Ideas on Evangelization by Cardinal Avery Dulles

This is a summary of the some of the key ideas that Cardinal  Dulles has  elaborated in his book,"Evangelization."
The Cardinal mentions that Jesus is the content and the principal bearer of the Gospel.
Catholic evangelical theology seeks to renew the entire life of beleivers through the leaven of the Gospel.
He points out that there are seven major trends against Evangelization.
They are the following:
1.The Radical separation between faith and belief.
Faith according to this view can exist without any definite set of beliefs and without the Gospel.The implication is that there is no need to proclaim the Gospel. According to these , all the articles of the Creed and the  Dogmas of the Church are human constructs.
This attitude is against a vigorous program of evangelization. But, for the early Chrsitians, it was not so. The Gospel preached by the Apostles is the word of God.(1 Thes.2:13).
Faith is more than the acceptance of the Transcendent(.Rom.10:17).Faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes from the preaching of Christ.(Rom.10:17)
2.Metaphysical Agnosticism:
Anything we say about God is a metaphor. Cardinal Dulles points out that it is through analogy that we have to look at revealed truth and not through metaphor.
3.Religious pragmatism:
 Here faith is seen not as a neccessary thing for salvation but as a means to have peace of mind.
4.Cultural Relativism:
This attitude tells us that no dogmas are permanent.Everything has to be adapted to each region or period.This view is wrong.There are constants in our faith.In Christ , there is no East or West.
5.Religious Pluralsim:
In this view, Jesus Christ is not the only Savior of the world.Each religion has its own way of salvation.Acts 4:12--Only one Name.; One mediator(1Tim.2:50
6.False concept of Freedom:
Here, faith is a private matter.Hence ,children are free to choose.We see in this attitude the privatization of religion.Evangelization , of course, should not be aggressive.Chrsitian faith is to be presented in an inspiring way.
7.Antiauthoritarianism:

Smester System--Need to Continue

There are a lot of discussions going on now with regard to the appropriateness of using semester system in our colleges. Recently the Committee instituted under the chairpersonship of Prof.Hridaya Kumari has suggested modifying the exam pattern because of the delay that is taking place in publishing the results and also because of the great burden that is put on the universities through frequent exams. One of the suggestions put out by the committee was by reducing the exams.

Semester system has become almost a universal pattern because of it being used in the US as well as in Western countries. Using the system in our country helps our students to fall in line with a well established global system. One of the most important facts associated with semester system is that the examination is conducted by the teacher himself. The students are graded by their teacher. Examinations are not supervised or graded by an outside agency. It is the teacher himself who sets the questions and who grades the papers.

Semester exam will be successful only when the teacher grads the papers. The Colleges should be given the authority to conduct exams and grade them. The teachers have to be trusted. Of course, we will have the outcry that some teachers would inflate the grades or that some colleges that do not have proper academic standards will give higher grades to its students than what they deserve. It is here that the Universities have to intervene and take action.

It will be a great disaster if the Universities are going to conduct the semester exams. There will be only exams and nothing will be happening in the sector of teaching. Teachers will always be called out as invigilators or as examiners and hence there will be less and less hours of teaching.

The teacher has to be respected and his judgment has to be accepted. Semester system works where the colleges are given autonomy. It would be a mockery of educational system if only one or two govt colleges are allowed to be autonomous. Autonomy should be granted to all the colleges who have been found worthy by UGC standards. Then, slowly it should be extended to other colleges.

In order to have common standard and to avoid inflation of grades, the University can conduct a final exam which could be equivalent to a comprehensive exam that is offered at American universities at the end of the course. Of course, in the US, that comprehensive too is offered by the college/University where the student is studying. By holding an exam at the end of the degree course and declaring them eligible for a degree after passing the exam, the University can avoid the so called outcry of inflation of grades injected into the system by untrustworthy teachers or colleges.

For the Master’s program the students are given the option of taking the comprehensive or writing a dissertation. If one fails in a  particular course, one can repeat the course or move to another college and continue his studies there.

There are two semesters:Fall(Aug-Dec.) and Spring (Jan-May). Each semester will have 15-16 weeks of classes and the a student is expected to take at least 4 courses per semester, getting 12 credit hours. There is a short summer session (May –July) where if the students want o finish more courses, they can take additional courses during the Summer.Usually for an undergraduate course, one needs 120-130 credit hours and for Masters, 30-64 credit hours. Four years are required for a Bachelor degree and two years are  for a Master’s.

GPA, grade point Average is A(4),B(3),C(2)and D(1).F is failure .One has to have a cumulative GPA of 2 to have a good academic standing.

But more attention is to be paid to a new phenomenon that was introduced by Gandhiji University and a few others in Kerala which is the One Window -admission. The admission is being done by the University and the list is sent to the colleges.

 It is a wrong- headed and politically motivated move, trying to annihilate the distinctive culture and autonomy of colleges. Each college has its separate culture and academic standards and it is the college that should hold admissions to its courses.

  Affiliation does not give the University the right to admissions. It is doubly wrong on the part of the University to insist that the Minority institutions should follow the so-called One Window system of admissions. The Supreme Court and  the High Courts have several times struck down any infringement of the Minority rights that pertains to admission and appointment. Speaking of affiliation, Justice Khanna observes in the famous case of St.Xavier's vs the State of Gujarat: " Recognition or Affiliation is a facility which the University grants to an educational institution for the purpose of enabling the students to sit for an exam to be conducted by the University and therefore ,it stands to reason to hold that no regulation which is unrelated to the purpose can be imposed.”

He further adds that “Compelling the college to become a constituent part of the University amounts to taking away of its separate identity by the force of law.”The court explains that the right to administer includes the right to admit students of their choice. Hence Justice Khanna very categorically affirms : “ to insist upon affiliation on terms and conditions which restrict the right of administration is annihilative of Article 30(1).

In the history of many colleges, the University came into being very late. There are some colleges that predate the former Travancore University. At one stroke, some educational hotheads have destroyed the autonomy of colleges by introducing the one window system. It involves the delay of beginning classes, enormous financial expenditure and moving students from their locality to distant places

The one window system is highly detrimental to the lives of the students as well as to the autonomy of colleges. It should be done away with.

Principals have observed that poor students who cannot stay in hostels in distant colleges where they have got admission through the One-Window Admission process   have discontinued their studies.

Some who had some political vengeance against private colleges wanted to do away the independence and the very feeble amount of autonomy enjoyed by the colleges. When demand for autonomy for colleges is gaining great momentum it is strange that the Universities here have taken the retrograde step of diminishing that autonomy. Who can say that the University is fair while the colleges are unfair in preparing the admission list?

If the University is preparing the admission list of the private colleges, what are the colleges for? Are they there only to offer physical facilities—class rooms, light and water? Even in Chinese Universities, controlled by a dictatorship, each University does its own admission for its students.Hence,it stands to common sense  to realize that the One Window admission process violates the autonomy, the culture and the identity of the colleges.

Catholic Higher Education in Kerala

The Catholic Church in Kerala has invested heavily in education and has contributed immensely to the overall development of Kerala as well as to national integration.

 Our educational institutions have been in the forefront in increasing the opportunities for all irrespective of caste or religion.

 Those who have passed through Catholic   educational institutions know that those institutions of the Church have never discriminated against any caste or creed and have been a welcome place for people following different religious persuasions.

 We gather here today  to make an assessment of our contributions and to look at  ways in which we can cooperate with  one another in this effort more closely as well as to propose steps for further  improvements in the way we run our institutions.

 Transparency and fairness in the management of our institutions should be manifested to the public more clearly. We also have to update the existing level of the learning processes in our institutions. In a world of globalization and IT revolution, we have to devise ways in which we can become partners with other institutions working in this filed.

We have also to look for ways in which we can cooperate with institutions of Higher Education in India and use the resources that are offered by the UGC and the Central government.

Autonomy was granted by the UGC several decades ago but Kerala colleges are deprived of the benefit of autonomy. The demand for granting autonomy to colleges in Kerala has to be raised more vociferously.

As we reflect on our commitment and contributions in the world of Higher Education, it would be very appropriate for us to deepen our understanding of the mission of the Church in the light of the Papal pronouncements as well of the Vatican Council 11.

Papal Statements:

The Document on Education of the Second Vatican Council, Graivissimum Educationis, proclaimed by Pope Paul VI on Oct.28,1965 has the following observations on the mission of the Church in the field of education:

“The Sacred Synod heartily recommends that Catholic Colleges and Universities be conveniently located in different parts of the world, but in such a way that they are outstanding not for their numbers but for their pursuit of knowledge.

“The Church is bound as a mother to give to those children of hers an education by which their whole life can be imbued with the spirit of Christ and at the same time do all she can to promote for all peoples the complete perfection of the human person.”

 The Apostolic Constitution, Ex Corde Ecclesiae issued by Pope John Paul II in August 1990 states:

“The Catholic University is distinguished by its free search for the whole truth about nature, man and God. The invitation of St. Augustine, “Intellige ut credere; crede ut intelligere” is relevant  for Catholic Universities that are called to explore courageously the riches of Revelation and of nature so that the united endeavor of intelligence and faith will enable people to come to the full measure of their humanity , created in the image and likeness of God.

“Scientific and technological discoveries create an enormous economic and industrial growth, but they  also inescapably require the corresponding necessary search for meaning in order to guarantee that the  new discoveries be used for the authentic good of individuals and of human society as a whole.

A Catholic University is called in a particular way to respond to this need: its Christian inspiration enables it to include the moral, spiritual and religious dimension in its search and to evaluate the attainments of science and technology in the perspective of the totality of the human person.

“Catholic University is one of the best instruments that the Church offers to our age which is searching for certainty and wisdom.

Dealing with the identity and mission of the Catholic universities, the Apostolic Letter has the following to say:

“Every Catholic University as Catholic must have the following characteristics:

1. A Christian inspiration not only of the individuals but of the University community as such.

2. A continuing reflection in the light of the Catholic faith upon the growing totality of knowledge

3. Fidelity to the Christian message as it comes to us through the Church

4. An institutional commitment to the service of the people of God.

“In a Catholic University, Catholic ideals, attitudes and principles penetrate and inform University activities---promoting dialogue between faith and reason and enabling students to attain an organic vision of reality.

 The CBCI document on Education, “All India Catholic Education Policy” (May 25, 2007) has the following comments to make:

“Education has been a major concern for the Church, as she perceives it as an essential tool for the full development of individuals and empowerment of people. The Church sees education as an agent of transformation.

“Our schools and colleges must continue to remain sensitive and respond appropriately to the legitimate assertion of regional and cultural identities by different groups. By providing education to all, irrespective of caste, color, creed, the Church does make a distinctive contribution to attain the goals of national integration.”

The Document explains the mission of Catholic education in the following words:

“An education which nurtures an encounter with God as a personal event and a free response to the call to faith and which nurtures a life of meaning, purpose and personalized values...”

Introducing the Apostolic Constitution, Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Pope John Paul II states that the Catholic Universities “ are for me  a lively and promising sign of the fecundity of the Christian mind in the heart of every culture.”

Minority Rights:

 Minority Rights enshrined in the Constitution of India are misunderstood by many as these have been perceived as a special privilege. The Constitution of India considers Article 30(1) to be a fundamental right. The Article states: “All minorities whether based on religion or language shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.” Dealing with the interpretation of this article, the judgment given in the case, St. Xavier’s college, Ahmedbad vs the State of Gujarat, by the Supreme Court in 1974 is worth mentioning as it would dispel a lot of misunderstandings on the interpretation of this Article. According to the judgment, “the word ‘administer’ is a word of very wide import. The other key words are ‘of their choice.’ The minorities’ right to administer must necessarily include (1)the right to choose its managing or governing body;(2)the right to not to be compelled to refuse admission  to students;(3)the right to choose its teachers and (4)the right to use its properties and assets for the benefit of its own institution…”

“To insist that minorities should surrender their fundamental right as a condition for getting recognition or aid from the State is to make the right unreal or illusory.”

The judgment also warns against the surrender of such a right by the community itself: “The past members of the community cannot surrender the right of the future members of the community.”

The judgment explains the total meaning of minority rights in the following words:” The real reason embodied in Article 30(1) of the Constitution is the conscience of the nation that the minorities, religious as well as linguistic, are not prohibited from establishing and administering educational institutions of their choice for the purpose of giving their children the best general education to make them complete men and women of this country.”

Hence, it is mandatory on the part of the minority communities to be watchful always so that the whole spectrum of rights implied in this Article does never get diminished or whittled down by the actions of the civil authorities.

Modernization in Higher Education:

Tim Sullivan, an Associate Press writer notes in a column in the New York Times : “ Indian schools churn out 400,000 engineers every year but as few as 100,000 are actually ready to join the job world. Graduates are leaving Universities that are mired in theory classes, and sometimes so poorly funded that they don't have computer labs. Even students from the best colleges can be dulled by cram schools and left without the most basic communication skills.”

Thomas Friedman in his book, “That used to be US” mentions the three Cs that are needed for modern higher education: “What is needed now for one to have a job in the modern market is to have three Cs..The three Cs are Critical thinking, effective oral and written Communication, and Collaboration.

The nature of the world of education is changing fast because of the merging of globalization and IT revolution....The time of average is over.”

Along with creating an open and transparent Christian culture in our colleges, we have to think of updating our teaching methods and programs.

The communication and leadership skills of our students have to be improved. We should have special institutes in our campuses to hone the skills and talents of our students.

We have to think of ways in which collaboration with foreign Universities can be established.

International student exchange programs have to be encouraged. Facilities for stay and study for international students should be provided in our institutions.

Instead of following the crowd, we have to lead it. Catholic colleges were in the forefront of many educational initiatives in the past. We have to continue that trend instead of getting bogged down in small matters.

Private University

In the North East, the Salesians have established a private Catholic University. We have to think of establishing a new private University with international collaboration.

 Catholic Schools of Management and Research Centers existing in our colleges should work in collaboration. Our aim is to foster the general academic excellence of our student community.

Without in any way diminishing individuality and independence, our institutions can engage in vital collaborative efforts to make rapid strides in academic progress.

In his path-breaking book, “The Future Church” John Allen calls for a new mind-set for a Catholic in the 21^st century:

“What this century will demand is the courage to be globally Catholic, moving out of the parochialism of a given language, ethnicity, geographical region, or ideology, and embracing membership in a truly “catholic” church….Diversity is wealth, but division is impoverishment.”

The Changing Face of the University Education in India:

According to the National Knowledge Commission Report, only about seven percent of all Indians enter the high education sector.

The Report notes that India has about 350 universities. The National Knowledge Commission constituted in 2005 has recommended that about 1,500 Universities should be opened nationwide so that India is able to attain a gross enrolment ratio (GER) of at least 15 percent by 2015.

According to the estimate of the Commission, there are approximately 17,000 colleges and 131 affiliating Universities. These institutions are not enough to meet the demands of the burgeoning young population of India. Some of the developed counties have a GER of 40 percent. India is lagging far behind these countries in offering opportunities of higher education to its youth.

The Report highlights the challenges the country faces: “India faces today two exciting challenges in Higher Education: to increase the access to higher education and to provide educational institutions of academic excellence.”

New Initiatives

As there is a heavy demand for institutions of higher education, we should continue to get involved in this field as it offers the best opportunity for serving the youth of the country.

 Institutions run under Christian inspiration are the best nodal points for taking the Good News to people around us.

We should ask for autonomy for our colleges. We should continue to start new courses and new institutes in science and technology.

Obstacles and challenges coming from the over charged political atmosphere of the State should not in any way dissuade us from going forward with new initiatives. Although the expectations of the world about present India are very high, we know we have to do a lot in improving our educational standards.

Tie-ups with Universities in the U.S.

Our colleges can become a great hub of international collaborations. This is an opportune time for our colleges to get in touch with foreign Universities in order to open new doors of opportunities for our students in research and career improvements. As on-line collaborations are much easier, a lot of informal exchanges can be brought about between our colleges and the Universities in the U.S. and other countries.

Referring to the pioneering effort of  a Keralite, Mr. Abraham George who sold all his wealth in U.S. to start an elementary  school with computer facilities for the kids of the so-called untouchables in a remote village in Karnataka, The New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, after visiting the school, observes in his book “The World is Flat”:  “We …will have to work harder, run faster, and become smarter to make sure that more of us are able to connect and compete, collaborate and innovate on the flat-world platform—and derive all the benefits it has to offer. But remember: the most important competition is now within yourself---making sure that you are always striving to get the most out of your own imagination, and then acting on it…..The world needs you to be the generation of strategic optimists, the generation with more dreams than memories, the generation that wakes up each morning and not only imagines that things can be better but also acts on that imagination very day.”

Pope Benedict XVI:

“Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simply with orthodoxy of course content. It demands and inspires much more: namely, that each and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates with the ecclesiastical life of faith. Our institutions make a vital contribution to the mission of the Church and truly serve society. They become places in  which God’s active presence in human affairs is recognized and in which every young  person discovers the joy of entering into Christ’s being for others.”(Pope’s Address to the Catholic Universities)

Facing the East, Liturgical Practices.

When I went to Oxford University on July 2011 to visit one of my nephews,George John, who is  studying there on a Rhodes Scholarship,  I visited  the Catholic church near one of the colleges of the University and said  mass on one of the side altars. What surprised me was that all the  masses in the church  were said facing the altar as in pre-Vatican days.
This practice should be viewed in the background of the controversies that bedevil the Syro-Malabar church in Keala on litrugical practices.Facing the East or facing the people has become such  a bone of  contention that it has erected walls in communication  among the  dioceses and priests of the Syro-Malabar church.
Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI favors facing the East or the altar when saying the mass.He gives very cogent reasons for facing the East  in his book :"The Spirit of the Liturgy."
With regard to liturgical controversies, he notes that what is important is the experience of the Eucharist which is such an  ineffable experience that every other controversy or dispute fades before it.In the "Light of the World", he speaks of the Eucharistic experience: "The decisive thing is that that we enter into something that is much greater. That we can get out of oursleves, as it were, and into the wide open spaces....Liturgy is an event by means of which we let oursleves be introduced into an expansive faith and prayer of the Church."
The above words of the Holy Father are a clear warning to all those who want to erect barriers among people on account of the divisons based on liturgical practices. What is important is that the  participation in the Eucharist gives one an opportunity to become united with God.That  is the unique experience that one receives  in the Eucharist....
A total transformation of one's self is what happens through our participation in the Eucharist.Reconciliation with God and man and forgiveness of sins are the changes that one experiences through Eucharistic participation. All other features have value only in so far as the Eucharist leads us to this transformation.
With regard to facing the East, the Holy Father says in the same book: "This is the reason why the early Christians prayed facing East, in the direction of the rising sun, the symbol of the returning Christ.In so doing, they wanted to show that  whole world is on its way toward Christ and that he encompasses the whole world.This connection between heaven and earth is very important.It was no accident that ancient churches were built so that the sun would cast its light into the house of God at a very precise moment.Nowadays , we are redisovering the importance of the interactions between the earth and the rest of the universe, and so it makes perfect sense that we should also relearn to recognize the cosmic character of the liturgy as well as its historical character.Which means recognizing that someone did not just one day invent the liturgy, but that it has been growing organically since the time of Abraham....the issue was internal reconcilation with our own past, the intrinsic continuity of faith and prayer in the Church.(p.105)
Facing the East offers one thus,1.  continuity with the past traditions,2.makes one aware of the second coming of Christ, the new Sun,3. a coninuing link with the Earth. It creates a cosmic bond in our liturgical participaton by allowing the rays of the sun to fall upon the altar as we raise our hearts to God.
In the Spirit of the Liturgy, the Holy Father observes the following with regard to facing the East:
"Praying toward the East is  a tradition that goes back to the beginning.It is  a fundamental expression of the Christian synthesis of cosmos and history.It is appropriate, now as in the past, that we should express in Christian prayer our turning to God who has revealed himself to us.
"Our speaking to God should be "incarnational."...In what direction should we pray during the Eucharistic liturgy?...Byzantine church building faced the East..(In Rome a different arrangement...and Rome was copied by other churches...)
"Turning to the East is not turning to the wall..but the priest and the people facing in the same direction.
"Looking at the priest has no importance.What matters is looking together at the Lord.
It is not now a question of dialogue but of common worship.What corresponds with the reality of what is happening is not the closed circle but the common movement forward,expressed in a common direction for prayer."
Facing the East or the altar  has a cosmic as well as an  incarnational dimension.

Epiphany Reflections,4th Week,Jan.31,Lk.18:2-14

In today's reading from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaks to us about the need for perseverance in prayer and about  the need for humility when we approach the Lord .Just like the lady who approaches an unwilling judge to give her justice through her constant pleading , so too, without any despair in our heart, we should pray to God constantly. It is our perseverance that is important. Our Lord will never abandon us. Our hearts should not be puffed up with notions of our righteousness. Before God we are all sinners and have no right to be considered holy. We have to present ourselves as we are before God. God in his mercy and compassion will grant our requests.
How good it is to remember these lessons. Often, we come to prayers, making our requests based on our merits and what we have done as faithful disciples. That is the wrong attitude to adopt in prayer. Before God's infinite holiness, we are nothing.
Lord, grant me this sense of humility. Help me in my times of weakness. I am nobody before you. You alone have the power. Have mercy one me. I cannot do anything of my own. Have mercy on me.

Epiphany Reflections,Jan.30,12,Mt.18:23-35

In today's Gospel, Jesus explains the nature of God's kingdom.Using the parable of the king who forgives his debtors , he reminds his listeners that in the kingdom of God, one would experience mercy and forgivness. He also points out through the parable of the meriless official how cruelty and lack of mercy would be punished by God. It is a reminder to each one of us to be forgiving and merciful because God is full of forgivenss and mercy towards us.
In life, what is important is not our material possession but what we give to others. What we have gained as wealth and glory from the world has no meaning in the eyes of God. God wants us to reflect his mercy and love in our dealings with our fellow-brethren.

The Church in India,Growth in Vocations

Jeff Ziegler has written very extensively about developments and growth of the Catholic Church  in the Catholic World Report.One of his most recent articles deals with the  growth and vitality in the American Church because of the presence of Spanish Catholics.In other issues of the Report , he has written beautifully about the growth of the Chruch in India and the major role played by the Syro-Malabar Church.
In the following article, a few quotes from his Reports about the Church in Kerala are given.
A Source of Hope: The Catholic World Report,Feb.2010.
"At the end of 2007,India's Catholic population ranked 16th in the world...India has more seminarians(14,120) than any other nation. Between 1999 and 2007, the number of Indian seminarians increased by an astounding 40 percent.Nearly 64 of India's seminarians will be ordained for religious orders...
"Between 1999 and 2007, the number of diocesan priests ministering in India rose by 24 percent, from 10690 to 13,290, while the number of religious order priests rose by 33 percent, from 8248 to 11003.
India has more nuns than any other nation(except Italy) and will soon rank first in the world..
"Institutional presence is also unmatched anywhere in the world.India has 10,240 Catholic elementary schools with more than 3 million students--More than any other nation in the world.India has more than 5000 high schools with over three million students.
There are more Catholic hospitals in India than in all of North America.Indeed , the Church in India has more hospitals(754),medical dispensaries(2504),leprosaria(220) and orphanages(2,327)  than any other nation."
Jeff also writes about the persecution of Christians in India.He notes: "Although India is a secualr nation whose constituion respects religious freedom, five of India's 29 state governments have enacted anti-conversion laws,and some states have turned a blind eye to the persecution of Christians.Anti-Christian persecution in India attracted world wide attention in 2008 when violence in the northeastern state of Orisaa left 90 dead and fifty thousand homeless.
Speaking aboout the Women's relgious orders, Jeff observes that some of the largest women's congregations are in India."Each has more members than the Benedictines,Dominicans, Sisters of Mercy,the School Sisters of Notre Dame, and other well-known women's communities."
"The greatest threats to the dynamism of the Church in India....are Western-style secularism and smaller families."
In another e article called " Nuns World Wide", Jeff speaks about the decline of vocations among women in the Western world and the increase in vocation among women in India."With five of the 10 largest women religious institutes now headquartered in India--where only 1.6 percent of the world's Catholics live--India has become the worldwide center of women's religious ocations.The number of professed women relgious in India grew by 9,398 between 2002 and 2007.While India has neary 50 million fewer Catholics than the United States does, it has over 30,000 more women relgious.
"If St.Louis is sometimes called the "Rome of the West" because of the number of religious who once served there, it would be far truer to call Ernakulam-Angamaly in Kerala the "Rome of the East.'...Although the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church has 200,000 fewer Catholics than the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, it has 30,000 sisters--more than half of them members of the Franciscan Clarist Congreagtion, the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel, and the sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament."

Reflections on the Leadership of Moses in the Old Testament

After reading the books of the Old Testament upto the end of Dueteronomy, one finds that  the person who makes the greatest impact on us is Moses. It is Moses who is the domineering figure all through these books and his leadership remains strongly implanted in our mind.It would be worthwhile to rflect on the qualities of his leadership.
What we find is a man who is totally devoted to God, following the commandments of the Lord upto the last breath f his life. He was fully at the disposal of God's commandents.He was faithful and strong, undaunted and fearless before obstacles. What guided him was his faith n God.He believed that as long as God was with him , nothing would be impossible.He cried and interceded for his speople. He warned and punished his people.
He was also an imperfect human being. He could not speak. He needed the hep of Aaron to speak for him.He failed to believe that water would gush forth if he would strike a rock. For his failure, he was grievously punished by being denied the privilege of entering the Promised Land. It was to this promised Land that he was journeying. But like  his compatriots, he too was denied entry into the Land.He is like any one of us in his failings. But he had no complaints. He just follwed he what God asked him to do.
He was not afraid of obstacles. He was persevering. In spite of the rejection of Pharaoh , he continued to meet him until he got his people out of Egypt. What he heard from God , he communicated to the people with out any fear of their rejection.He warned, cajoled , punished and inspired the people who were under his care."Let my people go" is what is  being echoed in our ears.
His stay at the Mountain of Sinai and his face radiant with glow because he saw the glory of God  all remain etched dsitinctly in our mind.
The last days of his life are also very memorable.hH told the people that he was getitng old.He had no more any power to lead.He enrusted the task of leading the peope to the Promised Land to Joshua.The last word about him at the end of Dueteronomy was that he was without any equal.

Stephen Covey- the 8th Habit

Stephen Covey's  The 8th Habit is his newest book on effective leadership.He  underlines the need for a voice on the part of the leader and the willingnes to share his voice with others by empowering their qualities.
We live in a culture of blame where we blame others for the lack of development in our insitution or venture. We never take the initiative to become catalysts of change. We have to move away from such a mindset.Whatever may be  the little contribution  that we can make, we have to make it.We should have a voice and we should let the voice be heard instead of blaming the sytem.Covey gives the life and example of the nobel laureate,Mohamed Younus, the  founder of the Grameen Bank ,to make his point that one man's voice can change the lives of many.
Some of the important points that he makes in the book are the following:
"For big changes, work on the paradigms--mind-sets and perceptons--the lens through which one views the universe."
"Leaders are those who use their gifts to develop a vision of great things they want to accomplish.They find and use their voice.They serve and inspire others.
The two elemetns of a leader---Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.
"You can be a transition person in the organization you work for.Remember, any time your emotional life is a function of someone  else's weakness, you disempower yourself." According to Covey,
vision,discipline, passion and conscience are required for a good leader.Vision consists  in seeing a  future state with the mind's eyes.
"The  most important vision is to develop a sense of self, a sense of your  unique mission and role in life...Vision is about more than just getting things done; it is about discovering and expanding our view of others...helping them to find their own voice."
 "Seeing people through the lens of their potential and their best actions, rather than through the lens of  their current behavior or  weaknesses, generates positive energy.
There is great power  in viewing people separately from their behavior, for as we do, we affirm their fundamental, unconditional worth.
Cultivating the habit  of affirming people is very important.
With regard to family life, he has the following observations to make:
I believe that  the most important work  you do in the world  will be within the walls of your own home. He quotes David O.Mckay to underline the point that our role in guiding an leading the family is the important one in life:" No other success can cmpensate for failure in the home."
"Parentood is the most important leadership responsibility in life and will provide the greatest levels of happiness and joy."
 Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves."
"Keep investing in your prsonal and professioanl development and in your power to roduce solutions to problems.Your security does ot come f rom your job or form the patronage of other people; it comes from your ability to meet needs and solve prblems.Keep investing in thsoe abilities, and you will have nedless opportunities."