Moreau Capstone Integration Final Theo Helm 4/25/22 Capstone Integration Moreau FYE Remembering the Bigger Picture As my first year at Notre Dame comes to a close, I can confidently say that my mission statement accurately reflects how I intend to complete the rest of my time here. My most fulfilling and enjoyable moments during the past two semesters all seemed to come as a result of meeting various aspects of my statement, so I hope to use it as my standard for the years ahead in order to make the most of my time. Specifically, my mission statement guides the two most important vocations in my life right now- namely, as a student and a member of this community. Through following my mission statement with the help of the modules I’ve completed during Moreau First Year Experience, I hope to take advantage of every opportunity I may meet in the semesters to come. The core aspect of my mission statement, and the idea that I lead with, is the idea of service guiding everything I do. Specifically, I hope to serve others in any way possible. This may include helping with assignments and exams, comforting someone in a time of hardship, or even service work in South Bend. One of my favorite experiences from the past semester was going to the Dismas House in downtown South Bend to help serve food to ex-inmates trying to enter back into society and find work. Because this group of people is often demonized and written off by the rest of society, being able to talk with them and eat with them at the same table was a powerful way to recognize and affirm their dignity. In this way, most of the service I gave to the Dismas House simply consisted of being present. Week 9 taught me the importance of presence through the story of Paul Farmer. “Accompaniment is a path to deeper understanding, the implications of which couldn’t be foreseen at the outset of the journey together. Our task is walking with someone in support of a dignified life.” (“Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together” by Professor Steve Reifenberg - Moreau FYE Week 9). Just as Paul Farmer walked with marginalized groups in South America, I hope to walk with marginalized groups just miles away from the place I call home. It is also important to note that this aforementioned dignity of the Dismas House residents lies beyond the material world, and comes a result of the fact that they were created in God’s image. They are loved by God unconditionally, so we should extend the same unconditional love ourselves. Week 10’s article by Jacob Walsh–a gay Catholic who felt removed from the scope of God’s love–provides an important insight into this unconditional love: “At the time, I’d thought this meant God loved me in spite of my being attracted to men. But I started to see He was using my sexuality to reach me with His love.” (“Growing Up Gay and Catholic” by Jacob Walsh - Moreau FYE Week 10). God reaches individuals through their vulnerabilities, and I hope to reach people in the same way. In connection with this idea of accompaniment is the idea of leadership, which ought to stem from an attitude of service. Although the residents of the Dismas House may be different from me, I value them as members of my community and wish to connect with them in order to expand my worldview. Such an idea links with the section in my mission statement regarding diversity: “I see every person as a potential friend, and will continue to expand my worldview by meeting a diverse range of people wherever I may end up throughout my life.” Week 2’s lesson from the movie about Fr. Hesburgh demonstrated this well, as Fr. Hesburgh provided a living example of what it means to be a servant-leader. “[Fr. Hesburgh] could talk across differences and create trust, create a mutual understanding. That’s the kind of leader we need today” (“Hesburgh” by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley - Moreau FYE Week 2). If I wish to hold any sort of leadership role in the community, I would find the most fulfillment if I mirror Fr. Hesburgh since he carried out the ideal social goal of my mission statement. Learning about how Fr. Hesburgh bridged gaps between groups was a major inspiration for how I carried out my allyship activity during week 12 (Moreau FYE Week 12). My mission statement states that I wish to love my community since it is an extension of my home. To demonstrate this, I visited a worship service at a Methodist church in South Bend. My immediate family converted to Catholicism, but the rest of my family is Protestant and many of my family members are hostile to the Church. In my allyship activity, I hoped to demonstrate my willingness to bridge the gap of the conflict within my family. I also valued this experience as a way to show my support for the greater community of South Bend, Notre Dame can often feel like a bubble within the larger outside community, so it was nice to leave that bubble and interact with people beyond campus. The bubble effect can create a sense of “us” and “them,” which Pope Francis touched upon in week 7: “The future is, most of all, in the hands of those people who recognize the other as a ‘you’ and themselves as part of an ‘us’” (“Why the Only Future Worth Building Includes Everyone” by Pope Francis - Moreau FYE Week 7). By visiting the worship service, I was able to see for certain that I am a member of the “us,” which is the greater South Bend community. Through all of these applications of the social aspects of my mission statement, I hope to fully and ultimately live out my human vocation of love, which guides each example I’ve given so far. Father Michael Himes summed up this hope well during week 3, where he states “One vocation embraces all our other vocations: to be a human being. We are called to be as intelligent, as responsible, as free, as courageous, and as imaginative, as loving as we can possibly be!” (“Three Key Questions” by Father Michael Himes - Moreau FYE Week 3). The other main vocation during the rest of my time here at Notre Dame is my vocation as a student. Not only am I called to learn, but I am called to use this knowledge in service of the greater good through an eventual career. My mission statement states that I hope to use my gifts in service to others, and this journey of discovering my gifts is one that I will continue to undertake during my time here. I hope to try a wide array of activities and classes to figure out what I’m good at, as well as what the world could use right now in order to be brought closer to the Christian vision. Learning about this process as early as week 4 helped me dedicate the rest of my semester to adopting an open mind about potential paths. One helpful quote from that week reads: “You have to know yourself first - your values, interests, personality, and skills (VIPS) - before you can make effective career choices. The only way to know more about yourself is to test the waters - just get out and experience life!” (“Navigating Your Career Journey” by the Meruelo Career Center - Moreau FYE Week 4).” Furthermore, it’s not only in the realm of classes that I keep an open mind, but also in the information I take in and the things I learn about. In order to build up my knowledge here, I ought to expose myself to as many different viewpoints as possible. One major issue that could occur in academic environments is narrowness and uniformity in thinking, which leads to ignorance. The core of my student life should be to avoid this, since I am surrounded by people with valuable perspectives. Professor Blaschko spoke about this “echo chamber” danger during week 11: “Bubbles become echo chambers when groups give up tolerating diversity of opinion.” (“How to Avoid an Echo Chamber” by Dr. Paul Blaschko - Moreau FYE Week 11). Along with keeping an open mind, the key to maximizing my time here as a student is staying flexible in terms of grades and feedback. I can’t change the outcome of my work, but I can change how I view setbacks. My mission statement reads “As I continue throughout life, I will recognize my inability to control every situation and circumstance, but will always internally affirm my autonomy over my own attitude toward both.” In connection with this is Tasha Eurich’s quote from week 6: “‘Why’ questions trap us in our past; ‘what’ questions help us create a better future” (“The Right Way to be Introspective (Yes, There’s a Wrong Way)” by Tasha Eurich - Moreau FYE Week 6). I may put my best foot forward for an assignment, but I may not always get the result I want. Instead of focusing on why a grade turned out the way it did, I could use the setback to ask “what” I may do differently to fix it for next time. It may be easy to get caught up in the minor details, but I should always step back to look at the larger picture to stay on the right course and keep my priorities in order. My mission statement touches upon this idea and reads “I will remind those I am close to that I love them on a regular basis, since obligations and responsibilities often take a higher priority than they should and create distance. In this way, I will always be cognizant of how I spend my time so as to order my life properly. I will place my family and my faith above all else, and will make sacrifices in my own life for the sake of maintaining that hierarchy.” Although assignments may seem big in my mind, they all compose my larger vocation of being a student, which isn’t all about academics. It is also about figuring out how I can use my academic skills to serve and build up that which means the most to me. Week 1 was helpful in teaching me this lesson of ordering my priorities properly: “It’s only by stepping farther back and standing still that we can begin to see what that canvas (which is our life) really means, and to take in the larger picture” (“Why We Need to Slow Down Our Lives” by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week 1). Through the discernment conversation (Moreau FYE Week 5), I learned that social connection takes high priority in my life. For this reason, I am going to order my studies toward a field that allows me to fulfill this desire to be in connection with other people. I will work toward this goal, and will remember to take a step back from assignments to remind myself of this greater mission. In conclusion, my core college vocations are toward being a student and a community member. In both of these things, I intend to explore each opportunity and order my life to fit my mission statement. This first year went by fast, but I hope I will be able to slow down over my next three years to remember and honor what really forms the core of these callings: my faith. My week 8 activity of creating my own eulogy put this in perspective, and I hope to continue to step back and think about the larger picture of my life . URLs: Week 1: https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ Week 2: https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=10159379-7eca-4549-858 1-ab9500c9ecd9 Week 3: https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/40380/files/467832?module_item_id=143473 Week 4: https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ Week 5: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yZ7hqvx-u4EuW2nlK-fRbWFiurQm1mZv_KpoeeiN4So/ edit?usp=sharing Week 6: https://ideas.ted.com/the-right-way-to-be-introspective-yes-theres-a-wrong-way/ Week 7: https://www.ted.com/talks/his_holiness_pope_francis_why_the_only_future_worth_building_inc ludes_everyone/transcript Week 8: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q1tB1oGjk5d5opRwgrbzyYknoOqWh2DZmX-U-PlVYX Y/edit Week 9: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hZbSdVImfn2hZDqMrdL96dZCNOtHuf6C-lg3sH-Rs30/e dit?usp=sharing Week 10: https://grottonetwork.com/keep-the-faith/community/reflective-narrative-about-being-gay-and-ca tholic/?utm_source=moreau&utm_medium=class&utm_campaign=spring_2022 Week 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaIVxQcqnLs&t=1s&ab_channel=ThinkND Week 12: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10yYrQBvZ7E7Ovqy9893Q4Ns5PZUga349CBNv28KJ2N A/edit Week 13: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eOQyPPWVFheIWt7JUwdimso3KUvCcNBEQO52ybqiei s/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/10yYrQBvZ7E7Ovqy9893Q4Ns5PZUga349CBNv28KJ2NA/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/10yYrQBvZ7E7Ovqy9893Q4Ns5PZUga349CBNv28KJ2NA/edit