“TRANSFORMING THE WORLD TOWARDS THE REIGN OF GOD WITH ST. VINCENT DE PAUL”

Code Number:        TH211E

Course Title:           “TRANSFORMING THE WORLD TOWARDS THE REIGN OF GOD WITH ST. VINCENT DE PAUL”

Topic:           Introduction

Objective: at the end of the session, the student should be able to commit himself/herself to the course, having understood the course syllabus, by signing and submitting the pledge of commitment to the teacher.

From “Searching God” to “Responding to God” to “Celebrating God” and now towards “Transforming the World”

            You are now in your fourth and last theology subject in Adamson University’s Theology curriculum on “Faith Journey towards Social Transformation.” Let us spend a little time to recall what you went through from our previous theology classes.

Let us start with our Theology 1, Searching for God in the World Today. In this subject, “theology” was defined as a process or a practice of consciously and methodically reflecting on our experience of God in the ordinariness of life and social and historical events of the world. You were introduced to “do theology” using the methodology of see-discern-act/pray. The objective of theology is not only to know God but to have a deeper and intimate relationship with God-in-Jesus.

Theology 2, Responding to God’s Call by Becoming Fully Human, continues our journey of discipleship. The subject dealt with what is to be truly and fully human from a Christian perspective as a way of responding to God-in Jesus’ invitation having found Him in our lives. Thus, in this course, we paid attention tried to focus our “virtues” or good habits as the way to follow Jesus of Nazareth and St Vincent de Paul. You were guided, using the scriptures and Christian tradition, to acquire and develop good habits or practices that will help us become good persons in our everyday life.

In Theology 3, Celebrating God’s Presence as a Christian Community, we realized that we are not alone in our journey of becoming truly and fully human and fully alive. God-in-Jesus continues to be present to us as a pilgrim People of God - the church. The church-community of today continues to proclaim in words and deeds the liberating message of Jesus by being relevant in its mission of evangelization in the context of new challenges  or “signs of the times”, especially those that affect severely the poor and the suffering, in the spirit and example of St. Vincent de Paul.

From this understanding of the church in solidarity with the whole of humanity and the whole of creation, we are able to better understand the sacraments as celebrations of God’s active presence of love and life in the world and as a challenge for us (as church-community) to give witness to its story as the sacrament of Christ’s saving unity and fellowship in the world

         

This fourth and the last subject in Theology is designed to help us concretely act out our discipleship in Jesus in the larger social world. We are facing many challenges brought about by scientific and technological advancements, along with the issues and problems that affect the life of persons, communities and societies. As we cannot put new wine into old wineskins, we need new perspectives and approaches to new challenges. These new ways of understanding and new solutions must still be rooted in the values of the Reign of God that Jesus Christ proclaimed, guided by the social teachings and practices of the Catholic Church, and most especially in the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul who promoted in what we may call today as “systemic change”.  This is why Theology 4 is titled, “Transforming the World with St. Vincent de Paul.”

As Adamsonians molded in the Vincentian virtues and spirituality, we shall be assisted in this course on how to respond to social concerns. Distinct from other courses in the university that deal with philosophical ethics, this theology course offers the theological ethical principles for responding to the challenges of the times.

            Brainstorming Activity

            Let’s divide the class into six groups (the number of the members per group depend on the number of student/class size). All groups shall follow this procedure:

1.      Identify issues or problems (as many as you can) we are facing today—social, political, moral, ecological, economic, etc. that you consider significant as they affect a large segment of the population.

2.      List all these issues or problems in small cut-pieces of cartolina.

3.      Each group presents the issues with short explanations.

4.      Facilitated by your teacher, let us group or classify the various issues or problems. We do this by grouping together more or less related issues or problems.

Note to the Teacher: An example of groupings of issues or problems looks like this below. They are classified according to the various topics in Theology 4.

a.      Human Mobility/Migration

b.     Globalization and Labor

c.       Computer-Mediated Communication

d.     Health and Wellness

e.      Governance

f.       Ecological World

Let us discuss one or two of the issues or problems that you have presented.

·         What two issues or problems are repeated in all groups?

·         Can you give more concrete examples or experiences about each of these issues or problems?

·         Are there people or groups who are benefiting more from the situation? Who are negatively affected or losing from it?

·         Why do you think this issue or problem occurring? What is the root or core of this issue or problem?

Synthesis by the teacher and the course syllabus is discussed.