Learning to Love Culture and Environment

It's hard when someone who grew up in a family that is closed and residence within the sophisticated environment to learn to love the culture and the environment. But the feeling was not an obstacle for us, the seminarians who studied at the seminary, both minor seminary or seminary. A love of the culture and the environment are two interrelated things. Cultures were grown in a very diverse community and embraced by a variety of different groups. Our culture may be different from the culture of a friend, even contradictory both. For example, in a community there are cultured Flores, Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and various types of other cultures. Multi-cultural love is not easy, because the process of learning and interaction need the old one. Becomes difficult also because one culture with other cultures there are conflicting, even that distinction is not easy to put together.

       Similarly, our attitude toward the natural environment. Various measures against the natural environment around us there are environmentally sound, but there are many actions that are not environmentally sound. The natural environment is the creation of God made ​​from the beginning, and God saw His creation was good and beautiful presence. Human nature and culture caused this damaged, unfit even longer referred to as God's creation, because its beauty is lost slowly. The natural beauty we are getting deteriorated. Beautiful and harmonious environment has been created by God from the foundation of the world. Nature and our environment was beautiful and harmonious and inspiring for humans. God considers all of His creation was good and beautiful.

       Seminary is the institution of priests, prospective future leaders of the Church. Being the leader of the people is a noble and a great job. We may only see the pleasures and virtues that we will enjoy when we've been on the top of our life, which is to become a priest or monk. A wise and exemplary leader be if he was able to find a way out of the problems that often constitutes an obstacle to change. In this context, as a seminarian seminarians or missionaries need to obtain special education to be able to be wise to the situation that plagued human life. At first glance we see no incongruity in our lives to the natural environment, especially the greedy actions that destroy nature. But this has become our habit of letting nature generally damaged. Be a challenge for us as seminarians to overcome problems like this. The big challenge for prospective seminarians or priests is how to learn to love the diverse culture and natural environment which is often a common problem in human life.

       Multicultural culture is a challenge for priests to serve God and others. But the priest demanded weeks to have a multi-cultural, multicultural become priests. Process towards a multicultural priest is a long process and takes a long time. This process is much easier and will succeed if we as seminarians start from now. In other words, should begin in the seminary, as where we are educated and matured. Is a multicultural diverse cultural value systems and norms different, even contrary to the other groups. Being a multicultural priest means to be able to adapt to diverse cultures. A multicultural seminarians should be able to learn or know the particular culture in depth. Culture is the result of learning, so that the culture can differ from other cultures, because of the way a person learns about a different thing. The process of getting to know the diverse cultures is part of the education of seminarians. Education about diverse cultures (multicultural) aims to prepare seminarians for priestly wise, professional and responsive as well as solidarity. This learning process can be done by studying the diverse cultures that exist or by way participate and become part of the culture. It becomes easier if the community life in the seminary to learn about the culture of our friends. In a small community of the seminary that there is certainly a wide range of cultures that we observe, especially in a large seminary community. Social relationships with others continually a different culture with us is a process of learning to know the culture. Social interaction with many friends who each come from a different culture is a process of learning to become a priest multicultural.

       Introduction of cultural interaction becomes more perfect if seminarians not only interact with fellow seminarians (internal interaction), but also interact with the Church in general (external interactions). external interaction is a concrete manifestation of the processes that support the seminarians studying to become priests multicultural. This is because the seminarian who later became a priest no longer live in community with his fellow but will live with the people of God. Therefore the priest toward multicultural education can be done by an external interaction, ie the interaction to know the culture of people of diverse outside the seminary. The real action of this educational process is almost certainly always be practiced by every priestly institution in the educational process is applied.

       We often conduct visits to the parish, the Church of the base groups or to the general public. Such visits are part of the educational process to the seminary priests multicultural. The benefits of this educational process which will increase the love seminarians studied in various cultures. Besides this external interaction process helps seminarians to grow towards the priest who is able to adapt to a wide variety of cultures that exist. Priest will be able to connect with the culture of the other cultures and finding the positive values ​​of these cultures to help proclamation of the word of God.

        We've been immersed in the culture and seminarians pembahsan. We also as seminarians need to learn about our natural environment. A discussion of the environment may often we hear or we do with friends or our teachers. As seminarians, we must be able to maintain our natural environment in order to stay beautiful and harmonious.

       That our environment is really beautiful this would not need to be explained. We just need to observe, experience, and reflect on it. We will not explore this cosmic harmony of the whole, but is sufficient to explore the natural environment close to us, such as land, water, air, flora and fauna. If we look carefully, all the natural elements of our environment has a sort of chain of relationships and mutual support and feed. This chain has been around since the world began. Natural environment and human beings have a mutually beneficial relationship. Is that an unbroken chain of time? The answer lies in human hands, as well as the candidates we pemipin people, holds the answer to this question. Chain can be dropped if we let nature mismanaged, or if we as natural rulers continued to sink in the habit of destroying the natural environment. Human action is not environmentally sound to changing natural conditions become worse and chain link from scratch will change as well. So what is our role (seminarians) as a potential leader of the church's response to environmental problems?

       In school we often had discussions about the destruction of nature, causes and consequences. Discussion we do is part of our education process toward environmentally priest. Perhaps also we have seen the damaged natural environment, either through television, magazines or see it directly. That experience often moves our hearts to seek solutions to overcome them. So we often conduct a simple research on the problems that occur with the purpose of obtaining a definite cause and effect. Responses to the problem of environmental damage that we do through a process of discussion or research Study abroad for love of the natural environment. Discussion and research on environmental damage is a part of the process of learning to love nature, but our actions would be helpful if the action to save the environment we are doing well. Our habit to plant a tree, for example, is a part of the action to save our imperiled natural broken and learning processes towards environmentally priest. The planting of trees is just an example. Another example is the common habit of seminarians is environmental cleanup activities, daily work habits to sweep or dispose of waste in place. We may mengaggapnya as a trivial act, but a habit like this is a learning process towards environmentally priests, priests who love the beautiful and harmonious environment.

       Will all our education towards priests multicultural and environmentally beneficial for the future of the church and the nation's future. Only the good intentions of our seminarians as the seminarians of our educational objectives can be realized and managed.

Wirawan Hipatios Labut

Students Kisol Seminary Pius XII

Bibliography:

KWI Catechetical Commission. 2004 Catholic Religious Education for SMA / SMK. London: Canisius.

Susanto. 2004 Sociology for class XII.