Reference no: EM132310312

PRINCIPLES OF ADVOCACY -  SUBSIDIARITY AND SOLIDARITY

Learning Outcomes

Building upon the learning outcomes of UNCC100, upon successful completion of this unit, you should be able to apply knowledge of Catholic Social Thought to:

1. Describe how the efforts of public, private, not-for-profit agencies, faith based groups and you as a professional, can result in the realisation of a more just global community.

2. Critically analyse the challenges with realising aspirations of the common good in your professional community, locally and globally.

3. Critique a global issue where shared responsibility for the common good is not being realised, and propose ways to address this challenge.

ADVOCACY IN YOUR LIFE

Video source: YouTube (transcript available)

Watch the video above and think about the following questions:

Where does advocacy fit in your life?

Can you identify where you have benefited from the advocacy of others?

Have you ever been called on to advocate for others?

8.1.3 ACTIVITY

In this week's tutorial you will watch a short video about children in detention and will be asked to think about how this issue might relate to your future profession.

In preparation for your tutorial read the Children in Detention Hot Topic and brainstorm how you might address this issue in the context of your future profession

9.1.1 ACTIVITY

In this week's tutorial the discussion will be around the encyclical by Pope Francis "On care for our common home". The Montara Oil Spill will used as a case study. In preparation for class, read the Montara Oil Spill Handout and do some investigating of your own on the Montara Oil Spill.

You may consider the following questions:

How are the economic benefits of oil exploration at sea balanced against the possibility of environmental damage and adverse effects on innocent victims, their health and livelihood?

How have relations between Australia and its neighbour, Indonesia been affected?

What harm has been caused to the citizens of Indonesia and the environment?

How do these environmental disasters caused by man impact on our fellow human beings?

9.2.1 ACTIVITY

Consider the issue of climate change in relation to each of these principles:

The Common Good

Dignity of the Human Person

Preferential Option for the Poor

Solidarity

What could be brought to the debate on how best to tackle environmental issues by the principles of CST?

10.1 YOUR FINAL ASSESSMENT TASK

10.1.1 REFLECTION ACTIVITY

Take time to reflect on what you have done throughout this unit. It may be useful for you to consider what you have achieved in relation to the learning outcomes:

1. Describe how the efforts of public, private, not-for-profit agencies, faith based groups and you as a professional, can result in the realisation of a more just global community.

2. Critically analyse the challenges with realising aspirations of the common good in your professional community, locally and globally.

3. Critique a global issue where shared responsibility for the common good is not being realised.

You might also like to reflect on how the material covered over the course of the unit has impacted on you personally. You may have found some of the issues covered at times confronting. Hopefully, you now feel more empowered to help promote the common good. We have looked at many examples of individuals making a positive contribution and no matter what our situation we can all contribute to the common good in one way or another.

10.1.2 ASSESSMENT TASK 3

You should be well underway in your preparation for your final assignment. The activities you have completed in LEO were all designed to assist you with completing all three assessment tasks.

Assessment Task 3: Extending your work from Assignment 2, write a 1200 word paper that briefly critiques a  global issue (i.e., the issue or challenge you chose for Assessment 2) where shared responsibility for the  common good is not being realised (approx. 300 words) and then, propose ways to address this challenge (approx. 900 words) in your professional community, locally and globally.

As the unit’s title Justice and Change in a Global World suggests, in UNCC300 we were particularly concerned with looking outwards: examining the part we can all play in creating a fairer more inclusive world. This seems a very appropriate focus for those of you about to graduate and begin new careers. The unit has hopefully provided you the opportunity to pause for a moment and reflect on what lies ahead.
 It has hopefully encouraged you to consider what great scope there is for all of us to contribute to the common good, both locally and globally.

Over the course of the unit we worked through three main themes. We began with an examination of Community Engagement. Here we asked what the hallmarks of good community engagement are; what sort of relationships should we aim to build with partners in CE; and what problems should we be wary of. To help answer these questions we looked at successful models of community engagement, some based out of ACU, but we also looked at the inspirational work of agencies working to improve conditions for individuals and
 communities around the globe.

The next theme was Human Dignity. You began your investigation into Human Dignity in UNCC100. We looked in particular at how dignity is understood to be grounded - is it something connected to our being human or is based in our actions? And what happens when it is dismissed or denied?

In the final section we considered the importance of advocacy - another concept introduced in UNCC100. We look here at particular examples of advocacy and the importance of giving a voice to those who are being silenced. Simply by speaking up on behalf of a group or an individual suffering injustice we make a powerful affirmation of their worth and of our solidarity with them.

The aim of this unit was to pick up on the work you began in UNCC100 and take it further to a deeper more sophisticated level. You were asked to look outwards to identify issues that impact on the common good and you were asked to consider ways, big or small, of addressing those issues. As we saw in our discussion of advocacy, great change can come from humble beginnings.

Hopefully, one message that comes through in ACU's Core Curriculum subjects, is that everyone has something to contribute and everyone has something to learn.

"From little things, big things grow": Paul Kelly & Kev Carmody remember Gough in song.