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My Fond Memories of “Conscience”

Mary Rose Bacani Valenti

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

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This week on The World I Know we look at Conscience.
I have to say I was considering opening the episode with a stand-up about Jiminy Cricket. Since watching Disney’s “Pinocchio” as a little kid, I always imagined my conscience as a 'Jiminy Cricket,' always chirping over my shoulder. And so I thought it might be cute to have a stuffed cricket on my shoulder to talk to. But I didn’t, don’t worry.
virt-consccollage.jpgFor the first segment, you’ll meet Juanita Sequeira, a high school student from St. Francis Xavier Secondary School in Mississauga. She talks about the different ways that high school students help elementary school students form their conscience, and vice-versa. She brings up the Stewardship Fair and the Gr. 8 Orientation Day. Don’t know what these two are? Find out! I had a lot of fun shooting these two events, because the energy in the rooms was just contagious. What was “cool” about the Orientation Day was the witnessing part – the Gr. 8 students could ask the high school students about anything. So they brought up questions on relationships, drugs, peer pressure, etc….
The student of the day is Stuart Jansen, who shares his struggles with his conscience. What I like about Stuart is his complete honesty. He doesn’t make himself out to be a big hero! He openly speaks about how he wants to be cool in front of others and finds himself not defending his faith sometimes... hear about it!
The saint of the day is St. Thomas More. Michael Knox, a young Jesuit, speaks about Thomas More’s influence on his life. I’ve always admired Thomas More because he was someone in the big leagues, admired by everyone for his intelligence and competence when it comes to politics – he was the equivalent of a prime minister in his time! And yet, he stood by his conscience even when his own family was challenging him about it. I remember following Michael (the “Thomas More expert”) around with his fellow Jesuits, in class at the University of Toronto, at Mass in Regis College. The best part of this shoot was having dinner with all the Jesuits, and hearing the talk about movies the whole time! The Jesuits are big on using the media – greatly to be admired!
If you ask me about how I work on forming my own conscience, I have to say that having a “balance” of my day before going to bed always helps. I look at what I did that day, what I thought or said, and how I was or was not in conformity with God’s will. And what I can do better the next day. And seriously, nothing replaces Confession when it comes to forming your conscience. The sacraments are powerful!
Anyway, tune in tonight, Tuesday, October 28th, at 8 pm ET for the Conscience episode (episode 2) of Salt + Light's newest series, The World I Know: Virtues in Action!
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