A great article in CATECHIST Magazine by Genevieve Mougey, the Associate Director of Operations for United States Catholic Mission Association (and Pallotti Center friend!) about our call to Mission in the Church.
Enjoy!
http://www.catechist.com/archive/articles_view.php?article_id=2906
Archive for February 2011
The Call of Mission, Our Response
Pallotti Center Resources
Very often we get the question: so what does the Pallotti Center do? The quick response is that we are a resource center for volunteers before, during and after a year or years of service. But here's a little more in depth about our resources, with links to our website.
Before Service:
Connections directory - a searchable database of all of the programs we work with. Take a look and find the right program for you. We also publish a hard copy of the directory - email us if you would like a copy.
Tools for Discernment - Great resources to help you decide if you want to do service, what program to apply to, where to serve, and what type of work you want to do.
During Service:
Shared Visions - Our publication for current volunteers.
Volunteer Community Activities - Need ideas for a community or spirituality night? We have many ideas for you organized by theme.
After Service:
What's Next Notebook - A book to help you transition out of volunteer service and back to "real life."
Staying Connected - Our publication for former volunteers.
Job Bank - Looking for work? Sign up to receive weekly email updates of job openings all over the country.
Network of Former Volunteers - Our listserv for former volunteers of our programs to help find people, churches, resources or places to live in your city.
We are always looking for suggestions of how we can better serve you. Please email us with ideas for programs and resources we can provide.
DAILY ROUTINE..
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| what do you do everyday? |
1: Make up
2: Brush my teeth
3: Take a shower... get dressed
4: Have breakfast
5: Arrive to school
5: Arrive to school
6: Have lunch
7: Read a book
8: Have dinner
9: Go to bed
Seeing Through the Lens of Compassion
In 2005, the late novelist David Foster Wallace delivered the commencement address at Kenyon College in Ohio. In his speech, Wallace takes the popular notion that a liberal arts education teaches students “how to think” and looks at its implications for everyday life. He suggests that an essential step to leading a meaningful life is to recognize that we choose where to focus our thoughts. More importantly, we can (and should) question the “default settings” in our thinking which tell us things like “I am the absolute centre of the universe; the realest, most vivid and important person in existence.”
To illustrate his point, Wallace talks about the “boredom, routine and petty frustration” which are inevitable aspects of adult life. He asks his audience to imagine themselves at the end of a typical work day, tired and hungry, visiting a supermarket to buy food for dinner. In vivid detail, he describes the traffic on the crowded highways, the malfunctioning shopping carts, the long checkout lines, and the slow drive home through more traffic. He describes the irritated, impatient thoughts which are all-too-common during such times: “the certainty that situations like this are really all about me. About MY hungriness and MY fatigue and MY desire to just get home.” He ruminates on “how annoying and rude it is that people are talking loudly on cell phones in the middle of the line,” how frustrated one can feel seeing so many “huge, stupid, lane-blocking SUV’s… burning their wasteful, selfish, 40-gallon tanks of gas” driven by “inconsiderate and aggressive drivers.” He notes how quickly such thoughts can broaden to include “how our children’s children will despise us for wasting all the future’s fuel, and probably screwing up the climate, and how spoiled and stupid and selfish and disgusting we all are.”
Then, Wallace presents some alternative ways of thinking about the same situation. He considers that some of the people in SUV’s may be survivors of bad auto accidents who only feel safe driving larger vehicles, or that a woman being rude in a checkout line may be exhausted from staying up all night with a terminally ill relative, or the simple “likelihood that everyone else in the supermarket’s checkout line is just as bored and frustrated as I am.” He asserts that, although it can be hard work, we all have the choice to reject our self-centeredness and consider other possibilities. He advises his listeners that, if they can discipline their thoughts in this way, they can “experience a crowded, hot, slow, consumer-hell type situation as not only meaningful, but sacred.”
In his speech, Wallace lays out a choice we all make many times every day: the choice to view the world either through a lens of self-centeredness or a lens of compassion. This choice is also a choice between despair and hope. In the first scenario, Wallace’s anger at the wasteful SUV’s may be justified, but it is the type of anger which leads to crippling despair rather than meaningful action. When, instead, we look at the world through a lens of compassion, we are able to make meaningful connections with our fellow human beings and imagine creative solutions to our shared problems.
When you decided to volunteer, you may have been motivated by a desire to reach out in compassion and expand your awareness. As a volunteer, you were probably exposed to one proof after another that others face challenges far greater than yours. Maintaining that awareness once your service is completed can be very challenging, but it is an essential step in staying connected to and honoring your volunteer experience. So, the next time you find yourself tempted by self-centered thinking, take some time to reflect on Wallace’s words and imagine how you might view your situation through a lens of compassion. Also, when you have the opportunity, help others develop their own compassionate ways of thinking. Reaching out to others in compassion is one of the surest paths from despair to hope.
To read more, visit Staying Connected on our website... http://www.pallotticenter.org/newsletters/stayingconnected/Vol13No1.pdf
Celebrations international and nationals
INTERNATINAL:
Saint Patrick's Day in Ireland
On the 17th of March every year, Ireland celebrates a special day called Saint Patrick’s Day. Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and brought Christianity to this country.
People in Ireland paint their faces and draw shamrocks or the Irish flag on their faces to look cool. They go to the parade and enjoy the day.
There are a lot of floats going through the streets with people on them playing Irish music and doing Irish dancing. There are bands playing music and clowns and acrobats in the parade too.
A lot of people from different countries come to Ireland to join in the celebrations and have a good time. Sometimes people come to Ireland for the first time just to see and go to the huge parade that people celebrate here. Lots of people dress up for the day at the parade or at home. Some dress as leprechauns. They wear colourful clothes and hats to look great.
In the evening people go to the pub to listen to Irish music and drink Guinness. There is also a huge firework display on the river which thousands of people go to watch.
NATIONAL
Los Locos take over the town on December 28, where tradition is formed by several characters, one of them is "the mojiganga" who runs the 27th in the evening after 7 pm the different streets of the village, announcing the coming of Los Locos. Dressed in black coat and a hat hat, swinging awkwardly on a donkey, carrying in their clothing, invitations to the houses to be visited by Locos on the following day.
On December 28 and the morning you hear the first rocket, and a bad figure dressed as a beggar, "El CORREO", who plays from door to door to houses where Mojiganga left the office the day before.On hearing the second rocket, the owners shut their doors trade for fear of the costumes, which look much as they can be. The third rocket, and the Locos are on the streets with their colorful costumes, the cone cují roots and its painted masks, sow terror among the small fry.
The costumes have changed recently used at parties called 'Fantasies ", the reasons are many: animal, animals, characters and all sorts of shapes created by the imagination of the Watch, who are working on their costumes all year.
Although the tradition has continued, many of the elements that make up have varied over the generations. Today Fools do not take anything from shops or the houses they visit, however, in the streets, families gather and prepare food and drinks to offer to the people dressed up dancing to the beat of drums accompanied by four an orchestra that engages the board of Los Santos Inocentes, body more than 50 years ago organized the centennial celebration with the award of the beautiful costumes and a party that lasted until the early hours of the morning of 29, ends as another edition of "Los Locos de La Vela"
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| My sister, dressed like "LOCA DE LA VELA" in last year carnival |
SPORTS
An IPL match in progress at M.A. Chidambaram Cricket Stadium
TRANSPORT
CULTURE
ENVIRONMENT
CHENNAI
The cultural capital of India and capital of Tamilnadu state, is one of the oldest cities in the country. It still preserves the very best of Indian Culture and traditions and provides a deep insight into the Dravidian traditions and society. The city was founded in 1639 by Sir Francis Day who arrived with East India Company. It was also a major centre of cholas and Pallavan culture can be seen in the temples and tanks which still survive.