Category: columns2011

columns2011

Euthanasia and assisted suicide

Post author By Web administrator
Post date October 6, 2011

by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ

“Your body…is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you since you received him from God. You are not your own property: you have been bought and paid for. That is why you should use your body for the glory of God.” 1 Cor 6:19-20

CCSJ urges you to get ready to observe Respect For Life Week (November 12-19) on the theme: Respect Life: Promote Justice.

Today there is a lack of respect for human life. Read Susan Yoshihara’s report: “UN considers Euthanasia and New Treaty on Aging” (30 Sept, 2011): www.lifenews.com. Participants at a recent UN meeting considered the fact that “the world will have 2 billion elderly people by 2050, up from 600 million in 2002. According to UN projections, the percentage of elderly in almost every country is rising faster than ever before.”

Tags assisted suicide, euthanasia

columns2011

Catechists: Forming God’s Caribbean People

Post author By Web administrator
Post date September 30, 2011

by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ

I share below an extract from my address to catechists at the South and Central Catechetical Rally last Sunday (Sept 25) on the theme: Catechists: Forming God’s Caribbean People – A reflection on Revitalising Catholic Culture and Identity.

The Archdiocese owes each catechist a debt of gratitude for your dedication to the important work in which you are engaged. We thank you for your evangelising spirit; for saying “Yes”. “Among the laity who become evangelisers, catechists have a place of honour.” (Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio).

columns2011

HFC, Couva Reunion

Post author By Web administrator
Post date September 24, 2011

by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ

On Sunday, October 2, from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., the Past Pupils’ Association of Holy Faith Convent, Couva (HFC), will hold a reunion at the school to mark the 60^th Anniversary of HFC, my alma mater. The theme of the reunion is Shine On.

columns2011

Discerning our vocation

Post author By Web administrator
Post date September 16, 2011

by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ

Recently I was a panelist at a symposium organised by CREDI entitled: “The Vocation of Teaching in the 21st Century” (the sacred responsibility of teachers to form children).

Read the informative essay by Prof William E May entitled: “The Vocation of a Catholic Teacher/Scholar (www.christendom-awake.org/pages/may/teachers.htm). He offers his reflections on the various kinds of vocations to which we are called. I will seek to summarise the 19 pages. Firstly, he focusses on the universal call to holiness, which is the vocation that is common to all Christians: our baptismal commitment to holiness as members of Christ’s body.

Tags vocation

columns2011

Nation building – a shared responsibility

Post author By Web administrator
Post date September 8, 2011

by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ

“For all the advances we have made, and are making in education, we still every year allow thousands more children to join an educational underclass – they are the lost souls our school system has failed. It is from that underclass that gangs draw their recruits, young offenders institutions find their inmates and prisons replenish their jails. These are young people who, whatever the material circumstances which surround them, grow up in the direst poverty – with a poverty of ambition, a poverty of discipline, a poverty of soul.”

These words could have been uttered by someone in T&T about our education system here. In fact, this is the opinion of the Rt Hon Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education in England. His warning was published in the UK’s Daily Mail on Sept 1. He was speaking at Durand Academy in south London.

Tags Independence, nationa building, patriotism