Historic Preservation: The Road to Remembering

HIGH ABOVE THE PATCHWORK QUILT FARMLANDS OF the Hudson Valley near Albany, New  York, sits John Boyd Thacher State Park, cresting miles of limestone cliff face and traveling deep into forests, down rocky slopes to grassy fields. It was here, as a child, where I first walked the Indian Ladder Trail with my dad. It was here where my love for the past was nurtured by the stories of the Mohawk Iroquois Indians who, several hundred years earlier, had walked a trail back and forth to Henry Hudson’s trading post. To scale the cliffs they felled tall trees against the cliff wall and cut back the branches, creating what the early settlers called Indian ladders.

In the late 1800s, philanthropist John Boyd Thacher established a summer residence in the area and purchased hundreds of acres of land, including more than a three-mile expanse of the cliff ledge. The Indian Ladder Trail and a number of other sites of natural and historic beauty were part of his estate; land which he made available to the public for their enjoyment. … (read the rest here:   

http://gardenstatelegacy.com/files/Historic_Preservation_Road_to_Remembering_Morrell_GSL11.pdf

Published in GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 11 • March 2011

Young Catholic Authors club reveals children’s insight

It was my privilege, recently, to run an after-school Young Catholic Authors club for middle school students. The purpose of the club was to encourage children to value their own thoughts and ideas, and to develop the confidence to share them, especially in regards to their faith. It was a rewarding experience for me; helping young people discover their innate wisdom as they moved through a creative process of reflection, observation, sharing, and, of course, writing. These brief few weeks provided only a mere taste of what it is like to be an author, but it was a wonderful opportunity to unearth the remarkably deep and insightful thoughts of children who are not often credited with such wisdom.

 As Maria Montessori wrote in The Secret of  Childhood, “There is a part of a child's soul that has always been unknown but which must be known. With a spirit of sacrifice and enthusiasm we must go in search like those who travel to foreign lands and tear up mountains in their search for hidden gold. This is what the adults must do who seek the unknown factor that lies hidden in the depths of a child's soul.”  

You think I said what??

"What is communicated is not what is said but what is heard, and what is heard is determined  in  large measure by what the hearer needs or wants to hear."  

This bit of wisdom, originally written more than 30 years ago and meant for those who preach the Sunday homily, continues to be an important bit of wisdom throughout the field of communication. Generally, every communique, oral or written, is filtered through the needs, perspective and experience of the receiver.

Just read through the comment thread following a news article, or listen to the feedback following  a campaign rally. You will invariably  wonder if respondents read what you read, or heard what you heard.

 Have you ever sent an email to several different people only to have one or more of them completely misunderstand what you were trying to say? One may suspect your intentions, another may take it as a personal affront, and another may ignore it completely, believing it has nothing to do with him or her.

 To communicate effectively, it is essential to have an understanding of your audience, whether your audience is a parish congregation, a small faith community, the office staff or a classroom full of students, remembering that "the way we interpret the world  ... determines the way we relate to it."

Quotes are from "Fulfilled in Your Hearing: The Homily  in the Sunday Assembly,"  USCCB, 1982

Quotes are

Communication and community at the heart of mission

"Communication and community lie at the heart of the Church's mission because God's self-revelation draws every believer into the faith community. After the family, people experience the Church first in the local parish, where bonds of charity begin and where the worshiping community takes shape.

"This occurs through communication: the sharing of faith, the preaching of the Word, the celebration of the sacraments, service to the poor and marginalized, and the union of the larger body. All church communication—even her technologically or mass-mediated communication—should flow from the foundation of God’s self-revelation. Human communication in the Church mirrors the communication of the Trinity, the Divine community, in whom we discover the fullness of communion and communication" (Pastoral Plan for Church Communication, United States Catholic Conference, 1997).