Newspaper Page Text
February 11,1982
PAGE 5
ACTIVE DISCIPLESHIP requires an inquiring mind.
One’s religious learning continually springs from a variety of
sources: books, films, television, personal reflection,
ONE WHO CARES
conversations with friends and other life experiences. (NC
Photo by Mimi Forsyth)
BY KATHARINE BIRD
Dr. Michael Warren firmly believes that a
caring relationship between teacher and
student is an essential part of the
educational process. He observes that “those
who care for us have a special influence on
us.”
The educator has some interesting stories
to tell about how this kind of care comes
into play in this work.
Educators, parents and counselors, in his
view, are all in the “caring professions.”
Warren says he sees his role as an educator
in terms of “leading students to a critical
awareness of how the world works and
why.” He is a faculty member at St. John’s
University at Jamaica, N.Y., and a
well-known speaker on youth catechetics.
Teachers have to figure out “how to
telegraph their concern” to students in their
own individual ways, Warren says, observing
that there is “no blueprint for this.”
But, Warren continues, one way that
works for him is to try to discover “the
unique gifts of each student.” He is
convinced that every young person has a
special gift or talent. In his classes, therefore,
Warren uses various strategies to get to know
his students on an individual basis.
He makes it a point to arrive at class early,
in order to chat with students informally.
Again, he assigns reflection papers to
students. Often, this helps him “learn a great
deal about the uniqueness of students.”
A couple of years ago, during a marriage
course, a student of Warren’s wrote a paper
on roles of men and women in which he
revealed quite clearly that he saw women
primarily as sexual objects.
At the same time, Warren was confident
that the somewhat older student of 23 was
reflecting a view other students held as well.
To deal head-on with the question and to
avoid embarrassing the student, Warren read
the paper aloud in class without naming the
author. The paper became a means of
initiating a class dialogue.
The student, according to Warren, began
then “to rethink his fundamental views” on
the relationship of women and men. Over
the semester, the student gradually
transformed his attitude, Warren adds.
Another strategy the educator uses is to
keep an eye on student behavior. He is
convinced that many students are falling
into “self-destructive bahavior,” indicated
by “erratic patterns” of sleeping and eating
and even relating to others.
Therefore, when he sees a student
skipping class habitually on Monday, or
showing up late for class consistently,
Warren makes it a practice to talk privately
with the student to find out what is going
on. Often, he observes, students respond
favorably to his concern.
Last year, for instance, a student Warren
was concerned about opened up about his
lifestyle, which involved heavy drinking
several nights a week. Then the student told
Warren he knew he was getting a D in the
class but said, “That’s all right because now
I’m working on my life.”
The student explained that Warren had
caused him to start looking at the
destructive way he was living. Now the
student wanted to change.
In Warren’s view, quite a few students
today reflect the destruction they see in
society around them. They have developed a
“lexicon” which indicates this, he adds.
Students talk about getting “bombed -
smashed - wrecked - blasted.
Students today hear political leaders talk
about nuclear war, Warren notes. They also
go to films like “Alien” and “Invasion of the
Body Snatchers” where a powerful force
from outer space invades and destroys life
on earth.
For Warren, some students, in their
language and often destructive lifestyles,
simply are “expressing the terror people
around them are feeling.”
Therefore, Warren thinks it is important
today for educators to help students learn to
function competently as adults in a complex
world.
The perceptive educator works hard,
accordingly, to get students to question
what they read and what they see going on
around them in movies, in the business
world, even in personal relationships - and
to make good choices about how they will
live in our kind of world.
DR. MICHAEL WARREN, a faculty member at St.
John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y., thinks it is important
today for educators to help students learn to function
competently as adults in a complex world. The perceptive
educator works hard to get students to question what they
read and what they see going on around them. (NC Photo
by Beth and Warren Wilson)
Discussion Points And (Questions
1. Do you think there is anything about the kind of world we live in
that makes ongoing education especially important for everyone today?
2. What is the role of ongoing education in your life?
3. Why does Neil Parent think that ongoing education is important
for Christians? Do you agree?
4. What did Parent’s friend discover through her participation in an
adult religious education group?
5. In Katharine Bird’s article, why does Dr. Michael Warren say that
some students today are displaying destructive patterns of behavior?
6. According to Ms. Bird, what is one way an educator can help a
student learn to function in a complicated world?
7. According to Father John Castelot, what is the point Mark is
trying to illustrate by telling the story of Jesus’ cure of the possessed
man?
8. In Father Castelot’s view, is it significant that Jesus cured this man
in gentile territory? Why?
9. Educational efforts are directed to us from many sources today.
What are some of those sources? What special challenges do Christians
face in a world in which they are bombarded with information of every
sort?
BY NEIL PARENT
A friend once confided that she would
have left the church some years ago had it
not been for an adult learning group that she
joined as a last resort.
In 1972, she was a young mother
struggling with doubts and questions about
her faith. She felt her religious commitment
was deteriorating.
But, in spite of the young woman’s
spiritual conflict, she retained a desire to
discover more about God, the church and
herself as a believer.
About the time that her faith was
reaching a crisis point, the woman and her
family moved into a parish that happened to
provide a program of adult education that
caught her interest. She joined one of the
small learning groups that was forming, and,
after a time, her life began to change.
KNOW
YOUR FAITH
(All Articles on This Page
Copyrighted 1981 By N.C. News Service)
In the atmosphere of trust that the group
provided, she was able to re-examine her
faith and come to a new appreciation of it.
That group’s participation in prayer and the
liturgy also helped her to experience and
celebrate her faith again.
Today, she remains an active Catholic
who looks back at those years as a time of
pain and growth. But she happily stresses:
The growth, was well worth the pain.
Over the years as an adult educator, I have
met numerous people whose faith was
similarly enriched through religious
education of one kind or another.
Learning is central to the Christian faith.
In fact the Greek word in the New
Testament from which we derive the title,
“disciple,” means learner.
A disciple is one who learns from a
master.
And Christians are disciples of the master,
Jesus. From his words and example, we learn
the path to God.
Discipleship, however, is not for a time
only. Hence, learning in the faith is not
reserved for children - until they master the
essentials of belief, so to speak.
The attention given in the church to
religious education for adults has increased
in recent years. In fact, the General
Catechetical Directory, which was
commissioned by the Second Vatican
Council, states that adult catechesis is the
chief form of catechesis, and all other forms
are related to it.
The American bishops picked up on that
theme in a pastoral message on Catholic
education. They emphasized that educating
adults gives the church an opportunity to
communicate with the people best able to
hear and respond because they are mature
and because they possess more in terms of
advance preparation.
It is possible for a person to experience
periods when his or her faith seems dull.
Perhaps that person becomes unenthusiastic,
and feels devoid of fresh insights and
creative expression. At times like that,
learning has loads of value, helping to
unearth for us some further dimensions of
fatih; bringing into view some refreshing
perspectives.
The disciples of the New Testament were
excited followers of Jesus, and they
continually asked the master to help them
clear up their clouded understanding.
I don’t want to create the impression that
adult education or catechesis only refers to
formal education offered by schools or
parishes or dioceses. Certainly, these are
important agents.
But there is also an important attitude; an
attitude likely to entail a thirst for deeper
insight into faith.
When this thirst exists, religious learning
can occur in many contexts:
- Books people read and films they see
often stimulate their thinking about God or
about the meaning of life.
- A conversation with a friend might
cause us to see a dimension of human life for
the first time.
- An encounter with others who care
about their faith might help in seeing how
the faith genuinely can be lived today.
So, the message of this article is simple,
yet complex: Christians are continual
learners, actively trying to discover how to
grow closer to God and to be of better
service to other people.
People have the potential to grow - to
become more than they already are. That’s a
reason why education is valuable, even when
we are adults. We need to learn to develop
our gifts.
Today’s world desperately needs
Christians who are able to use their gifts and
to bring the Good News to every nook and
cranny of society - to homes, schools,
workplaces and the political arena. But the
task requires a firm grasp of the faith and of
the demands that it places on us.
Of course, it also requires that Christians
bear the spirit of dedication and love borne
by those who first followed Jesus.
Inside Gentile Territory
Mark 5:1-20
BY FATHER JOHN J. CASTELOT
Jesus’ power is made dramatically explicit
in the story Mark tells about the Gerasene
man possessed by demons. It is found in
Chapter 5 of the Gospel.
The basic story has a folkloric cast to it,
and most likely was about an exorcism
originally. But, in the telling and retelling, it
acquired popular embellishments.
At this point in his ministry, Jesus is in
Gerasene territory. Again the exact place is
uncertain.
Variants regarding the location may
represent later attempts to bring the incident
somewhere closer to the lake. The herd of
swine in the account would have had to run
30 miles from Gerasa in order to plunge into
the waters.
On the other hand, that consideration
may have been an ironic addition to the
basic story, a bit of legendary humor.
The important point is that Jesus is now
in gentile territory.
Mark pulls out all the stops in describing
the possessed man. This is no run-of-the-mill
exorcism. Mark composes a scenario worthy
of a chilling horror movie: a graveyard,
clanking chains, the superhuman strength of
the chain-bursting madman who screams
blood-curdling screams day and night and
lacerates himself by gashing his body with
sharp stones.
This man is obviously beyond human
control. When he spots Jesus he rushes at
him, but surprisingly “falls to his knees”
before him and shrieks: “Why meddle with
me, Jesus, Son of God Most High?”
This is the usual ploy of the demon:
trying to gain control of the exorcist by
revealing the exorcist’s name.
As Mark explains in a parenthesis, Jesus
had been saying, “Unclean spirit, come out
of the man!” Sensing the power of Jesus, the
demon tries frantically to neutralize it.
But Jesus counters by eliciting the
demon’s name: “Legion - there are
hundreds of us.” Once again the magnitude
of Jesus’ task is underscored: He is
confronted not by one, but by an army of
demons.
Sensing that he is going to lose the battle,
the demon tries to bargain and asks Jesus at
least not to banish them from the territory.
It is suggested as a compromise that the
demons be transferred from the man to the
herd of swine nearby.
Here is where the sardonic humor of
folklore enters. To the Jewish Christians
who developed the story, swine were
repugnant, and therefore were fitting
habitations for unclean spirits.
The subsequent destruction of the whole
demon-possessed herd magnifies Jesus’
accomplishment. He has rid the entire
district of demonic influence, another
victory in his combat against the realm of
evil.
The reaction of the swineherds and
townspeople is right in character. They are
seized with a superstitious dread of one who
manifests such awesome power. They beg
Jesus to leave their land.
But the former demoniac, now happily
restored to sanity, asks Jesus if he may “be
with him”— the exact phrase used in
describing Jesus’ choice of The Twelve in
Chapter 3.
The refusal Jesus gives the man is not a
brush-off. On the contrary, he gives the man
a mission to proclaim the Lord’s mercy to
his own folks.
And the man does more. He proclaims
throughout the whole area, not what God
has done, but what Jesus has done for him.
This mission to the gentiles, then, is a
reminder for Mark’s community that they
too must carry the word throughout the
gentile world, now that they - like the
possessed man - have been restored to full
human stature by the risen Lord.
For Adult Learners: No Tests, No Degrees
The Educator In A Complex World