Catholic Worker Movement

Dorothy Day was an American journalist, social activist, and devout Catholic convert. She established the Catholic Worker Movement and lived the works of mercy, pacifism, and voluntary poverty. These commitments made by Dorothy Day and other Catholics truly inspire me. At this stage in my life, I do not think I would be able to make these commitments. It seems like it would take unbreakable faith and patience. It definitely makes me rethink my own personal philosophy of life and makes me want to get more involved with the good works of the Catholic Church. The movie, "Entertaining Angels", is an inspiring story and definitely makes me think more about my faith.

Soldiers of Conscience

I believe that the change in policy allowing women to serve in combat is great. This shows how much times are changing and how women are finally gaining the same rights as men. After watching "Soldiers of Conscience", my view on war completely changed. Watching made-up movies about war brings a completely unrealistic side to it. This documentary shows how hard it is for soldiers to be able to kill other human beings. Seeing the soldiers chant about killing others just appalled me. If I was drafted into the military I would definitely be very nervous and not know how to respond. If I had to choose between the two, I would pick conscientious objector because there is no way I would be able to kill an innocent human being. My faith greatly informs this decision because it has been stated in the Ten Commandments "Thou shall not kill". Even though I would not want to be a soldier, I greatly appreciate the American soldiers that fight for our country every day to keep us safe.

Hotel Rwanda

I think Jack is unfortunately right about people seeing horrible footage and moving on with their lives. It seems that watching the news today is just like watching a movie. Sometimes its hard to even convince yourself that the events are real because you believe that something like that could never happen to you. People are so indifferent to the suffering they hear on the evening news because chances are it does not personally involve them. It is harder to bring yourself to do something about the suffering when it does not involve you or the people around you. I think we need to be more aware of this suffering and reach out to those in need, no matter where they live. I would like to get people around me to help just like they reached out and helped the victims of the Boston bombings. It does not need to be a close tragedy in order for us to reach out. I would try to explain this to those around me and have them understand that they would want help if they were ever faced with such a tragedy.

Can Forgiveness Play a role in Criminal Justice?

“Restorative justice” considers harm done and strives for agreement from all concerned — the victims, the offender and the community — on making amends. I feel that restorative justice is a good alternative to the traditional criminal justice system when less serious crimes are being dealt with. Whereas the case of 19 year old Connor McBride shooting and killing his girlfriend Ann Grosmaire is a much more serious offense. I found it shocking that the parents of the girlfriend agreed to restorative justice and wanted to shorten Connor's sentence.The parents must be unbelievably kind and forgiving if they agreed to this process. I would never be able to do something like that. I definitely think the process of restorative justice is closely in line with Catholic Social Teaching because it is more forgiving and less punishing than the traditional criminal justice system.