such as Family Day, United Nations Day, Ecumenism
  • Foster social consciousness by addressing social ills through events such as Share Lent, Elimination of Racism Day
  • Integrate community service programs and projects into the life of the school
  • Hold induction ceremonies for new staff, students, parents, welcoming them into the community
  • Communicate to school community members about the life of the school

What does the community dimension mean for a Catholic school community?

Religious Studies 25: Who is Jesus? Webquest

Directions:

  1. Use Google images, to search for artist’s portrayals of Jesus.
  2. Pick out the  artist’s picture that  BEST portrays the Jesus as you believe he was.  COPY  the image and place it into a word document. Write a brief explanation indicating what it is in the picture that reveals the “real” Jesus to you.
  3. Pick out the  artist’s picture that  LEAST portrays the Jesus as you believe he was.  COPY  the image and place it into a word document. Write a brief explanation indicating what it is in the picture that least reveals the “real” Jesus to you.

Examples

This image best portrays Jesus because he is laughing. The bible says Jesus was loving person. In John 13:35, it says, By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ Disciples follow their leader, so Jesus must have been loving. Disciples wanted to be with Jesus, and they won’t want to be with someone who is unhappy, sad or angry.  Therefore, for me, loving people to me are joyous and happy people.

 

 

 

 

 

This image least portrays Jesus because he is angry. Rarely does the bible ever speak of Jesus being angry. The only example that I know of  was when Jesus cleared the temple of the moneychangers and animal-sellers.   Loving people are rarely angry. For me, loving people, such as Jesus, are joyous and happy people.  They are not angry people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Religious Studies: The Human Experience Assignment

Directions: Answer the questions below.  The page titled, Movie Assignment Rubric,  will be used to access this reflection.  It can be found on the left side (fifth from bottom) under pages.  When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S. Remember, Assignments are worth much more than reflection questions.

Read the following quotes, then answer the question(s) that follow

Jeffrey Azize, the younger of the two brothers, when referring to the homeless people of New York City, asks, “What keeps them going?  Why is it that they wake up every day?  What is their reason for living? “

The New York homeless African American says, “I’m homeless and I’m happy”.

Dr. William B. Hurlbut M.D. stated, “No matter how bad off a person is…for every body their life was a treasure for them…life is worth living because it just is.  It’s not the nature of life to be despairing.  Its the nature of life is to be hopeful”

Mama Terri, Permanent volunteer Children’s Home said, “And the joy of living, this is what the kids have… because they want to live, so they don’t mind how painful it is”.

Mama Terri  also stated, “Its not what we gave them [the abandoned children].  Its what they gave us.  Because they gave us the reason to live”.

The lepers of Ghana experienced their families abandoning them , and thus consequently were forced to live away from others in a colony.  Yet they were happy.  They were happy that the “band” of brothers came.  One of the lepers even exclaimed, “We are happy people!”

Questions: 1)  How do you explain the happiness of these people?  2)  Why are people (homeless of NYC, abandoned children of Peru and Lepers of Ghana) that you would expect to be depressed and wanting to give up on life, happy?  Perhaps the article Being Happy: Secrets of Happy People might be helpful in answering this question.  3)  What did the band of brothers discover about the human experience? 4)  What do you think is the central message of this movie?

Religious Studies: The Human Experience Reflection #1

Directions: Answer ONE of questions below.  The page titled, Reflection Rubric,  will be used to access this reflection.  It can be found on the left side (third from top) under pages. When finished, print off your response and hand in or email it to Mr. S.

Experience I:  Homeless people of New York City

Jeffrey Azize said, “Everyone lives differently.  When you go somewhere out of your own comfort zone; out of your own realm, and you enter someone else’s; that’s learning”.  In other words, Jeff is saying the same thing as the proverb, “Never judge a man until you’ve walked a mile [1.6 km] in his shoes.”

In John 8:12-15 it says, Again Jesus spoke to them saying, ‘I am the light of the world…you judge by human standards; I judge no one.'”  In Matthew 7:1-2 it says, Do not judge so that you may not be judged.  For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” 

Questions: Is Jesus, in scripture, saying the same thing as Jeffery?  Explain why or why not. Christian Slater, an actor, says, “Good judgement comes from experience. Sometimes, experience comes from bad judgement”.  Jeffry in the movie exemplifies Slater’s quote.  Explain how Jeffry and his brother’s experience as a homeless people provides evidence that Slater’s quote is true.

You may want to read these texts in context to help you with your response.  The Oremus Bible Browser will aid you in doing this.

OR

Jeffrey Azize stated: “You become more humble… you can feel the humility that the homeless people go through. And I don’t know. It’s different… my whole heart feels different.

In Matthew 18.4, it says, “Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”  In Colossians 3:12-17, it is written, “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.”  You may want to read these texts in context to help you with your response.

Questions:  What does it mean to be humble or have humility?  Explain why  humility would be one of the qualities of holiness?  How is it possible for a person to have humility in our 21st century world when our society teaches us to be competitive; encouraging us to be number 1? 

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

The month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Sacred Heart represents Christ’s love for all mankind.

O most holy heart of Jesus, fountain of every blessing, I adore you, I love you, and with lively sorrow for my sins I offer you this poor heart of mine. Make me humble, patient, pure and wholly obedient to your will. Grant, Good Jesus, that I may live in you and for you. Protect me in the midst of danger. Comfort me in my afflictions. Give me health of body, assistance in my temporal needs, your blessings on all that I do, and the grace of a holy death. Amen.

Reflection Question
Think back on the times or a time when your heart was bursting of the power of God’s love, how did it make you feel?

Discussion Question
What can you do to help foster the “Sacred Heart” for others around you?

The Paschal Mystery

The liturgy of the Church, the celebration of the sacraments, and the seasons of Lent and Easter are particular times when we pay attention to what Jesus Christ has done for us through his passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension. Yet these are not the only times when we experience the Paschal Mystery. It is part of our everyday life; it is the undercurrent of all that we do and all that we are. – Loyola Press

Reflection Question
Think about your own life. What is a dying or rising that you have experienced today, this week, this year? Reflect on that experience in light of the event of Jesus Christ’s passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension.

Discussion Question
The Paschal Mystery illustrates to us how Jesus showed how new life can come from death. Can you think of a time where you found meaning/strength in tough times, where there was light in the darkness?