Monday, April 30th

Today we started off with prayer by Courtney and Kyara. They prayed about the end of the month, school year, and all of our stresses we may have. Next, we got two packets, one called  "Christianity in View" that has comparisons between Orthodoxy, Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. The second one was about the history of Orthodoxy.

The next thing we did was watch a video clip of a talk about life on Oprah by a speaker who had only a couple months to live. His main points were:

-Brick walls are there for a reason
-People vs. Things (material items)
-Tigger vs. Eeyore (enthusiastic about life, or complaining)
-Work/Play well with others
-Apologizing
-Show Gratitude
-Don't complain/work harder
-He spoke about this for his three kids

The last thing we talked about was summing up what Eschatology is. It is the study of the last things (heaven, hell, purgatory, Kingdom of God, etc.) "Death will not have the final word" means the legacy of people on Earth will live on. It is not an ending place- everything Christianity stands for is for life after death. "One who has hope lives differently" means if you live your life for a purpose, you will be focused and have a different attitude. If you know something is coming you will act a certain way. Revelation 21:4 means Gods conquers all things evil in Heaven. There will be complete and total justice where God has what he intended in the beginning to be. Faith vs. Works is about salvation. Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism believe these two are important but are not a one time deal- it is an ongoing process. Protestantism believes you must have faith.

Tuesday, April 17th

Today we started talking about Christianity. We discussed the three main questions about faith: What is the Sacred? Where are we going? What should we do? We brainstormed and wrote on our piece of paper everything we knew, and then wrote them on the whiteboard. After reading, we discussed the main ideas of Christianity and what we had written. Then we were given two handouts: one about Thomas Aquinas Five Proofs and Pascal's Wager.

Each cirumlectio group was assigned a proof to read over and explain to the rest of the class. Our's was the last: the Intelligent Designer. This said that many things lack intelligence and therefore must have been directed by something intelligent so the world must have had an intelligent designer which is God.

1. First Mover: there must have been a first mover to have caused other things to move- God
2. First Cause: there must have been a first cause because other things are caused- God
3. Necessary Being: not everthing is contingent, so there is a necessary being- God
4. Greatest Being: some things are greater than others, so there must be a greater degree of greatness- God
5. Intelligent Designer: look above

Pascal's Wager, from Pensees, talks about his rationale for why everyone should believe in God and why they will have a certainty of gain.

Thursday, March 29th

Today we read an article called "Man's Search for Meaning." We discussed with a group what the three phases were: the period following his admission, the period when he is well entrenched in camp routine, and the period following his release and liberation. This article is about a man in a concentration camp talking about the symptoms of the phases and how a man is affected by the concentration camps. The first phase brings shock and delusion- he thinks he is going to be fine. The second phase brings a "necessary mechanism for self defense." It deals with apathy; they begin to only care about their own survival and become detached. The third phase deals with the psychology of the prisoner who has been released. They desire to regain their humanity. This is from "Experiences in a Concentration Camp." Viktor Frankl spent his time in Auschwitz as a prisoner. My group was surprised that other prisoners were working crematoriums jobs and when they also received them from the train. The "delusion of reprieve" is clinging to false hope that they will survive when they are about to die. Some prisoners were supplied with liquor because they were friends with the S.S. and had access to it. Frankl says the mental agony was worse than physical pain because they were occasionally beaten but were in constant fear of being killed. Frankl experienced love with his wife- love is ultimate goal for man. The released prisoners wanted to eat a lot and talk about their experiences and Frankl "became human again" meaning he was able to feel again.

The next thing we did was break off into groups and  listen to the Elie Wiesel speech. He is a Holocaust survivor who gave this speech on April 12, 1999 hosted by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. Elie was deported in the summer of 1944 to Auschwitz in occupied Poland. Wiesel was liberated by American troops in April 1945 and moved to Paris, became a journalist, then later settled in New York. He has written over 40 books including Night, a chronicle of his Holocaust experience.

Class of April 23rd

To be completed...This post serves as a placeholder showing that Jimmy is aware of the fact that he should have written a post for this day already.

March 21st

This class was the very first class of the 4th Quarter.  We began with a prayer by Erin King.  The homework due today was the 1-2 page reflection on our experiences at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  After collecting those, Ms. Egan began a discussion on "Why Do We Remember the Holocaust?".  In recognition of the terrible event, we must pay learn about the history so we can respectfully understand it fully.  We must remember so that it never happens again.  Many people knew about it, but didn't do anything about it during the Holocaust, but we have learned our lesson for prevention of future genocide.  We than transitioned into talking about modern genocides or evil in the world that is often forgotten.
  Mrs. Egan brought to our attention such modern evils as Kony, someone who has been taking children and making them soldiers and sex-slaves, who was made known through a viral video.  Ms. Egan then showed us several videos about modern nazis, as in member of the American Nazi party that still exist.  It was terrifying.  I was shocked that things like this still existed.  They seemed very organized, which was concerning.  Next, Mrs. Egan showed us some videos of the Westboro Baptist Church, which were horrifying and almost entertaining at the same time.
  The Westboro Baptist Church is a church created by Fred Phelps and most of the members are from his family.  They are extremely against homosexuals and Jews but the interesting part is they think God hates EVERYONE.  Not just one group, but they consider that God wants the entire country to go to Hell because of it's sacrilegious actions.  When interviewed, their logic makes little to no sense.  They performed a rendition of "We Are the World" called "God Hates the World".  They interviewed the young children in the family, who seemed so hateful and very uninformed on their arguments, producing such iconic phrases as "Fags are basically Jews".



The lesson of this class was that though we all remember the Holocaust and it must be prevented ever occurring similarly again, there are many modern groups just as evil as the Nazis were during World War II.

Homework: Circumlectio

Here is a link to the website for the Westboro Baptist Church.  It is quite frightening.  The hate begins just with the url.
http://www.godhatesfags.com/

Here is an article about the modern neo-nazis in Israel.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/11430#.T2xFUxEgdDQ

March 8th

Today our main activity was preparing for the upcoming Judaism tests by forming test questions in A/B form using provided quote and scripture hangers within our Cirumlectio groups.  The questions we came up with were:
1.  a.  How does this covenant through Abraham impact Jerusalem?
     b.  What is the relevance of the covenant in Jewish life?

2.  a.  Describe how the Jews view themselves as God's chosen people.
     b.  Explain the holiday to which this quote relates to.

3.  a.  Describe two Jewish symbols to which this quote relates.
     b.  Explain the significance of these symbols and their involvement in everyday Jewish life.

4.  a.  How is man based in an image of God?
     b.  Briefly expand upon the nature of the sacred.

March 6th, 2012

Today we took a short pop quiz on the reading that was due for today on the Mezuzah, Tallit, Tefillin, Menorah, etc. Also, a Father from St. Raphael's came and spoke to us about listening to the calling in our lives and our vocation. We watched a short video called Fishers of Men that discussed how the Church is recruiting more men and women able to follow their vocation in life and serve the Church and God. Lastly, we created 5 questions in the format of A and B to prepare for the test on Judaism.

1. A. Explain what the symbol is and how it should be prepared to completely fulfill the mitzvah.

B. What is its purpose and how is it used in everyday life?

2. A. Where is this located/what is it?

B. What is its significance in the Jewish religion?

3. A. Describe the menorah as an ancient symbol.

B. Explain the Jewish holiday this is associated with.

4. A. How is this a modern Jewish symbol?

B. What are the different origins of this symbol?

5. A. How is this stored in the synagogue?

B. Explain the significance of the Torah.