PA8.2

Indicator:

a. Contribute to classroom decision making by using the majority-rule model and the consensus model.

First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Integration Resources:

• Traditional First Nations Governance power point available from FNMIE at board office
• Inquiry: The effectiveness of band governance. What are the issues and implications of this system?

• This lesson helps students to fully understand how Aboriginal societies operated as a consensus model and how that differs from the Catholic Church hierarchical model of authority and conflict resolution

• The Catholic Church is assembled under one head. "The Pope, Bishop of Rome and the Successor of Saint Peter, is the perpetual, visible source and foundation of the unity of the Church. He is the Vicar of Christ, the head of the College of bishops and pastor of the universal Church over which he has by divine institution full, supreme, immediate, and universal power. Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church # 182
  

The Catholic Church has a responsibility to listen to the laity because by virtue of their Baptism the Holy Spirit inspires and directs their spiritual lives as well. Together we make up the Church. However, in the end, the ordained members of the Church make the final decisions on matters of faith and morals.

• Discussion: How does your family resolve conflict? How is that similar to the authority structure of the Catholic Church and of our schools? What do you like or dislike about the consensus method? What do you think about the majority-rule model?

• Role play a talking circle: Choose an item that would have significance to your students to serve as a ―talking stick.‖ Help them understand that negotiation is what you want as the focus. Situation: You are at a Parish Council Meeting and you are head of the Financial Committee, and some money has been donated to the parish but no particular designation has been given. All people on the Parish Council discuss the best way to use the money. After the discussion, the student designated as a Priest then will make the final decision. He will be as democratic as he can in the end.

• Explore how Pope Benedict XVI was elected and the process of decision making for the Vatican.

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=FC0JCNNU Video of Electing the New Pope

http://www.catholicnews.com/jpii/stories/concl03.htm Procedure for electing a Pope

• Discussion: Discuss other groups that use the consensus model for decision making such as School Community Councils, the Quakers (17th century), Catholic Church Parish Councils, Catholic School Boards,
  

Indicator:

b. Formulate contexts in which the majority-rule model and the consensus model would be effective.

Indicator:

c. Investigate and describe the consensus decision-making model employed in traditional Aboriginal communities or jurisdictions.

First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Integration Resources:

• Governance power point available from FNMIE at board office.

Indicator:

d. Describe traditional First Nations, Inuit, and Métis models of governance and selection of leaders.

First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Integration Resources:

• Traditional First Nations Governance power point available from FNMIE at board office.

• Describe traditional First Nations, Inuit, and Métis models of governance and selection of leaders. (And how this relates to being a hero, role model or leader and how this value of heroism is similar to that of Catholic saints).

• In its earliest and most broad usage, hierarchy refers to the ordering of the entire People of God into three 'states': the laity, the religious, and the clergy. "Among the faithful by divine institution there exist sacred ministers who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders and who form the hierarchy of the Church. The other members of the Church are called the laity. In both the hierarchy and the laity there are certain members of the faithful who are consecrated in a special manner to God by the profession of the evangelical counsels: chastity or celibacy, poverty, and obedience. Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church #178 
• "Christ instituted an ecclesiastical hierarchy with the mission of feeding the people of God in his name and for this purpose gave it authority. The Hierarchy is formed of sacred ministers: bishops, priests, and deacons. Thanks to the sacrament of Orders, bishops and priests act in the exercise of their ministry in the name and person of Christ the Head. Deacons minister to the people of God in the diakonia (service) of word, liturgy, and charity". Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church #179.
• All of us have had a hero, role model, or an influential leader at some point in our lives. Saints were real people with real issues that had to make decisions based on their values and beliefs. They were leaders in their thinking.

• Explain the following points to your students:

• God is the one who calls people to become leaders;
• The love that saints have fro others is an echo, a reflection of the love that God has for others;
• Saints find out how God is calling them to love by being attentive to the needs of people in the world they live in;
• The lives of our leaders tell us something about God: when God calls certain people in certain situations, God is telling us what is important in His own eyes.

• For example, mother Teresa of Calcutta served the poorest of the poor, the dying, the children who would otherwise have been abandoned or aborted. If God called her to do this, what was God telling the whole world through Mother Teresa? Possibly that even though the society of the 20th century did not put much value on life, especially the life of the most vulnerable and the most powerless, God did value their lives. The ministry of Mother Teresa proclaimed this love of God in the midst of what Pope John Paul II called the "culture of death". The ministry of Mother Teresa was therefore both a sign of God's love and a message to the world.

• You could obviously look at the lives of other leaders in this light. What was the "message" of God to the world given through Therese of Lisieux? Buffy Sainte-Marie? Louis Riel? Pope John the 23rd? Ukrainian Catholic Martyrs from 2001? Etc.

• Discussion Starters: Each generation needs to hear God saying "this is what I care about" - "this is what I find important". One of the ways God does this is through the persons God calls to sainthood. If this is true, God is calling people in our present time to be Saints. These 21st century Saints will be God's answer to the needs of 21st century people. What does our world need to hear from God today? What will 21st century Saints look like? What will these Saints do to love others and to be a sign of God's love and light in our world?

Indicator:

e. Compare the structure of leadership and decision-making process in an Aboriginal community to that of the parliamentary system in Canada.

First Nations, Métis & Inuit Education Integration Resources:

• 'Governance PowerPoint' contact FNMIE at board office.
• 'How Canada is Governed' PowerPoint - contact Shirley Krueckl skrueckl@gscs.sk.ca to request a copy.
• Canada's Parliament and How it Works by Maureen Mc Teer.
• Métis http://www.mn-s.ca/
• Métis National http://www.metisnation.ca/
• First Nations http://www.fsin.com/
• First Nations National http://www.afn.ca/