Saturday, August 25, 2007

Post-Modernism: Faith and Spirituality in an iPod Era

Last Friday saw the first of our weekly Sing Song Sessions, which went well considering that so many people were down with viruses. We managed to sing about 5 to 6 songs, and then Br. Tony Clarke took over with his talk.

He introduced the term 'Post-modernism' and the influence it has on our lives. What sort of challenges do we face today that are different from that of our parents' time? Some brought up the difference in perspective of faith. Our parents used to somewhat blindly follow religion and just accepted what was taught to them as 'truth', while our generation questions and delves into religion's mysteries, and critically analyses the 'truths' brought to us. This openness of youths today is one of the elements of the ideologies of post-modernism, which also includes individualism and freedom of choice. The media plays a large role in promoting these values, with advertisements of 'Indulge' and 'Freedom'.

We came to the conclusion that post-modernism is good in the sense that we don't just blindly our faith, but that we explore it and make a conscious decision to believe. Br. Clarke also talked about how the view of the Catholic church is changing and moving with a more positive view towards post-modernism eg. how the church answers the questions people ask, and how the Pope apologises when he makes a mistake or says something wrong. However, post-modernism promotes 'the self' and individualism, which clashes with our faith. (In the original post I misquoted Sister here, and my sincere apologies to anyone who read that.)

After much debate and discussion, we ended off with a closing prayer and another National Day Song - Indonesia's! This time round, the Indos even had a guitar for accompaniedment as well as much expression of loyalty for their country.



The next session will be on 'The Liturgy of the Word and of the Eucharist', held in the Chaplaincy, with the SingSongSession starting at 6pm.

FON is next tues and wed, 28 and 29 Aug, and we'll be selling our oh-so-popular Ramly burgers again! So do keep your lunchtimes and stomachs free for those days! More details will be up soon.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

COSDU T-Shirt


T-shirts at $17!
Order at any Friday COSDU session!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Ask and You Shall Receive

The theme for this semester's sessions is 'Mission', and last Friday Sister Theresa started this series of sessions with 'Ask and You Shall Receive'. She brought us to the topic of how God sometimes seem not to answer prayers, and we gave our views on why we felt so. For example some of us felt that the things we asked for in our prayers might not be good for us, or that He will give it to us in His time, or that maybe we ourselves do not know the answers to our prayers. She went on to explain that our actions must tie in with our prayers - if we pray for world peace, then we must first show concern for others around us in order to bring about that peace. Sister then talked about how Jesus himself taught us how we should pray, and implored us to mean the words that we say in the Lord's Prayer.

Father Inyoung, who was a member of COSDU before he was ordained, blessed us with his presence, a closing prayer, blessings and his beautiful ordination cards. We, the Singaporeans, feeling extremely blessed that day, stood up to sing our National Anthem with much enthusiasm, in celebration of our National Day, which was on 9 August, the day before.

Jason, Ian and Jon's convocation ceremony was held the day after, and many COSDUans made a trip down to Melb Uni to take photos and to congragulate them on their graduation.



That night also saw Anastasia and Celina's housewarming party, which was a relaxing evening of home-cooked food, Pictionary, and Praise and Worship songs.



This coming Wednesday, 15 August 2007, is the Feast of The Assumption, and is a day of obligation. Mass times are as follows, kindly provided by Ramesh:

Chaplaincy
1.30 pm
First Floor Seminar Room

All Saints, Fitzroy
5.30 pm

Newman College (Next to uni)
8 am and 12 Noon

St.Francis, Lonsdale St.
Not Available on the website. Do contact the church if necessary.

St.Augustine, Bourke St.
I lost the bulletin... :) very sure there is a 6.30pm. Dont bother checking their website cause its dead. hehehehe

'Living Faith in an Ipod Era' is the topic for the next session, and will be given by Br. Tony Clarke. Seeing how so many of us get lost in the world of today's technology, this session will be worth a go. More details can be found in the email to come.

Don't forget to go for Mass on wed!

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Welcome Mass, Icebreakers, and Breaking the News

During Clubs and Societies Day, 18 newcomers signed up at the booth set up at the North Court. It was a heartening number, considering that it was raining on that day and that it is the second intake of the year. These newcomers joined us for the first time in our Welcome Mass for them, which was held at St Carthages and by our chaplain, Father Michael McKenna. After the mass, we proceeded to St Mary's West Hall, where we had a round of introductions, lovely food, food, and more food.

Team bonding games were in place the week after. The first was The Helium Stick, where the whole team had to support a pole using only their index fingers to bring it down to the ground. It sounds easy, but most of us soon found the pole floating upwards instead of down, so it required a lot of teamwork and communication to complete the task. The second game was The Egg Test, which saw the production and marketing of Snest, The Cradle, Bob and COSDU, innovations made up of straws and paper to protect an egg dropped from a height. Quite a lot of comic relief came from this segment, as people argued and defended their egg products.



Those of you who received the email would have known that a (very very very)X10 important announcement was to be made. Yes, it was made, and it is that Sister Theresa would be leaving on 1 Jan 2008 for her Sabbatical year. A sabbatical year is a prolonged hiatus, typically one year, in the career of an individual taken in order to fulfill some goal. For Sister Theresa, this journey involves a desert experience in the States, as well as bible courses and studies. It will also be a period of discernment for her, which means that she might switch to another ministry depending on where the Holy Spirit leads her. For now, she will be at the Chaplaincy till the end of November 2007, so do spare some time this semester to visit her there before she leaves.

One good opportunity to meet up with her would be on the 10th of August, where she will be conducting the weekly Friday session. This session is themed 'Ask and You Shall Receive' and will be held at St Mary's at 6.30pm. Monday lunchtime bible sharing sessions have also resumed at 1.15pm at the Chaplaincy, and these are good opportunities too.

Graduation Mass - 22 June 2007

A milestone such as a graduation should be remembered, and following this, COSDU called upon a celebration no less than a Eucharist to give many blessings and prayers upon our proud, and to a certain extent relieved, graduates.

After seeing many familiar faces standing before the altar last semester, it is safe to say that we saw no less this time around. And while it is a joyous occasion, a certain air of sadness filled the atmosphere as a few farewells were said to those returning to their respective home countries to begin a new chapter in their lives.

Graduation Mass at the end of Semester 1 2007, marked yet another phase change in the COSDU community. Some of its residents are moving out and on; but it is without a doubt that new ones will be coming in, ready to continue the community’s spirit and livelihood. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to those who have left their footprints in this tightly knit group.

The beauty of endings lies in what they bring – new beginnings.
God bless our graduates!

Clara

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