Msgr. Paa Social Center
 

Nativity’s 2010-2011 Adult Education program has attempted to bring faith principles, listening, prayer and reflection to bear on some of the controversial issues facing us today. Those issues have included: How does one balance one’s conscience with possible repercussions of reporting malfeasance in the workplace? What are appropriate uses of war and peace as solutions to acts of aggression? What are the proper roles and responsibilites of government, private organizations and individuals to help the poor? What are options for our diocese and parish to achieve positive future growth and development?

 

Addressing issues such as these can result in dispute and intolerance. In the Adult Education sessions, participants were encouraged to listen respectfully to positions that may be very different from their own, and to use faith principles, prayer, reflection and sharing to help to work their way through problems to find common ground and workable solutions.

Central to the process of sharing, learning, and growing has been the willingness to give the gift of listening to others and the willingness to change one’s own positions based on new information and other perspectives. All of this becomes much more challenging as the rate of change around us rapidly accelerates. In the face of rapid change, we may find ourselves pulling back from and resisting change – even when change may be called for and in our own best interests. One thing that can help to keep us grounded as we confront rapid change is to have a clear sense of our own faith principles.

Join fellow parishioners and bring along friends, neighbors and family members to the May 3 concluding session in the 2010-2011 series. At this session, participants will be encouraged to share what they have learned in the earlier sessions, as well as from their life experiences, about their faith principles, and how those principles can help us to remain open to new ideas and to be willing to change when necessary and appropriate. As always, the program is open to adults of all ages, including high school students.