Religious misconceptions

I was teaching a Year 9 class on World Religions today. The class were coming up with questions they want they answer to. We has moved onto Judaism.

Pupil 1 Sir, what’s the name of that special day when the Jews remember the Angel of Death passing over the Hebrew houses?

*class snicker*

Me That is called The Passover. On the Passover the eat the Seder Meal.

Pupil 2 *interrupting* sir, what do they eat at the Seder Meal?

Pupil 3 duh! … That’s the one where they eat the babies!

*Class erupts in laughter*
*Pupil 3’s neighbour quietly explains the mistake to him*

At least the majority were able to realise the mistake.

In the interests of teenagers …

In the last week I have been at a few different events aimed at students to teach them things in different ways. The enthusiasm and involvement of the students varied greatly and the level of success seems to be measured by this.

One of the events had some great practical activities, group work, and real world applications. The students were able to be creative, messy and got clear rewards. Strangely enough this seemed to be the least successful of the activities. Despite the activities there was a lot of time waiting for feedback and in these times there plenty of opportunity to get distracted. It felt like the structure of the feedback times and the delivery of the talks is where this event fell down.

At another event I was at last week, a group of students were given a tour of Westminster Cathedral. The tour lasted an hour and half and was about architecture and the religious significance artefacts. After the tour was over the students were keen to explore and stay for longer. I had to work hard to convince them to go lunch. The key seemed to be the person leading the tour and the pace of the tour which was lots of short stops. The tour was led by a wonderful lady volunteer called Dora. She spoke at their level but was still challenging with questions. She seemed to have a genuine love for what she was doing – they were rapt for the full course of her talk.

The final event I was at was a talk to a group of students by a teacher. It lasted for 30 minutes with only a few visuals. The students were silent for the whole talk and were perfectly still. At the end they gave a genuine extended round of applause. This time the key seemed to be honesty and passion. The teacher was talking about personal experience and events – the students seemed honoured to hear what had happened and were respectful of everything the teacher said.

The message seems to be to keep the interests of teenagers you need to:

• plan carefully and structure things well
• keep the pace up
• be passionate and full of meaning
• be honest and care
• challenge them

Relationships Education …

Today we started the second series of lunchtime groups for relationship education. These are designed to help students access relationship education in a more informal way than they would do otherwise. Some of the students will have specific learning needs which make classroom relationships and sexual education difficult to access. Each group receives three lunchtime sessions where they are encouraged to bring their lunch and are guided through discussions on topics ranging from relationships, to puberty, to sexual encounters. We try to ensure that there is at least two members of staff present and endeavour for them to be male and female. The students are often reluctant and apprehensive at first but quickly engage in the discussion their enthusiasm grows. They all seem happy to share questions and ideas which indicates the safety they find in the environment  and by the end of the sessions they express their gratitude.

 

I feel that the programme may need more than three sessions but the other commitments of the staff and pupils involved seem to make this impractical. There is also the challenge in knowing which students would best benefit form the programme without including too many students, and the challenge in knowing when in their school life is best for the pupils. Flexibility seems to have been the best way forward.

Charity Projects in School

In school at the moment we are working towards three different charity projects –  each one is supporting a different charity in a different way. I normally try to focus on one charity per academic year and not have too many projects too close together, but this time I seem to have bitten off  far more.

 

Fancy Dress Mufti Day

The school has agreed that the we can hold a Mufti Day next week, and during that pupils may wear fancy dress costumes. The theme for the costumes is Heroes and Villains, but we have restricted the pupils to costumes that will not get in the way of their school work or the school work of others. We will also run a competition on the day for best costume with judging to take place at lunchtime.

The buzz around school is certainly positive with many pupils talking about which costumes they will wear. We have also said that pupils can wear normal mufti on the day and still donate to charity.

Hopefully the day will go well and I should have some interesting photos to show you next week.

All proceeds from the day will go to Momentum

 

Entertainment Evening for Arthritis Care

The evening of the Mufit Day the school will be performing entertainment for the local branch of Arthritis Care. I have asked for pupils to volunteer for this and have volunteers from different years. They will be performing a range of things from singing, music, comedy, magic, dance and drama.

I am really looking forward to the evening, but am also slightly concerned by making sure all the acts are ready and turn up on time. Fingers crossed they all do their part.

 

DePaul UK Rubik’s Cube Challenge

In November DePaul UK are planning a event to challenge the world record for the most people solving the Rubik’s Cube at the same time. Rubik’s have sponsored them and so for the event at the O2 in London, for every person who successfully solves the cube on the day, Rubiks wil give DePaul £100.

I am plannig to take a school trip of around 60 pupils to the event. And so at the moment most of my lunchtimes are taken up with pupils in my room learning how to solve the Cube. We have had 30 people at a time learning the cube. I only hope that once they have learnt it, one of them will be so kind as to teach me!

If you would like more information on how to solve the cube or to get involved there is information here.

 

 

 

 

School trips and Retreats

In school at the moment I am in the process of organising 3 different trips. A trip to Flame Congress next weekend, a Yr 10 Retreat to St Vincent’s Whitstable, and a trip to see the NFL Game at Wembley Stadium in October.

This year the school has become a “cash-less” school will all payments in school made through a form of electronic payment. There have been a few teething problems in getting the system sorted and easily applicable to all payment to the school, but I think it is fully up and running at the moment. The school is also a “paper-less” school when it comes to letters to parents with all communication being carried out via an email/online system. The overall system has some positives and negatives:

The trip to the Flame Congress has proved to be one with positives and negatives. As it is a new event the desription is hard to convey through a simple letter and I know many parents assumed that their pupils would not be interested and did not tell them about the trip. Each pupil who was spoken to in person has shown a great enthusiasm to attend but at least half of those are “still waiting for their parents” to pay via the payment system. It will be a wonderful day, but it has taken a lot of verbal chasing and reminding to get the numbers required. It has also meant that the payments and sign ups have been dealt with centrally so I don’t have to worry about pupils handing me forms and payments at all times of day.

In contrast the Yr 10 Retreat to the SCYS at St Vincent’s , Whitstable; and the NFL Game at Wembley Stadium are proving very popular. Both of these events have happened over 4 times before, and the word of mouth from pupils has been enough for the sign up by pupils to be really good. I expect both to be sold out this week.

I am still learning the best ways round the systems – but the lesson seems to be that new events will need more of a push and if the overall demand is there amongst the pupils the system is not used as an excuse at all.

Are you a Rockstar or a Billionaire?

Recently I gave an assembly to Year 10 pupils. It was my final assembly with them after giving them talks about Sex and Relationships. The assembly was a recap on what I had said previously but it was also designed to get them thinking about what motivations they might have for doing things.

In society they are bombarded with different messages all of which seem to tell them to put their needs first but also that if something “feels good” it is probably right. Messages like “because you’re worth it” or “give in to temptation” bound around the media. I wanted to give them a different take on motivation.

So I played them this video:

We then talked about the different things that were “wanted” in the song. I then asked them about WHY those things were wanted. Most pupils came back with the idea that it would either “make them happy” or “make them seem successful”.

I then played this video:

 

The discussions afterwards were about what the difference was between the songs. The answer is Selfishness. The rockstar wants eveything for himself  where as the Billionaire wants the money but intends to do lots of things for others with the money.

My message to the pupils was then for them to think about the decisions they make in their lives. Decisions about alcohol, drugs, sex, work, homework, exams … in what they do, in how they behave, are they more a Rockstar or are they a Billionaire? If they are not a Billionaire now they should try to be one in the futurew.

So the question is now posed to you … are you a Rockstar or a Billionaire?

 

The Contradictions of the UK Equality Law

In today’s Daily Telegraph we read how Trevor Phillips, Chairman of the Human Rights and Equalities Commission sayin:

To me there’s nothing different in principle with a Catholic adoption agency, or indeed Methodist adoption agency, saying the rules in our community are different and therefore the law shouldn’t apply to us. Why not then say sharia can be applied to different parts of the country?

The legal background to this current debate can be found here. These recent developments have really got me thinking about the arguments being used in public and the apparent contradictions found there.

 

First, the utiliatarian argument that the impact of the eqality legislation is for the greater good of society.

Prior to the legislation there were 11 Roman Catholic adoption agencies in England and Wales, 2 in Scotland, and 1 Evangelical adoption and fostering agency in England. Most of these have had to withdraw from adoption services or abandon the religious ethos in order to continue, like the Cabrini Children’s Society (formerly Catholic Children’s Society).

These agencies accounted for over 4% of adoptions and were 1/3 of the adoptions from the voluntary sector. These voluntary sector adoptions include the “hard to place” adoptions with older children  or those with medical or emotional issues.

In return if you visit the DFE Website and click on the excel file for England Summary Tables, and then table E2 you will see that Civil Partnership Couples account for 1% of adoptions between 2007 to 2010 (% are rounded up to the nearest whole number).

From this it does not appear that the best interests of the children needing adopting is being taken into account as they opportunities seemed to have been lessened by the legislation.

Futhermore, the Roman Catholic adoption agencies were willing to provide information for where Same Sex Couples could go to pursue an adoption, but this was not allowed by the law makers.

 

Second, the laws of the land and the Sharia law analogy.

The argument of Trevor Phillips seems to completely undermine the legal history of this fine country where by many of the laws of the land were guided by the Christian nature of the country. To imply that the requests for dispensation are a new radical approach fails to grasp the way the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches shaped this country.

 

Third, the motivational/moral misunderstanding.

The Human Rights and Equalities Council are forgetting about what motivates people, especially with regards to adoption agencies. Through history, be they schools, hosptials, care homes or adoption agencies, Christians have been motivated to help others through the Agape message of Christ. This has encouraged numerous people the world over to establish organisations and charities, to build places of hope, to volunteer their time and energy, and to donate their money to help people.

It was these principles which caused the adoption agencies to be formed and it is principles like these which underpin the ideas found in David Cameron’s “Big Society.” To then turn to these organisations, and the thousands of people that support them, and say “your religious ideas have no place in our society” or “you can only help if you leave your religious ideals or conscience at the door” fails to understand that it is these very ideals and principles which motivate the support and help being given.

Current health policy allows hospitals to positively discimate treatment on the grounds of weight, eatings, drinking or smoking habits. Other charities positively discriminate which area they wish to serve, or which particular illness they support.

If the government want this change to happen they need to think past the one goal of equality and look at the bigger picture of freedoms. They need to start looking at who is benefitting in any situation or what the motivation is.

 

I firmly believe that God “knows our innermost being”, it was he “that placed us in our mother’s womb” and it was he that made us all “free and equal.” He also guided us to put our neighbour’s needs ahead or our own, and in this case I believe the needs of the children should come first.

 

Sex Assembly

Every year I speak to Year 10 as part of their SRE curriculum in PSE. For those non-teachers out there, SRE is Sex and Relationships education. My involvement is part of a larger programme which they have which includes:

*Class work on family relationships, friends, and partners,
*Talks on Sexual Health from Local Nurses(which take into account the Catholic Ethos of the School) from Local Nurses,
*Anonymous Question and Answer sessions,

I give a talk to Yr 10 in two halfs and on understanding the logic of the Catholic Perspective on Sex and Relationships – I try to not use Bible teachings, rather analogies and logic; and then a second talk to the whole year group on self discipline and making positive choices.

Before school today was the first of my talks/assemblies with half the year group. I really enjoyed it. As a starter, to break the ice, I used a youtube clip of a song from “Avenue Q” – “The Internet is for Porn”. It went down really well – when I spoke to pupils at the end of the day they brought up the clip and when questioned were able to explain how it related to what I was talking about.

The slight downside is, due to surfing Youtube for the best version, imbedding the clip, and then showing it, I now have had it going through my head for most of the afternoon and evening – I just hope I haven’t accidentally been singing it without realising!

The rise and fall of Tebow

Happy New Year to you all. My apologies for the extended blogging break – no real excuses but hope to return with a minimum of 1 post a week in 2012.

 

Through my absence Tim Tebow has risen to new heights and brought the NFL with him. His raw playing style, his work ethic, his emotion, and his overtly Christian nature make him appealing to most people, (provided your team isn’t playing him at the time). The Tebow bandwagon has been rolling with big media hype in North America and gradually spreading to the NFL-ites over here.

 

The NFLuk biweekly podcast frequently debates about whether their are driving the Tebow bus, it is all over social media especially Youtube and Facebook, you criticise Tebow on twitter at your peril, and I have even have pupils in school doing “a Tebow” in the playground. I used the numerous simplistic arguments in the american media about whether God answered Tebow’s prayers last week in my A2 Philosophy of Religion lesson to debate Omnipotence,  Omniscience and Free Will and the example really helped the class.

 

For me the real evidence of his influence came early this morning.  I had watched the 1st half of Saints vs 49’ers game and then Sky+ the rest of that game and the Broncos vs New England game. I then intended to watch the games whilst doing the housework today. This morning I went to read the blogs in my feedreader – I avoided the news blogs, I avoided twitter and facebook all to try and not learn the result. Unfortunately, it was all in vain. The result was led on by not one, but two religious blogs I read. Such is the way off things.

 

Tebow’s run for this year is at an end, however, as one of my A2 pupils pointed out “whether God answers his prayers or not doesn’t really matter, what he has done is make it easier for those in the public eye to show their faith, and he will get rewarded for that in the end”.

 

I wish him luck with that in the furture, but for now Tom Brady and the Patriots rumble on. Following on from the awesome Saints vs 49’ers game the Patriots win, whilst pleasing for this Pats fan, was a bit underwhelming. But roll on Houston or Baltimore – both of whom have me very worried.

 

Two Religious Blogs who mentioned Tim Tebow this week, and are very good reads are Deacon’s Bench and WDTPRS. Deacon Greg and Fr Z write some really good stuff on there.

Enjoyable Weekend

I had a very busy time last weekend, but it was also very enjoyable.

Saturday
On Saturday I led a retreat to the Emmaus Centre in West Wickham for the Confirmation Group of St Matthias Church. Some of the boys go to my school so I was familiar with them, but I knew none of the girls and was not involved with their confirmation programme apart from the retreat day. The main goal of the day was for them to start taking responsibility for their faith.

I had divided the day into three parts to enable them to develop their understanding of:

• Who God is
• Why does God allow evil and suffering to happen
• How, why and when to pray

I prepared different thought tasks, creative tasks and group work for each section and mixed in a few short (5 minute), video clips. We ended the day with prayer and meditation in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in the Chapel.

The programme was well recieved and I was struck by the enthusiasm and positivity of the candidates. They were engaged, they showed maturity and thought, and they wanted to become adults in the Church. It left me feeling moved by their faith and hopeful for the future of the Church.

 

Sunday

On Sunday I took a group of pupils from school to the NFL game at Wembley Stadium between the Chicago Bears and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This was the 4th time I had taken a school trip to one of the games, but the 1st time I had driven them up in the minibus, as we had gone by coach on previous years.

It was  a long day. We left at 10am and were back at school at about 11.15pm – however, none of it dragged.

When we arived we went to the pre-game entertainment – the Tailgate Party. This takes up the entire green car park at Wembley – and is filled with skill tests, computer games, exhibitions, merchandise, competitions and shows. The school has built up a tradition on this trip of people winning things.

• 1st year – Year 8 pupil won/was given a signed Cheerleader Calendar by one of the cheerleaders, – to much jealousy from the older pupils.
• 2nd year – Year 8 pupil was given a game ball by Tom Brady and Bill Bellicheck
• 3rd year – Year 11 pupil won a brand new pair of Reebok Trainers – 3 weeks prior to their release
• 4th year – My turn!

I was one of the volunteers selected to go up on stage (a mock football pitch) to take part in a competition. You stood at the 20 yard line and threw the ball to hit the cross bar of the goal posts. I missed my first throw, (although my pupils said I grazed the bar), and then hit the cross bar on 4 of my next 5 throws. I won! My “mad skills” won me a replica game ball – and I think the respect of the pupils watching. It was an amazing feeling.

After the tailgate party we went into the stadium. Prior to the match we saw the Goo Goo Dolls perform, and Catherine Jenkins sang the National Anthem.

The match itself was slow to get going – Chicago – the away team- built quite a lead by the half. There were some great plays – but the game was overshadowed at times – 2 pitch invasions – 1 human and 1 squirrel!, and a mexican wave. Once the game picked up its momentum the crowd really got into it and the atmosphere was electric.

The atmosphere was made even better as our school group ended up sitting next to the Chicago Bears Drumline (who play at all Bears home games), and as most of us were supporting the Bucs as the “home” team we got quite a banter going. The Drumline were really good sports with the pupils – shown at the end of the game by the pupils high 5ing them and shaking hands despite the Bears win.

 

Half term so far as helped me enjoy the three sides to my life:

• Confirmation Retreat – Chaplaincy
• NFL at Wembley – Sports
• Half term at home with Hazel – Family