By Mrs Carol Sharp, APRE

Project Compassion

Second Week of Lent (School week beginning 9th March)

In Cambodia, 1 in 8 people live below the poverty line. This week through Project Compassion we learn about Phany (pronounded Parn-ee). Struggling to earn a living as a farmer in Cambodia, Phany was forced to leave her daughter behind in the village to take up construction work in the city. Thankfully, through a Caritas funded program, Phany learnt new farming techniques which enabled her to get a better yield from her vegetable crops and to conserve water in her drought-stricken region. Phany’s community also took part in training in health, nutrition, hygiene and disaster preparedness, arming them with better strategies to cope with environmental changes.

Learn more about Phany and others by visiting the Project Compassion website at https://lent.caritas.org.au/#blank

RE Congress 2020

Two weeks ago, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in the RE Congress held in Anaheim, Los Angeles. This congress was a gathering of approximately 40,000 Catholics from around the world. We all came together to celebrate our faith and to listen to experts talk on the topic of ‘Live Mercy, Be Holy’ – the theme for the 2020 congress. It was an amazing experience and I have come away with a multitude of ideas and information that can inform both the RE curriculum at ACW and the broader Catholic identity of our school.

Over the coming weeks I will provide a summary of the information discussed in each of the sessions that I went to and some ideas of how this information can be implemented at ACW. So, here we go – session 1:

Dr Robert McCarty
How to Engage Young People in God Talk!

Dr McCarty talked about how our young people are experience rich but language poor. He cited the statistic that 1 in 3 people report a significant experience of God before the age of 16 however many are lacking the vocabulary to discuss this experience.

This is further compounded by the belief that God is actually beyond human language – there is no word or combination of words in any of the human languages that fully explains God.

What this means for us at ACW is that we need to build the religious literacy of our students – much like we build literacy in other areas of their study. Dr McCarty suggests using analogy and metaphors to engage people in conversations about God. His book ‘Faith Talk’ provides lots of practical activities to guide teachers in how they might do this.

Building the religious literacy of our students is a priority for 2020 and, as a curriculum team, the RE department will be working to engage our young people in God talk.

Prayer

God of goodness and mercy,
Hear my prayer as I begin this Lenten journey with you. Let me be honest with myself as I look into my heart and soul, noticing the times I turn away from you. Guide me as I humbly seek to repent and return to your love.
May humility guide my efforts to be reconciled with you and live forever in your abundant grace.
Transform me this Lent, heavenly Father. Give me the strength to commit myself to grow closer to you each day.
Amen.