Browsing by Author "Aringo, Margaret"

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    A Case Study of the Spirituality Of The Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph
    (Tangaza University College, 1998-04) Aringo, Margaret
    The presentation of this study is divided into three parts, as follows; Chapter One discusses the spirituality of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph. It begins with the general background, then it deals with the charism, spirituality of the Institute. Chapter Two deals with the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience. Chapter Three discusses the apostolate of the sisters. It also analyses the data collected from the sisters through the use of the questionnaire. The study ends with specific references to the Franciscan Sisters by giving some reflections and observations. God is the initiator of each and every call. He has the absolute freedom to call one to himself to a particular style or type of life. God may call young women to a religious life style and therefore she is invited to live in a particular or specific religious community. The one invited to religious life has the freedom to respond to God's initiative and gratuitous call which depends completely upon God In responding to this call, the religious women exercises her humanness by seeking oneness, unity and integrity with her God. The religious is called to love God wholeheartedly without qualifications, conditions, or reservations. Today, the religious face serious challenges in responding to God's call in the world. Their identity as religious is often challenged. Today's religious men and women live in a period where most of the formal structures that had supported religious life in the past are questioned and some are also reviewed. Hopefiilly this study and reflection will help the religious restructure their purpose and place in the world. The real priorities in religious life are questioned quite seriously. The dichotomy in attitudes and the shift in values have blocked the realities of the pristine ideal. For many, a dichotomy exists between human-spiritual, individualcommunity, action-contemplation, work-prayer. But in reality, these are not contradictions. Attitudes towards poverty, celibacy, authority-obedience have changed due to shifts in values concerning human person, and evangelical life. Community dynamism calls members for openness and this offers challenges for growth towards the better. New areas of apostolate, new avenues and values are inviting the religious to review their former and traditional apostolate. The Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph (FSJ), like every other religious congregation live within a technological and consumerist society filled with demands of all sorts. The difference in attitudes, shifts in values and morals, the number of members who join the congregation and those who leave, etc., tend to influence their lives, their theological stability and their inner consciousness concerning the religious identity. These factors also influence their call and response to religious life. The FSJ have based their Constitutions, with regard to their life of prayer, community life, vow of obedience and vow of poverty, on Franciscan spirituality. Since this work is a case study of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph, for the primary data, the author administered a questionnaire among the same sisters plus five other Congregations following the Franciscan spirituality. She also delivered a questionnaire to another Congregation following the Jesuit Spirituality. The general background of the questionnaire gives the details on the age, related differences in Religious Profession and their level of education. The next section deals with the way the sisters live and express their charism and spirituality within their community living, vowed life and apostolate. The last section refers to the Constitutions of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph. The author gathered information by herself The objective for the field study was to find out what the Franciscan spirituality means to the sisters and whether it gives a relevant meaning to their lives or offers some challenges to the living out of their religious commitment. The responses did help reflect the living of the Constitutions. This whole study is meant to promote suggestions on how best the sisters could best live their vocation in today's Church and society.
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    The Church and Human Promotion in Technical Education
    (Tangaza University College, 1998-04) Aringo, Margaret
    The subject of this essay is technical education. The Church has always shown a keen interest in the development of technical education. When talking of the Church, we are particularly referring to the Catholic Church, whose major aim is at creating and elevating the dignity of the poor, and raising their status in the Kenyan society as elsewhere. The Church aims at making a major contribution to the objectives above, through involvement in technical education, hence the titteThe Church and I luman Promotion in Technical Education'. This essay is an attempt to bring out the contribution and role of the Church in technical education, and the challenges facing this education in Kenya at present. My main aim in ' exploring this area is to provide some elements of reflection on these challenges, not only for local Churches and religious institutes, but also for the Kenyan government. I also hope to offer some possible orientations and proposals for action to improve technical education in institutions that are already in existence. The essay is as a result of both primary and secondary data collection. Primary sources of information involved: going out and visiting different technical training institutions run by the Church. This included interviewing those in administration of these institutions about the group of people (street children, orphans, primary or secondary school leavers), they are training; some government owned institutions were also visited and those in charge were interviewed. The secondary source of information is mainly from periodicals and a survey on the industrial training needs assessment and institutional capacity and capability in Kenya prepared by the Federation of Kenya Employers (EKE). This essay is divided into three chapters with two sections in each chapter. The methodology followed in this study is that of see, judge and act. In chapter one, I have attempted to give the meaning, role and trace the history of technical education in Kenya. It is a fact that the history of this education cannot be written without reference to the Christian missionaries and the colonial government. All these, up to the present existing institutions offering technical education in Kenya, will be seen in the first section. That the Church has always been concerned in the development of technical education is clearly set out in the second section of chapter one. This concern stems from the vision of her mission to care for the poor. To pursue this concern, the Church has contributed to this education through her dioceses, parishes and religious congregations in Kenya, by setting up technical training institutions. Some of these institutions are strictly for the Church, and others are in partnership between the Church and the government of Kenya. They include youth polytechnics, Christian vocational training centres and technical training institutes among others. We cannot treat the Church owned government due to partnership pointed above. does she control the policies concerned with institutions separately from those run by the Moreover the Church has no monopoly, neither technical education in Kenya. For this reason, chapter two examines sonic of the challenges facing technical education in Kenya. Section one of this chapter deals with technical training institutions while section two is concerned with disharmonies that underlie technical training in Kenya. In response to the challenges pointed out in chapter two, concrete measures and proposals to improve technical education have been discussed in chapter three in the first section. Citizens of any country need a training that will enable them earn a living and transform their lives. It is in this context that the Church insists on the promotion of training for transformation. Hence section two gives the Church some guidelines in this underlying task. Finally, there is a curious illusion that a more complete research is possible when there is less to know. My point here is that no course of study, neither does this essay claim any position of ideal completeness nor are the omitted facts of surbodinate importance. Therefore, this essay is only but a stepping stone to further research.