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Thank you Martha | An Email sent to the Parish Office from Australia | Communicating with people from Arab countries | A Brief Outline of the Books we will Hear Read During September

Thank you Martha

THANK YOU MARTHA as she continues her Lay Reader studies, Martha Waller has had to end her work on the Communications Committee. We thank her for all her work and wish her well in her studies. Please see the note below regarding sending articles for inclusion in the Parish News.

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An Email sent to the Parish Office from Australia

I came across your site about St Brigid’s and the history of the school.

I am an ex student of Castleknock National School. I cannot remember the exact date Ithere (even though I remember the events of the day very well) but I think that it was sometime in March 1937. It was a two-teacher school then. The teachers were Mr "Ben"and a Miss Ryan.

Mr Brooks lived in the school house, which had a big old apple tree in the yard at side of the house. I remember the apple tree very well, as in the autumn Mrs Brooks would pick up all the windfall apples and at lunch time Mr Brooks would bring them back after his lunch, line us all up in the girls’ playground and roll the apples along the ground. Then, at a given word, we would run and try to get as many as we could. That was our physical education! Miss Ryan lived out somewhere near Howth or Clontarf and used to come to school by train and bus. Sheto teach Infants, First and Second classes. At that time, Mr Hunter was the Rector. Mr Hunter or the school used to give us all a Christmas present each year. I had a full set of books for church on Sundays.

George Edward (Eddie) Pennicott
Beenleigh (near Brisbane, Australia)

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Communicating with people from Arab countries

by Robert Lawson
(This is a follow on article from the previous edition of the Parish News)

The Arab world is held together by the twin pillars of Islam and the Arabic language. There are huge variations between and within countries in terms of history, culture, politics and social attitudes.

There are three distinct geographical areas:

  • North Africa: Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan and Algeria
  • Middle East: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine
  • Arabian Peninsula: Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Kuwait

Islam

Most practising Muslims follow five main duties or pillars of Islam:

  • Faith in one God
  • Prayer at five set times per day
  • Giving a required amount to charity each year
  • Fasting during the holy month of Ramadan
  • Making a pilgrimage (hajj) once in their lives to the sacred city of Mecca if they can

Communication Style

  • Indirect style, ‘beat around the bush’, no direct ‘yes’ or ‘no’
  • Many Arabs stand or sit very close to those to whom they are talking to and frequently touch them
  • Emotional: expressive gestures, enthusiastic greetings
  • Very dependent on eye contact, so look them straight in the eye
  • Very talkative: quietness is disconcerting to them. Loud voice, rising pitch and tone, even shouting, all denote sincerity in Arab discourse

Some culture norms and values

  • Arab countries tend to be hierarchical; there is no expectation that power is equally shared
  • It is important to use titles as a sign of respect
  • Arab countries are collectivist: the needs of the group are much more important than the needs of the individual
  • A lot of respect is shown for rules; it is considered important to avoid uncertainty
  • Arabs show great respect for age
  • Arabs often do many things at the same time

Attitudes to women

Many Muslims believe that the identical role to men demanded by many Western women is against the fundamentally different natures of men and women as ordained by Allah. Many consider that although men and women are spiritually and morally equal, they have complementary rather than identical roles and responsibilities. For this reason, segregation of men and women is the norm in certain Muslim communities.

Islamophobia

Anti-Muslim sentiments are now part of the fabric of everyday life in modern Britain, in much the same way that anti-Semitic views were socially acceptable earlier in the century. ‘I can hardly watch or listen to the news anymore. It makes me so angry. The term ‘Muslim’, which is so precious to me, and which encapsulates the values of integrity, compassion, humility, patience and generosity that I am teaching my children, is used by the media as a synonym for cruelty and insane acts of terrorism. Nobody calls the Hiroshima bomb the Christian bomb; nobody calls the massacres in central Africa Christian massacres. But everything to do with Islam, and every Muslim, is regarded as bad, or at least suspect’ (British Muslim woman)

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A Brief Outline of the Books we will Hear Read During September

Exodus
Exodus is the second book of the Old Testament, and is part of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Jews refer to these books as "The Torah". At times, they are referred to as "The Law", although "Torah" means teaching. Exodus centres on the rescue of God's chosen people from captivity in Egypt and the making of the great covenant, or agreement with God, at Mount Sinai.

Romans
Romans is the first epistle in the New Testament, although not the first to be written. Paul wrote it to the church at Rome, which included both Jews and Gentiles. His primary theme is the basics of the good news of Christ, salvation for all people. The book was probably written in 57 AD, when Paul was near the end of his third missionary journey around the Eastern Mediterranean. It is unusual in that it was written to a church that Paul had not visited.

Philippians
Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, a prosperous Roman colony in northern Greece, from prison. We do not know whether this imprisonment was in Ephesus or in Rome. It appears that he was held under house arrest. It is possible that the epistle is actually made up of three letters. It contains many personal references, exhorts members of the Philippian church to live the Christian life and to good ethical conduct, introduces Timothy and Epaphroditus as his representatives, and warns against legalists and libertines. Lastly, he thanks the Philippian community for their material support.

Matthew
This gospel is the first in the New Testament, but it was probably the second to be written. Scholars recognise that it borrows material from Mark, and from a sayings source containing sayings of Jesus and known as Q (for Quelle, German for source). The author shows an understanding of Jewish culture and religion not found in the other gospels. It was probably written about 60 to 70 AD, possibly for a largely Jewish audience.

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An Email sent to the Parish Office from Australia | Communicating with people from Arab countries | A Brief Outline of the Books we will Hear Read During September

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