The Catholic Leader Flipbook - Issue 5577 - November 10

2 / 28

2
The Catholic Leader, November 10, 2019
News
/TheCatholicLeader /CatholicLeaderNews /catholicleader
@TheCatholicLead The Catholic Leader /catholicleader
CHAT WITH US
Location/ Post
Sixth Floor, Cathedral House
GPO Box 282 Brisbane Qld 4001
Phone
Editorial
07 3324 3555
Advertising
07 3324 3233
Accounts
07 3324 3223
Email
THE
CATHOLIC
LEADER
TEAM
Managing Editor
Matt Emerick
Journalists
Mark Bowling
Joe Higgins
Emilie Ng
Sales / Advertising
Laurie O’Brien
Sub Editor
Peter Bugden
Accounts/Marketing
Catherine Santos
BEING a stutterer I was never
called upon at school to try out for
the debating team – the warning
bell would have gone before I had
got past “Good evening ladies and
gentlemen!”
But I love debating and believe it is one of the
essential life skills taught in our schools.
One of my more memorable moments teach-
ing Religious Education occurred on a Friday
afternoon in the last period of the day when the
majority of my Year 11 class were casting their
minds to the weekend and I was raving on about
the context for the writing of Luke’s Gospel, his
audience and themes.
A young man put up his hand and politely said:
“Sir, you’re not a bad bloke but I just don’t dig all
of this religion stuff you rave on about!”
The Holy Spirit gently nudged me and I
responded: “Thanks for that Danny, what do you
dig?”
It was one of those privileged moments where
Danny recalled getting up in the wee hours, driv-
ing to the Gold Coast and the awe, beauty and
peace of him and his mate surfing at Duranbah.
His description of the sets of waves, the blue,
purple and gold colours of the sunrise on the
water, the companion dolphin that occasionally
surfed with them and the quiet and peace was
powerful.
It was truly a sacred time for Danny – his God
time.
Danny’s response sparked the rest of the class
and there followed a most powerful discussion
about the sacred and the longing deep within all
of us for purpose and meaning.
Over the years I have deliberately invited
young people to critique and break open aspects
of our present-day culture, especially our youth
culture.
I am not a great television watcher but one of
the things that really fires me up is the term “real-
ity television” – programs that could not be more
removed from reality if they tried.
Sure, I get that they are cheap and easy to
produce and that they appeal to an unthinking,
critique-lacking audience.
Reality is getting out of bed when an alarm
sounds, going to study or to work, engaging with
the mundane, putting in the hard yards in real
relationships, dancing your day between the bor-
ing, the exciting, the interesting and the dull, and
getting up and doing it all the following day.
Reality is not sets of six-packed, mirror-fixated
male models engaging in hormonal-driven
superficial trifle with equally mirror-fixated,
scantily clad young women with neither chores
nor responsibility nor toilets nor commitment nor
FAITH IN LIFE
PEOPLE
God
time:
“His de-
scription
of the
sets of
waves,
the blue,
purple
and gold
colours
of the
sunrise
on the
water,
the com-
panion
dolphin
that oc-
casional-
ly surfed
with
them
and the
quiet
and
peace
was
power-
ful.”
BY BR DAMIEN PRICE
Know thy enemy
TALKING POINT
Contents
NEWS
CENTREPOINT
ENTERTAINMENT
other-centred awareness in sight.
Sun Tzu, in The Art of War, invites us to
“Know thy enemy”.
It is of no value our mocking this modern youth
culture and world (for in every time and in every
culture the same phenomena is there) but we owe
it to our youth and to future generations of gener-
ous, forgiving, loving, sacrificing young people
who seek to leave this world a better place for
all – to teach them, deliberately teach them critical
thinking, at both home and in school.
Teach them the skills to step back, to look ob-
jectively, to think laterally, to unpack the hidden
values, to see the lack of logic; to see the reality
for what it really is.
It is not about teaching or telling people what
to think but rather to truly and deeply think for
themselves.
Sure, debating is a great skill that does this
when one has to argue, logically, a case one does
not necessarily believe in.
But the skills of social analysis and theological
reflection are great gifts at school or in the family
home – just to choose the right time and gently
revisit with the youth what was said or engaged in
and wrap the conversation with the skills of step-
ping back, critical questioning, seeing the bigger
picture and unpacking.
But pick the right time, play the ball not the
person and trust that ultimately “truth” will win
out.
After some time these skills will become per-
sonally owned and they, in their own good time,
will critique the self-centred, hedonistic, shallow
and respect-lacking culture, and name it for what
it really is – anything but love-centred reality.
Christian Brother Damien Price is a former
teacher in Brisbane schools including St
Joseph’s, Gregory Terrace; St Patrick’s Col-
lege, Shorncliffe; and St Laurence’s College,
South Brisbane. He continues to work with
schools across the country.