"Faciendi et Credendi" means, in Latin, "Believing and doing." For the Christian, this should evoke the Letter of James: "What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works?" (2:14). It also evokes the idea that the study of religion involves both the beliefs and practices of a religious community. Finally, it recalls that students of theology and religious studies are engaged in both classroom learning and active participation in volunteer service, ministry, etc.

Faciendi et Credendi is the blog for the Religious Studies/Theology Program at Loras College. It is an ongoing, public account of student progress that the program requires of all its majors. The blog provides an electronic “space” for students to reflect on their experiences as a major and on the relationship of those experiences to other facets of their life at Loras.

In order to post to the blog, first find the appropriate topic by clicking on the Blog Prompts tab. Find the prompt based on how long it has been since you declared your religious studies/theology major. Then, return to the Home tab and click on New Post in the top right corner of the page. This will open an html editor where you can type your post.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Third Semester after Declaring Major: Week 11


There are many different events in my life that have influenced me as a religious studies major. However, most recently, a strong influence was the FOCUS Seek conference. This conference helped renew my desire to learn about and share my Catholic faith with others.
            I am very blessed when it comes to learning about my faith. Often, people have to seek out information on their own. However, I have had the opportunity to have religion classes every year and semester since I began my formal education in kindergarten. However, although the religion classes at Loras are amazing, I still have many questions about the Catholic Church and theology I would like answered. The many different talks at Seek reminded me that I must continue looking for answers.
            Another idea that the Seek conference presented that really resonated with me was finding out what gifts God gave me. Even more than just discovering my talents though, I should search for why God gave me those specific gifts. I was reminded that God gave each individual specific gifts to use in the world in order to help people and further the Kingdom of Heaven.
            Being a religious studies major often causes people to look at me a certain way. In a way, this is good because it gives me an opportunity for people to know where I come from. However, sometimes I shy away from telling people right away, out of fear that people will think I’m weird or an extremist. At the Seek Conference I went to a talk on relativism. This talk really renewed my desire to learn about the Catholicism and theology. In addition, share what I learn with others. It discussed how if a person really believes something, then it must be the truth. If their faith or ideas are really truth, then they will share them with others. This encouraged me to really share the different things I have learn through my religious studies major. I was reminded I should truly speak up for the faith I believe and the Church I follow. 
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2 comments:

  1. Dr. John Waldmeir, Associate Professor, Loras CollegeApril 5, 2013 at 1:36 PM

    If you think majoring in RS/T gets you odd looks, try explaining what you do if you teach in the field. Thanks for the post. I would like to hear more about your claim--via Focus-- that if one really believes something then it must be true. I can think of a number of examples where (I hope) that is not the case, including some from history that had quite an impact on the Church (a whole range of scientific examples come to mind--from physics to biology), and some more recent that have resulted in the tragic justification of sexual abuse. I hope we get a chance to raise some of those questions when we're together in a class and get some discussion going. Thanks again. jw

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  2. David PittApril 9, 2013 at 10:10 AM

    I am interested to hear more about your understanding of the process by which individuals discover the gifts God has given them, and how they can be put to the best use. I raise this in relation to how "being called" seems to operate today. It seems to me that many understand "being called" as a more or less direct communication between God and the individual. Having felt God calling them to something, the individual then reflects upon that call. I suppose, then, that this also relates to the other idea that you raise - what constitutes truth (i.e., am I actually hearing God speak, or am I putting words in God's mouth?). Wikipedia, for example, lists 15 people who are currently alive that claim to be the Messiah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_messiah_claimants#Christian_messiah_claimants). Surely at least one or two of them "misheard" God's voice? If they did, mightn't we? How should we navigate this? Is there a role for the community here?

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