Centacare

Here you will find a number of articles presented by Centacare’s Sr Moira Truelson regarding our Formation and Faith.

• Value and Puzzles
  
• Creativity and Imagination in the Workplace
  
• Health as a Human Right
  
• The True Meaning of Halloween
  
• Christmas
  
• Peacemakers
  
• Lent
  
• Easter
  
• Catch the Dream – a Workshop on Ageing
  
• What does Pentecost mean?
  

Sr Moira Truelson grew up in Rockhampton, is a Sister of Mercy and for many years taught in secondary school. As such she has a great compassion for parents of teenagers.  In more recent years she has worked  mainly with adults in faith development and spirituality. 

Sr Moira has a great passion for the mission of Jesus, which is basically about recognising the dignity of each person and the quality of our relationships. She was elected leader of the Congregation after which she spent some time in Pakistan. These experiences changed her life in so many ways. 

Sr Moira is now delighted to be a part of Centacare as she had many connections with staff in earlier years. As Centacare is involved with many of the most vulnerable in our society she believes it is at the heart of what Christ’s mission was all about. Her favourite pastimes are fishing and gardening.

Value and Puzzles

Recently I attended an induction process at the Centacare Diocesan Administration Office. I found this very informative.

What I noticed most of all was the integration of values within the strategies that are being developed in the overall plan for Centacare. Strangely enough when I woke up the next morning I was thinking about jigsaws (as in puzzles not electric saws). The image I had was of the big picture with several pieces lying about.

As I have been pondering what to write about the value “achieving results for our clients and being accountable for our actions” I realised this image could be the framework for some thoughts around the value.

When we begin a jigsaw it is usually in a box with the picture we have to create and the pieces.  The first point of difference for us in the workplace is that we do not have a box with a picture.

We have to develop the big picture from the information we have including:

• the role we play in the Church as a ministry.
• the research that has been done in the community to identify needs.
• the availability of funds and
• the membership of Centacare who deliver the services.

The biggest headache these give us with the puzzle is the accountability that is attached to each. There is accountability to the Church, accountability to Government, accountability to each other and central to all is accountability to our clients.

The major part of our jigsaw is delivery of the services we have been employed to provide. The value states that we will strive to ‘achieve results for our clients’.

If we were in a different workplace and, say we were selling pies, then we have a specific product to deliver that will satisfy customers.  But for us we are working within the lives of people.

Relational work is time consuming and stressful, particularly as the people we serve are in need. We meet them usually at their most vulnerable and we have to be extra careful to separate their emotions from our own.

The bottom line is that we treat them with dignity. At times there are decisions we have to make, regarding the service we provide, that tie in to our overall accountability. This, I believe, is the hardest part of relational work.

Getting back to the jigsaw...

Because of the business of life we naturally concentrate on the job at hand. In jigsaw terms this means the piece of the puzzle we are holding. We have to remember that this piece joins other pieces in our own workplace and across the Diocese. These connections support us and are the basis for team work across the organisation.

The big picture, which can be in flux as we develop planning for the future, has to be seen as the total connection of operating relationships within the organisation.

It is important that we see the position of our piece of the puzzle within the total picture. Every piece of the jigsaw is vital to the whole. If I am in touch with the big picture and I can see how my piece fits in the whole, then I will be better able to concentrate on the task at hand and achieve the results that are needed for the people I serve.

This framework reflects the writing of Saint Paul when he says in 1 Corinthians12:12;21

... a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit

because all these parts though different  make one body...

Nor is the body to be identified with any one of its parts.

...If one part is hurt all parts are hurt with it.

If one part is given special honour, all parts enjoy it.

Creativity and Imagination in the Workplace

I am not sure how many of you are familiar with Einstein.  Perhaps you think he may be beyond your scope.  However his writing contains some very special quotes which you can search out for yourself.

One that I love and is pertinent to the value I wish to write about is:  "Imagination is more important than intellect".

Now please don’t let your intellect be offended by this because the quote is intimately linked to the value we live by in Centacare and that is: creative thinking and responsive, innovative service delivery.

Creativity relies on our ability to think outside the usual response to a situation.

Another quote that supports this is from Suzanne Maher who writes:
"As you think so you are.
As you imagine so you become".

Imagination takes us beyond what we think may be possible.  It requires of us a curiosity about life and situations, a willingness to take risks and a supportive group with whom we can hear our own thoughts and those of others.

At Centacare we pride ourselves on our team work and it is this team work that allows us to look for creative responses to the same situations we deal with everyday.  When we gather it can be a time to ask for ideas on a particular issue.  This approach is grounded in the fact that more ideas increase the chances that one of them may have the best fit.  Of course this is where the risk taking comes into play. 

If we stoically stick to our own ideas or the ‘tried and true’, we will never view things from a different perspective. Professionally we have learnt and used methods for problem solving but there is always new life when we hear the ideas of others.  Even if this does not change our approach it may enliven us to continue dealing with the issue.

In any organisation there are steps we can put in place such as:

• Challenge -  matching people with assignments
• Freedom -  giving people autonomy to choose means to achieve goals
• Resources - keeping a balance between resources and people
• Work group features - diverse supportive teams where members share the excitement, willingness to help and recognise each other’s talents
• Organisational support - value emphasis, information and sharing, collaboration

One of the most basic factors that destroys creative thinking is negativity.  Research has shown how quickly a person’s creative ability wanes when working in a negative environment.

A book has been written about water and once again I cannot remember the name.  The writer makes a point that water is a compound made up of 2 parts of hydrogen to 1 part of oxygen.  He likens this to a growing need we have in our own life as to the combination of Gratitude and Love. For every 1 part of Love we need 2 parts of Gratitude. 

He sees the world as lacking in gratitude.  So in our life, a simple way forward is to remember to be grateful.   Many things in nature can move us to be grateful but what about all that happens in a day at work? 

Even if what someone does for us is part of his or her job, lets remember to say thanks.  The ground of this lies in Matthew 25:40 ‘….as you did this to one of the least of these, you did it to me..’

Start small and you do not know where you may end up.

Health as a Human Right

At the end of August I had the opportunity to attend the United Nations’ (UN) conference for the Department of Public Information and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The conference was held in Melbourne and was attended by 1300 delegates from 60 countries.

I think the overriding message was to do with how we actually view health.  In the western world health has become a commodity, and it is often a commodity that is unavailable to many, but how much more so in developing countries.  The aspects of ‘doing justice’ were held under scrutiny as well.

If health issues or any issues are seen as problems then we tend to fix the problem but this does not lead to sustainability.  If the need for assistance is not coming from the community itself then we tend to have a ‘one size fits all’ solution. 

Community development processes are the only honest way of approaching any aspect of human rights.  As we move from therapeutic methods to community development work we then recognise that our role may become more in the area of activism.

Sustainability means people must own the changes needed for their health.  They need advocates among themselves who can continue to place health among the human rights of every person. Writing this sounds so simplistic when I think of the issues we addressed.  However the wholistic approach to any situation we face is the only authentic one.

The True Meaning of Halloween

Recently we witnessed the celebration of Halloween.  It would be interesting to ask people if they knew the origin of the celebration.  Halloween is celebrated on the eve of All Hallows or All Saints.  Its origin can be traced to different countries.

“Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while  ‘some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, whose original spelling was Samuin (pronounced sow-an or sow-in)". The name is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end’.  A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced Kálan Gái av).”
(Sourced from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween)

The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the “Otherworld” became thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm.

Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of souling when poor folk would go door to door on Hallomas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2). It originated in Ireland and Britain, although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy.

Many celebrations of the past have come to us over the years and most have shifted dramatically from their origins.  I am sure people who are importing large orange coloured pumpkins would be surprised to find that originally candles were placed in turnips. Halloween is a northern hemisphere celebration that helped prepare for the winter.  Food was gathered, and a large fire was built from which people carried the flame into their homes to light the first fire of the winter.  In some ways this is similar to our celebration of the light at Easter.

The main focus however was to pray for those who had died.  We celebrate All Souls on 2 November and this can be a time for remembering those who have gone before us and celebrating their lives.   We also celebrate All Saints (All Hallows) on 1 November which is a celebration of life continuing.

Recently Australia welcomed our first saint in Mary MacKillop.  My reflection on these events has made me wonder at the consumerist takeover of things spiritual.  Mary keeps our feet on the ground however when we see her life of service to those most disadvantaged in her time, a work that has continued through her sisters to this day.  Whether we believe in the process of sainthood in the church we must celebrate the life of this woman.

November then is a time to draw strength from those we have loved and known who are no longer with us.  Their lives, no matter how ordinary, have contributed to the life around us and for this we can be truly grateful.  Let us be thankful for our own lives and the service we offer in our world today.  We may never be recognised as Saints but all who bring love and life are celebrated during this month.

Christmas

Recently I was working in Brisbane and staying with friends.  They asked if I would like to attend a Christmas play being held at the primary school where they worked.  The school has less than 200 students and there are 17 different cultures among them, mainly refugees from around the world.  Every child who wished to take part was given a role.  Two or three different students played some of the same roles just so they could all participate and there were three different sets of students doing the narration.  Each class acted and sang.

The angels from Year 1 were great singing ‘This Little Light of Mine’ with candles waving.  When my favourite song ‘O Holy Night’ was sung I have never heard so much enthusiasm and so little tune.  What a joy just the same.  The other notable thing was to see the music and rhythm among the children from different countries.  To watch the energy and enthusiasm of children is a great gift.

This play was written by Monica Brown and it raised awareness of the Jesse tree and the true meaning of Christmas.  The Jesse tree is decorated very differently as it represents Old Testament characters leading up to the time of Christ. The symbols and those they represent are:

• Adam and Eve – Fruit  (Gen 2:24 – 3:24)
• Noah – Ark or rainbow (Gen 6:11 – 22)
• Abraham – Knife (Gen 12:1-7 15:1-6)
• Joseph – Coloured coat (Gen 37,39)
• Jacob – Ladder (Gen 27:41 – 28:22)
• David – Harp (1Samuel 16:17-23)
• Moses –Tablets of the Law (Ex 2:1 – 4:20)
• Isaiah – Lion and Lamb (Is 1:10-20 6:1-13)
• Elizabeth – Small home (Luke1:39-55)
• Mary – Lily (Luke 1:26 – 38)
• Joseph- Hammer or saw  (Matt 1:18 – 25)

These, as you can see are not the usual Christmas tree decorations.  They are there to help us remember the journey of God’s people.  The whole of Scripture, when studied from a certain perspective, can be called a journey.  It is the story of God walking together with people.  There are crises, conflicts, ups and downs, growth, making and breaking of covenants.

Walking and working together is being together. It implies standing and supporting each other in moments of difficulties and joys, in crises and crosses. It involves journeying together in this way of life and moving on together.

This pilgrimage presupposes standing by and with each other.
This is called community.

Peacemakers

The Gospel for this week was the Beatitudes.  One of these blessings is for the peacemakers. Often we think of the peacemakers as those who negotiate in conflict, namely war or political strife.  We never see our ordinary actions as peacemaking.  If we wanted a reality check on this part of the scripture we only have to look at the goodwill that has been so obvious in our country over the past weeks.

The first images we had of the flash flooding were beyond our comprehension for this country.  The feelings of terror and hopelessness were written on the faces of those involved.  How much in need of down to earth peacemakers were these people?   Many times, I am sure, others felt close to tears as I did when we witnessed the heroism of those who rescued people from roof tops or in other perilous situations.  The clean up brought out people of all ages.  The smallest children were involved as well.

The recovery of peace of mind is the result of people addressing the immediate needs of those who were flooded.  To return home brings with it the feeling of the familiar which helps people ‘bounce back’ even though their loss brings grief. There are so many beautiful stories of kindness and hard work that have helped to bring some normality to life.  At the moment we are aware of northern Queensland which will call on all our generosity in the aftermath of another cyclone while in the south of the country we have bushfires.

In the face of such devastation we can think that nothing we do can make a difference but we have been shown that the smallest act of kindness helps to restore the spirit.  One story that struck me was of neighbours who cleaned and restored an older gentleman’s car after it had been submerged for some time.  Their comment was simply that ‘at his age he could not possibly afford a new car’.

Being a peacemaker means being aware of others and responding to help bring peace into their lives.  In this year’s Australia Day awards a service award was given to a man who lives at the Gap and has saved so many from suicide.  His comments were simply to smile at people, talk to them and invite them in for a cuppa.

Much angst can come for people in any of these situations because of their understanding of God.  People at times see natural disaster as the direct action of God.  With the coming of Christ as ‘God in human form’ the message was:

God is always present to us, more intimate to us than we are to ourselves, deeply, lovingly concerned about us..... God is supporting us, urging us to the best responses to reality of which we are capable and even beyond what we think we are capable of, consoling us in suffering, sharing and affirming our joy, strengthening us in conflict....  But this does not make God the direct and immediate cause of each event that happens in the universe.
- Sandra Schneiders

Scripture tells us that Jesus said he would send the Spirit to be with us. This is the very Spirit we have seen in action over the past months - the Spirit of peacemaking which comes alive in our community every day, but especially when we reach out to others to assist them in their need.  We have been truly blessed with peacemakers in this time of crisis.  If you were to ask some of those helping about their faith in God, they may not even believe in God.  Whatever our belief, the actions of people, however great or small, during these weeks have reminded us of the goodness, integrity and love which constitutes being fully human.

Lent

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. Lent is the time when we stop and reassess our lives and Jesus tells us to repent.  This does not mean to bash yourself up, put yourself down and be miserable. Rather it means to stop and think... have a good hard think about what you are doing with your life. We can learn from the people who have survived the recent floods and cyclones. They talk of building up their families and communities - not of getting back their possessions. We can use this Lent to decide what is important in our lives and put our time and energy there.

I had the opportunity earlier in the year to visit Sydney and a number of bookshops...  Some of us will always remain poor when there are books to be bought.  One author I enjoy is Richard Rohr, so I bought his reflections for Lent.  Instead of my own thoughts I would like to share some of his views on Lent.  He calls this:

Our Amazing Capacity for Missing the Point

Isaiah 58:1 - 9
Matthew 9:14—15

Isaiah, purified after the great exile, defines fasting in a whole new and rather “secular” way. It is courageous that the church dares to use such a hard-hitting passage at the beginning of Lent, considering that the very same situation still applies today.   Some scholars say that it was this kind of writing that got Isaiah killed. He accuses and condemns his fellow Jews for “afflicting themselves” and “bowing their heads” through ritual observances, fasting, and formal temple prayers, but largely missing the whole point of religion. This passage would not have been a big hit with the pious, the priestly class, or the temple conservatives of Isaiah’s day.

Isaiah says explicitly that God prefers another kind of fasting which changes our actual lifestyle and not just punishes our body. (The poor body is always the available scapegoat to avoid touching our purse, our calendar, or our prejudices.)  Isaiah makes a very upfront demand for social justice, non-aggression, taking our feet off the necks of the oppressed, sharing our bread with the hungry, clothing the naked, letting go of our sense of entitlement, malicious speech, and sheltering the homeless. He says very clearly this is the real fast God wants!

It is amazing that we could ever miss the point. It is likely that what we later called the corporal works of mercy came from this passage. We can presume that Jesus was familiar with it because of his parallel sermon on the sheep and the goats. The passage segues nicely into the short gospel on why Jesus and his disciples do not fast. In effect, he says “because it is the wrong kind of fasting!”
Rhor, Richard “Wondrous Encounters” p18-19

This reminded me of a reflection on the Gospel of Luke 5;17-26, which is the story of the paralytic whose frustrated friends lowered him through the roof into the crowd around Jesus.

Mercy and justice are about making visible or accessible the needs of those usually marginalised into invisibility: not so much as being the voice for the voiceless as giving people opportunity to be seen and heard themselves. This means taking the tiles off the roof and lowering those with needs into our midst ... The friends’ service of this disadvantaged man allows him to be dropped into the middle of the otherwise closed-off space of the privileged listeners to Jesus’ message. The image of the man being lowered into Jesus’ presence shows how social justice and God’s mercy break down the barrier of invisibility ... It is the friends’ service ... that allows Jesus to teach something more about God’s mercy to those listening in the house. There is no sacred space separate from work for justice — the image of the man being lowered into Jesus’ presence shows us how integral is the pursuit of justice to every Christian’s faith.
Excerpt from presentation of Janette Gray (November 2009). RSM Mercy Justice Conference.

As members of Centacare let’s not try to think of new ways to observe Lent. We are perhaps the only face of mercy and justice that people experience.  So let’s just become truly conscious of those to whom we minister and how, by our presence and actions with and for them, we make them more visible in the wider community.

Easter

It is hard to believe that we are moving through the last few weeks of Lent already.  Maybe we will have time to reflect on the type of ‘fast’ that has been asked of us.  ...the fast from aggression, from malicious speech, from blindness....   Seeing differently brings us to a place of freedom.  It reminds us of the story of the man born blind from last Sunday.

Richard Rohr once more gives us a framework for reflection on this scripture.

He lists the major themes as follows:

• The ‘man born blind’ is the archetype for all of us at the beginning of life’s journey.
• The moral blame game as to why or who caused human suffering is a waste of time.
• The man does not even ask to be healed. It is just offered and given.
• Religious authorities are sometimes more concerned with control and correct theology than actually healing people. They are presented as narrow and unloving throughout the story.
• Many people have their spiritual conclusions before they have the facts. He is a predefined ‘sinner’ and has no credibility for them.
• Belief in and love of Jesus come after the fact, subsequent to the healing.  Perfect faith or motivation is not always a prerequisite for God’s action.
• Spirituality is about seeing.  Sin is about blindness or as Saint Gregory of Nyssa will say, ‘Sin is always a refusal to grow’
• The one who knows little, learns much and those who have all their answers already, learn nothing.

The message of all of this is that we often see only appearances but God sees the heart.  The writer Leunig suggests that our heart is buried alive by the hectic pace of life and the noise and demands made by others in our lives.

This heart is not the organ that works so hard to pump blood around the body, but rather our inmost self.

Our entombed hearts need to be taken out for an airing, taken into the light of day where we can once again be in touch with our feelings and find some ease within.  When our heart is free we come to our God as we really are  - ‘in our hurt or rage or love or contentment.; we simply are as we are.  We don’t make excuses to God for our state.  We know that we will be met and accepted as we are.  And God expects the same courtesy from us – we encounter the reality of God, as God is, not our image of God.’ (To Dream with the Heart  p 39, 40)

So as we move towards the celebration of Easter and the joy of Resurrection let us also roll the stone away that entombs our hearts and so encounter that sacred place within us where we are embraced by our God.

Catch the Dream – a Workshop on Ageing

As I write this article for the Newsletter, I am actually attending a workshop on Ageing.  It is called Catch the Dream and has been offered in our congregation for some years.  So many years in fact that it is now my turn to attend.  It is aimed at people who are in the last season of life and even though we are regarded as the ‘younger members’ we are definitely entitled to a seat at this table.   

The very first distinction that has been made is: 
“Old” is what happens to us.
“Eldering” is what we participate in consciously and willingly. 

Ageing is a process of increasing personal diminishment and disengagement from life.

Eldering is about:

• Developing contemplative skills;
• Harvesting the fruits of one’s life;
• Leaving a legacy for the future; and
• Preparing for death.

What does Pentecost mean?

In the church we are approaching the celebration of Pentecost.  This significant event is seen as the beginning of the church - the coming of the Life Giver, the Spirit.  Perhaps it is a good time to put this event in a much wider context. 

The feast of Pentecost is somewhat akin to the sacraments.  They are external events that signify a reality that is already present.  Baptism for instance recognises publicly the presence of the spirit of life already within all created life. It is a graced moment that calls on us to live from the spirit within, the ultimate closeness of God.  Pentecost is no different. This was not an event that brought about the Spirit within life.  The Spirit of life is the spirit of all creation which has been present for over 13 billion years.  So what are we really celebrating?

This day is seen as the beginning of the church.  If we explore the language and experience written about this day we may start to see what the Spirit of Life is all about.  One part of the scripture tells us that people understood others even though they were speaking different languages.  In our age of living in a Global Village, this could be a valuable asset.  But as usual we interpret events so literally that we miss the truth within.  This is a celebration of all that is true regarding the whole of creation.  All life is one. 

There are three factors in society today that cause us to be less than impressed with this reality:

1. individualism;
2. the overpowering weight of unreflected information; and
3. consumerism.

These immerse us in a way of being that can become so superficial that we lose all connection with our inner self and its need for nurture.  I think the term ‘being beside oneself’ is particularly relevant today.  The ‘sanctity’ of my rights far surpasses our understanding of our responsibilities.  The Surface living cannot connect us to the utter closeness of the relationship with the whole of creation because this is not just an external connection.  We actually share the same spirit.

What then of Pentecost and understanding others who speak in ‘different tongues’?  If my life revolves simply around myself and my rights I will fail to even see the other.  What if we could live out of a truly adult perspective?  This would mean that when we meet another we would have an openness to hear and to see.  Preconceived ideas and my own agenda in meeting another would not be the criteria for my response.  Every encounter would have the capacity to add to my understanding of life, to move me to reassess my rigid views of the world. Just imagine if we took the time to depth the statement that ‘all life is one’.  It may of course be too frightening and challenging to the world view which sustains me at present. 

Religion and the Church are formal structures that have grown from the Spirit.  The task of each is to be a window through which we explore the mystery of life.  Both hold this invitation to live in the total mystery of life.  If they simply offer us an intellectual assent to certain beliefs ‘about’ life then we need to take a step further to depth the truths they contain.

As we celebrate Pentecost this year it could be good to take a little time to examine where we are in the total view of the created universe.  Perhaps there are a few things that may help us to do this:

• Try to see who is before us with a loving eye.
• Experience all life as gift.
• Make gratitude an essential part of each day.
• Experience seeing ourselves as born of and dependent upon the 13.7 billion year history of the evolving and expanding universe, and the product of the 3.7 billion year history of the evolution of life on Earth.
• Experience the natural world as other; be aware of the size and age of the universe, and of being taken far beyond human comfort zones into a mystery that is beyond us.
• Check occasionally each day if we have remembered that all life is one.