Csr Assignment – Starbucks

| November 5, 2012| | Management 3031Y | [Ethics and Social REsponsibilities ]| Starbucks| Introduction Starbucks is one of the places to find the world’s best coffees. The first Starbucks opened over forty years ago, in Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle, Washington. The owners’ main philosophy was to provide customers with the world’s finest and richest coffee. Over time, and endeavoring this ultimate philosophy, Starbucks expanded internationally and has more than 19000 stores around the world.The management of Starbucks has managed to improve their managerial process through location of their business, higher quality and better prices of their products. Although it is an expensive coffee store, the price of their product is based on the quality they supply. However, Starbucks is fully engaged in providing everything in an ethical manner. In this article, Howard (2011) explains that the most important thing to Starbucks is â€Å"the key to that culture is the belief that people are more important than profits† (Howard, 2011).This paper will discuss the procedures put in place to ensure ethical behavior, their ethic of business and their corporate social responsibility and will focus on assessing the company’s contribution to the community. Ethical issues As stated in Alec, Gonca & Efe’s (2011) journal, â€Å"the evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the concept of Corporate Sustainability (CS) have converged resulting in a similar objective of achieving the balance between economic prosperity, social integrity and environmental responsibility† (Alec,et al. , 2011).CSR is the concept coined to describe how organizations now consider the welfare of the people by being responsible for the impact of their activities on all groups of people involved and affected by their business, (ie. their employees, customers, stakeholders). Many businesses have taken CSR very seriously that they have gone beyon d â€Å"following laws†, and do more than being â€Å"responsible†. Starbucks is one of those corporations that fully engages in providing its stakeholders, its employees, the community more than necessary, and go beyond its responsibilities.One issue that Starbucks addressed and which stakeholders were being targeted was for the latter to have access and know how the company’s commitment and passion to improve the world and the ways which are demonstrating it. For example, Starbucks is committed to the environment, whether it’s regarding recycling, reducing water usage, thinking green or lowering its energy consumption (Starbucks, 2012). However, one of the main topics of Starbucks’s corporate ethics revolves around the climate change. Addressing climate change is a priority for Starbucks† (Starbucks, 2012). Since most of Starbucks coffee crops are outside of North America, mostly in the Third-world countries, Starbucks has implemented a cli mate change since 2004, which focuses on renewable energy, energy conservation, advocacy (Starbucks, 2012). One biggest step taken by Starbucks is reducing its gas emission. They conducted an inventory of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in 2011, using the World Resources Institute/WBCSD Greenhouse Gas Protocol to find out where their energy is mostly consumed.More than 80 percent of their GHG emissions are attributable to energy used in stores, office, and roasting plants, they are now focused on energy conservation and purchase of renewable energy (Starbucks, 2012). Reducing emissions of tons of carbon dioxide makes a huge impact on the climate. By reusing energy in their coffee-roasting plants, or offices, Starbucks was able to reduce its GHG emissions by 2. 7% compared to their 2012 GHG emissions (Starbucks, 2012). Moreover, another issue that is important for stakeholders is to have access to all the reports, codes, ethics, social responsibilities actions endeavored by the c orporation.Starbucks has also addressed that issue, and rather than attempt to address every issue in their annual report, they simply just conducted a materiality assessment to determine what topics are of most significance to their stakeholders and to Starbucks itself and publish everything online. In a letter addressed to the stakeholders, Howard Schultz (2011) explains the reasons of creating a report with the summary of all the positive aspects to the company, as well as how the company is doing with regards to their CSR. This focus on materiality helps not only the stakeholders, but also the hareholders with regards to how effectively the company is doing. And for example, letting stakeholders have access to the their progress regarding their environmental by publishing their Global Responsibilities Goal & Progress report online, Starbucks is showing how effectively its doing. Codes of conduct Starbucks codes â€Å"Business Ethics and Compliance† and CSR are stated on t heir website, and is available to the public. They have also made the â€Å"Standards of Business Conduc†t book available, which facilitates legal compliance and ethical issues such as potential conflicts of interest (Starbucks, 2012).The main idea is that every person in the employ of Starbucks is to act ethically and report any unethical or questionable behavior by any person under the employ of Starbucks. Because everyone is equal at Starbucks, any unethical actions should be reported. They have provided the partners with communication channels, which allow them to report all type of issues or concerns (Starbucks, 2012). The communication channel is basically a webline with contact information of the Business Ethics and Compliance department (Starbucks, 2012.Starbucks Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz stated (2012) â€Å"Each of us is personally responsible for supporting our core values, which require compliance with the law as well as ethica l conduct. We have issued the Standards of Business Conduct to restate our long standing commitment to uphold that responsibility and to provide guidance to our partners. † (2012). Starbucks mission statement and guiding principles are also stated on their website. Starbucks mission is â€Å"to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time†.What this means is that Starbucks is dedicated in delivering each person a unique experience with their coffee purchase. It’s a one-on-one experience that should not only make the customers day but also the barista’s day. Being a barista or a partner at Starbucks not only means making beverages and giving them to the customers, but it also means going beyond being a simple coffee maker and providing customers with more than what they expect. For example, during my time at Starbucks, I remember that each and every customers that came left with a smile, because all of us were trained to always put the customer on a pedestal and make them happy.If one customer comes back unsatisfied with the drink, without any questions asked, we take the drink back and remake a new one with no charge. I also remember one day, during my shift, an elderly lady came to buy a coffee and a mix of granola and yogurt. She stayed at the location to drink her coffee, then to finish her yogurt. Few minutes later, she came back to us and complained about how the granola tasted different and she wasn’t satisfied/happy with it. Even though she had half of it finished, we gave her another one, free of cost and let her go with a smile on her face. As the mission states, it is about one person, one cup at a time.This also describes Starbucks principles related to customers. â€Å"When we are fully engaged, we connect with, laugh with, and uplift the lives of our customers – even if just for a few moments. Sure, it starts with the promise of a perfectly made beverage, but our work goes far beyond that. It’s really about human connection†. (2012) Starbucks also have other principles, either about their products, their shareholders, or their partners. Either way, they are dedicated in being an ethical corporation. As mentioned earlier, they have a report stating all their corporate social responsibilities and how they are doing.Here is a table of what Starbucks Mission Statement and Guiding principles are: STARBUCKS MISSION STATEMENT AND| GUIDING PRINCIPLES| To establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest| coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising| principles as we grow. | The following six Guiding Principles will help us measure the| appropriateness of our decisions:| †¢ Provide a great work environment and treat each| other with respect and dignity. | †¢ Embrace diversity as an essential component in the| way we do business. | †¢ Apply the highest standards of excellence to the| purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee. †¢ Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of| the time. | †¢ Contribute positively to our communities and our| environment. | †¢ Recognize that profitability is essential to our| future success. | | Starbucks, by generally being omnipresent in the communities (whether doing communities work, making changes to how the business and centers operate†¦), aims to follow its principles, and encourage its partners and customers to do the same. Ethics in practice The corporation accounts for its ethical and social responsibilities, by either being involved in communities through different ways, or helping the society in general.As stated on their website, they make a difference in the society, in the environment, at the workplace, in the products†¦ â€Å"A good example of a corporate culture which focuses on quality and ethics is Starbucks. Starbucks has won a number of ethics awards and has been recognized as a role model of social responsibility. †(Academic journal 2010). This sentence summarizes what stakeholders and public think about Starbucks. Indeed, the corporation has made huge differences in the community by doing small gestures, but gestures that matter. As stated in their website, they â€Å"support farmers and their communities†.For example, they have established Farmer Support Centers in Costa Rica and Rwanda to provide local farmers with the resources and expertise that help lower the cost of production, reduce fungus infections, improve coffee quality and increase the yield of premium coffees (Starbucks, 2012). They have also set up something called the Starbucks Farmer Loan program. It aims to provide financial resources to cooperatives to fulfill their cash flow needs during harvest time, and to make infrastructure investments that result in better competitiveness (Starbucks, 2012). Their goal is to dispurse U.S $20 million to this program by 2015. Another exa mple in respective to their ethical practice is regarding their kids cups. They recalled over 250,000 children's plastic cups in the U. S. and Canada. â€Å"According to the report, once the cup is dropped, the colorful face on the cup can break off and leave small parts or sharp edges that can pose a choking or laceration hazard to young children† (2008). Also, by coming to the new communities, such as in the U,S where its experiencing a job crisis, Starbucks provides employment, as the only thing you need is a smile and willingness to provide excellent customer experience. The company first priority is taking care of the employees in its retail stores who communicate with and serve customers. Starbucks executives believe that by taking care of these employees, the company can provide long-term value to shareholders (Schultz ; Yang 1997). Trust is vital to all organizations and it expected that ethical leaders demonstrate behavioral consistency between words and actions; tre at all employees fairly without violating human rights. † (2011). Starbucks has teamed up with the Opportunity Finance Network (OPN) to create new jobs for Americans. TransparencyAt Starbucks, transparency is important thus they have published their CSR report as part of their broader communications efforts to provide transparency on their activities and performance. This initiative not only makes their stakeholders happy but also provides everyone else, either its customers or employees, with what Starbucks is doing to be a socially and environmentally responsible company. This transparency should be the priority in all successful organizations has us customers need to know what is the company, that is technically part of our daily routine, doing for us.A clear apercu of their goals, mission statement and principles is necessary, because communities need to support only corporations that care and value ethics and social responsibility. But as mentioned, Starbucks is in all wa ys clear about their ethics, and as nothing is a mystery, they have published everything online. Overall assessment Starbucks is focused on being a fully ethical and a very philanthropic corporation. All their ethics, values, match Carrol’s definition of a Corporate Social Responsible corporation.As per Carrol, the social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary expectations that a society has of organizations at a given point in time (Michael Hopkins, p. 2. 2011). Although, like all other corporations, making profit is the most important, Starbucks doesn’t forget that it started as a small business that eventually and slowly expanded. Starbucks participates in many environmental and social programs around the world. The corporation is focused in providing communities with all types of benefits, such as jobs, good quality of coffee, good working conditions, improving its energy consumption.In general, the company is progress ing towards better system and practices. For example, according to the published metrics on the environmental responsibility, the company has been able to reduce its energy consumption by 7. 5% in 2008-2011, purchased the equivalent of more than 50% of electricity used in their global company-owned stores worldwide in 2011, and decreased its water consumption by more than 17% since 2008. Starbucks’ goal by 2015 is to decrease water consumption by 25%, purchase renewable energy equivalent to 100% of the electricity used in their company-owned stores and reduce energy consumption by 25%.Conclusion We have studied about corporate responsibility, companies’ omnipresence in communities, in society and in our day-to-day routine. We have also studied how a company’s values and ethical decisions can make a significant difference in the way we perceive it. Applying what we learnt from class, Starbucks is implicitly ethical and follows all the norms and values of a social ethical company. Thought, a company is made of employees, it is very important to provide those employees with the company’s core values and explain them what it really means to work at that company.In Starbucks’s case, partners are all participating in making the company an ethical and socially responsible corporation. References Katrinli, A. , Gunay, G. , Mehmet E. (2011). The Convergence of Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Sustainability: Starbucks Corporation's Practices. Cambridge: The Business Review. Moronke, S. (2012). Impact of Ethical Leadership on Employee Job Performance. Journal of Business and Social Science. Schultz, H. (2010). It's Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles From a Life at Starbucks.Journal for Quality ; Participation;Vol. 33 Issue 1, p20, 1/3p. Academic journal. Starbucks. Retrieved from http://assets. starbucks. com/assets/4dd6216d0fd0400f8689eceba0497e04. pdf http://www. starbucks. com/about-us Starbucks Recall Mugs. In jury Prevention; Feb2008, Vol. 14 Issue 1, p70-70, 1/9p. article Ethics and Compliance Webline. Retrieved from https://businessconduct. eawebline. com/ Hopkins, M. (2011). Definition of Corporate Social Responsibility. MHC International. P. 2. article. Retrieved from http://mhcinternational. com/articles/definition-of-csr

Liberal education Essay

According to Perry, the aim of a liberal education is for one to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed and reasonable decisions. Any other consequences should be treated as merely incidental. He explains that the first means to this end is through the simple gaining of knowledge by memorization of certain key facts, such as the periodic table. This is often necessary, and should not be avoided, but too often it is seen as synonymous with learning. In his essay, â€Å"Examsmanship and the Liberal Arts: A Study in Educational Epistemology,† William G. Perry, Jr. uses the term â€Å"cow† to describe â€Å"writing on the assumption that `a fact is a fact.’ †¦ presenting evidence of hard work as a substitute for understanding†¦Ã¢â‚¬  while using the somewhat more traditional term â€Å"bull† to mean deception as to the presence of actual data. I definitely agree with Perry’s opinion on what education should foster, the purpose of education is to enable students to learn for themselves, not to spoon-feed them every fact they will ever need in their lives. Current day teachers have a huge influence on how education is nurtured. I believe that the problem nowadays is that many teachers feel a need to have students undergo the same thinking process as them, and to arrive at the same conclusion in the same way. Many teachers have made students hate reading because when asked about a certain aspect of the book, the teachers never really wanted to hear your thoughts but rather, what they thought it was. Because of this, one finds many students lacking the ability to think for themselves. The students get in the mindset of â€Å"what would the teacher want me to say†. The â€Å"cows† are unable to look beneath the bare facts in order to understand why something has taken place. Not only do they lack imagination, they lack the ability to truly think. Therefore, one would be robbing himself of his education and soul. Unfortunately, this approach to learning is held by many, both students and teachers. Education should encourage students to learn how to make connections between facts, and give them the ability to use this process throughout life.

Political Family

Chapter 1 Introduction to the Study Chapter 1 covers five parts: (1) Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study, (2) Statement of the Problem, (3) Significance of the Study, (4) Definition of Terms, and (5) Delimitation of the Study Part 1, Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study, presents the rationale for the choice of the problem. Part 2, Statement of the Problem, describes the major and specific questions that this study will seek to answer. Part 3, Significance of the Study, cites the benefits that could be derived from the findings of the study.Part 4, Definition of Terms, presents the conceptual and operational definitions of the key terms that will be used in the study. Part 5, Delimitation of the Study, specifies the scope of the study with regards to the variables, the participants, and the instruments that will be used to gather data. Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study â€Å"The family is the strongest unit of society, demanding the deepest loyalties of the individual and coloring all social activity with its own set of demands. † Jean Grossholtz (1964, 86-87) In the Third World, the elite family has long been a leading actor in the unfolding of the national pageant.More, specifically in the Philippines, elite families can be seen as both object and subject of history, shaping and being shaped by the processes of change. These families have provided a strong element of continuity to the country’s economic and political history over the century past (McCoy 1994, 1). In 1950s Robert Fox (1959, 6) described the Philippines as â€Å"an anarchy of families,† in which the Philippine political parties usually have acted as coalitions of powerful families. The rise of powerful political families was attributed to the Republic’s emergence as a weak, postcolonial state (McCoy 1994, 10-11).According to McCoy (1994, 13), after Spain and United States colonial rule, the Republic thus developed as a state with both substantial economic resources and weak bureaucratic capacity. It is this paradoxical pairing of wealth and weakness that opened the state to predatory rent seeking by politicians. Based on Migdal’s research (1988, 9) on Third World politics, he finds that the source of the state’s weakness—the social organizations such as â€Å"families, clans†¦tribes, patron-client dyads† continue to act as competing sources of authority.Despite the apparent influence and significant factor of the family upon wider society and its politics, most historians, both Filipino and foreign, have ignored this problem. According to Schneider (1969, 109-110), instead of studying and analyzing the Philippine political history through the paradigm of elite families, they have generally treated Philippine past and politics solely through as an interaction of state, private institutions, and popular movements.Even social scientists, despite an obligatory bow in the di rection of the family, have generally failed to incorporate substantive analysis of its dynamics into rendering of the country’s social and political processes. Social science as often happens in the study of the Philippines thus diverges from social reality, according to Alfred W. McCoy (1994, 1). At present, there is still a lacking scholarly analysis of either individual Filipino families or family-based oligarchies.While other Southeast Asian societies have produced some useful biographies and autobiographies, the Southeast Asian regions still have little nondynastic family history that can serve as a model for future Philippine research (McCoy 1994, 2). One of the provinces in the Philippines that have no study about family-based politics is Aklan. The Province of Aklan is located in the Northeast portion of Panay Island. It was the oldest province in the Philippines organized in 1213 by settlers from Borneo as the â€Å"Minuro it Akean. In 1565 Miguel Lopez de Legaspi landed in Aklan, and divided the â€Å"Minuro it Akean† five encomiendas which he distributed among his farming followers. Along with political change, the Spaniards introduced Christianity. In 1716, the area of the â€Å"Minuro it Akean† was designated as a province but it was called Capiz. After the Americans took the country from Spain in 1901, Don Natalio B. Acevedo, Aklan delegation head, presented the first memorial for the separation of Aklan from Capiz to the Junta Magna headed by Commissioner Dean C. Worcester.For the same purpose, the Aklanons in Congress filed numerous bills, including Urquiola-Alba bill in 1920, the Laserna-Suner bills in 1925 and 1930, and the Tumbokon bill in 1934. Aklan finally became an independent province when President Magsaysay signed into law the Republic Act 1414 on April 25, 1956. This was made through the efforts of Congressman Godofredo P. Ramos, and then the province was inaugurated on November 8, 1956. (Aklan Directory 2011, http://www. aklandirectory. com/aklan/, ret. 9/16/2012) Political families thrive in all but one province in the Philippines.From Batanes to Tawi-tawi, with the exception of Kalinga, members of political families hold public posts, both elective and appointive. GMA News Research has identified at least 219 political families that dominate the country’s political landscape. (2011, http;//www. gmanetwork. com, ret 9/30/2012) Like these provinces, Aklan’s history is also filled with family-based politics. In order to better understand the present political situations, studying the political history of Aklan in the lens of the familial perspective can led to discover new dimensions in our national history.The history of a political family in a particular province can be a microcosm of the kind of politics that happens in the Philippines. Thus, this study offers this perspective and understanding. Statement of the Problem This study is conducted to find out the political hi story of Aklan, through the case study in historical method of a selected political family in the province. Unlike Latin America, much more of the Philippine social research treated the country’s political history through its formal institutional structures rather than on the importance of the family and family history.However, it can be seen that in the works of several theorists and researchers like Wolf, Grossholtz, Kuznesof, Freyre, and Schneider, political families in the Philippines and around the world are found to have a more dominant force in shaping the society’s history including political, social, and economic institutions. Specifically, this study will seek to answer the following questions: 1. How the political family in Aklan emerged? 2. How do they maintain their influence in the province? 3. What are the family’s political practices to retain power? Significance of the StudyThis qualitative research may be significant primarily to historians in analyzing the centrality of family-based politics to many periods and problems in the Philippine history. For social scientists, this study will help them delve the roles of family as a primary unit of political organization; and will serve as a model for future Philippine research. For political science students, the findings of this study will help them understand the influence of political families on the course of Philippine politics. This study will also help politicians to formulate political strategies and practices based on the history of a political family.Lastly, this study can be added as a significant literature on the political history of Aklan; as well as, it can provide meaningful information for other related literatures. Definition of terms For the purpose of achieving clarity of meaning and interpretation, the following terms were defined. The Case study approach as an empirical inquiry investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context. (Yin 1984, 24) The Historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write histories in the form of accounts of the past. (2012, http://en. ikipedia. org/w/index. php, ret. 9/30/2012) A  political family  is a  family  in which several members are involved in  politics, particularly  electoral politics. Members may be related by blood or marriage; often several  generations  or multiple  siblings  may be involved. (2012, http://en. wikipedia. org/w/index. php, ret. 9/30/2012) The Province of Aklan  is located in the Northeast portion of Panay Island, and has a total land area of 1, 817. 9 km? which is composed of 17 municipalities. It has a total population of 495, 122 (NSO 2007 census), and Kalibo is the capital town. (Aklan Directory  2011, http://www. aklandirectory. om/aklan/, ret. 9/30/2012) Delimitation of the Study This study will be conducted during the first semester of the school year 2012-2013 until the second semester of the school year 2013-2014. This will be conducted among a purposively selected political family in the Province of Aklan. The case study in historical method will be used in this study to investigate the political history of the Province of Aklan. The researchers in order to collect detailed data needed in this study will employ participant observations, key informant interviews, directly interview the participants, and examine relevant records, documents, and reports.Chapter 2 Review of Related Literature Chapter 2 includes previous studies on political families which are divided into the International Context, the Philippine Context, and the Visayan Context. The International Context includes the previous studies on family-based politics and the history of elite political families around the world. The Philippine Context includes studies about the Filipino family and Philippines as a weak, postcolonial state that led to the em ergence of political families. The Visayan Context includes case studies of two political families in the Visayas — the Lopez family and the Osmena family.Political Families The International Context In almost any country in the world, there are always leading political elite families that exist. A significant number of these families can be traced in United States, Brazil, and Mexico. In the United States, the well-known Adams Family of Massachusetts has been the subject of much autobiographical and biographical research. Meanwhile, the Pessoa family is popular as leading actors in Brazilian politics, and the Sanchez-Navarros’ family of Mexico is known for both wealth and power.For several decades, Latin American historians have used detailed microstudies of elite families to discover new dimensions in their national histories. As Gilberto Freyre (1964, 155 and 161), a pioneer in this field, once argued, anyone studying a people’s past will find that historical constants are more significant than ostensibly heroic episodes and will discover that what happens within the family is far more important than often-cited events in presidential mansions, in parliaments and large factories. Applying this perspective toBrazil, Freyre found that Brazil’s most distinctive elite families emerged in the sugar districts of the northeast during the sixteenth century- fusing land, sugar, and slaves to become patriarchs of â€Å"untrammelled power† or unlimited power and â€Å"total fiat† or absolute decree. Arguing that the patriarchal family still exerts a subtle influence on the â€Å"the ethos of contemporary Brazilians,† Freyre cites the case of President Epitacio Pessoa who in the early decades of this century was known as â€Å"Tio Pita† (Uncle Pita) in recognition of his penchant for appointing male relations to key government posts.Another historian, Linda Lewin (1979, 263) has produced some of the most refined h istoriographic reflections on the connection between familial and national history in her writing on the Pessoa family of Paraiba State in Brazil. By the late 1970s the field of family history was so well developed in Latin America that another Brazilian historian Linda Lewin (1979, 263) stated that the â€Å"family-based† approach to the political history as a â€Å"commonplace in Brazilian history. Many historians had already employed the family historiography as an approach in discovering different dimensions of Brazilian political history thus making it popular around Latin America. Similarly, an essay by Felstiner (1976, 58) on the role of kinship politics in Chile’s independence movement began with the words â€Å"the importance of the family in Latin America goes unquestioned. † Many historical documents show that the leading elite families in Chile, such as the O’Higgins family, started the movements for independence against the Spanish colonizer s.A decade later, Latin American historians were still unanimous in their belief that the elite family played a uniquely important political role in their region. Introducing eight essays, Elizabeth Kuznesof and Robert Oppenheimer (1985, 215) observed that the family in Latin America is found to have been a more central and active force in shaping political, social, and economic institutions of the area than was true in Europe or United States. Indeed, they found that institutions in Latin America society make much more social sense, particularly in the nineteenth century, if viewed through the lens of family relationships.As democracy flourished in the young Latin America, elite families engaged in the political arena and started to stabilize political institutions, such as the electoral system and civil society. Charles H. Harris, a historian, (1975, 314) stated that the Sanchez-Navarros’ family is one of the oldest and most influential families of Spanish descent in Mexico since 1577. The Sanchez Navarro family's â€Å"latifundio† or an estate composed of two or more haciendas  is composed of seventeen haciendas and covers more than 16. 5 million acres—the size of West Virginia.It is said to be the largest  Ã¢â‚¬Å"latifundio† ever to have existed, not only in Mexico but also in all of Latin America. In Harris’ discussion of the acquisition of land, the technology of ranching, labor problems, and production on the Sanchez Navarro estate, and of the family's involvement in commerce and politics, he finds that the development of the  Ã¢â‚¬Å"latifundio†Ã‚  was only one aspect in the Sanchez Navarros' rise to power. He also emphasizes the great importance of the Sanchez Navarros' widespread network of family connections in their commercial and political activities.Reflecting their rich historical traditions, America have also produced impressive family histories. Political families are not a new concept in the United States. The Adams family of Massachusetts, for example, has been the subject of autobiographical and biographical research. (Musto 1981, 40-58) The  Adams political family  is one of the most prominent political families in United States history, originating in Massachusetts and having a profound impact on the development of the nation's path from the 18th century and onwards.The family has produced numerous important New England politicians as well as two Presidents – John Adams (1797-1801) and George Adams (1851-1861) but also several ambassadors and literary figures. The children and grandchildren of the Adams family were raised with the idea that public service was expected of you. (2011, http://seattletimes. com/html/nationworld/2004164299_dynasty05. html, ret. 10/10/2012) Similarly, like other developed and developing countries around the globe, the history of Philippines is also shaped by elite families that play leading roles in the control and influence on insti tutions of the government.The Philippine Context The political families are the actors that have played in the political landscape of the Philippines and have shaped the outcome of the past and are engaged in shaping the future of the Philippines. The Philippine history should not only be viewed as the interaction of different institution of society such as the state, civil societies, the Roman Catholic Church, and the different popular movements. Instead, we should also dissect its political history through the paradigm of elite families.The importance of family-society relationship in the Philippines based on Jean Grossholtz’s description (1964, 86-870, â€Å"the strongest unit of society demanding the deepest loyalties of the individual and coloring all social activity with its own set of demands. † He then remarked that the communal values of family are often in conflict with the impersonal values of the institutions of the larger society. Many Filipino historians have been critical, and they generally disregarded the leading families and provincial elites in the Philippines on ideological grounds.Nationalistic historians have dismissed the country’s elites for being traitors and conformists to the colonizers. Teodoro Agoncillo (1960, 644-645), one the most famous historian in Philippine history, remarked that the ilustrados have betrayed the revolution. Renato Constantino (1975, 232), a contemporary of Agoncillo, called the same elites as collaborators. According to the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Jose Maria Sison, the country’s elites were a small alien element – either rural feudal landholders or urban, comprador bourgeoisie as cited by Guerrero (1979, 234-249).According to McCoy (1994, 4), most Filipino biographies, the potential building blocks for elite-family studies, are more hagiography (idolizing biography) than history. Many of these biographies are funded by the family or the person that is the subject of these biographies. Biographers write as if death has cleansed what misdeeds their subject has done in society. Such accounts, McCoy added, are exoneration from the charges of their enemies, silence about their cunning or corruptions, and a celebration of their contribution to the nation.McCoy commented that the weak state and powerful political oligarchies have combined to make a familial perspective on national history relevant. The Philippines has a long history of strong families assuring social survival when the nation-state is weak. In the 20th century, the state has collapsed, partially or wholly, at least four times in the midst of war and revolution. After independence in 1946, moreover, the Philippine central government lost control over the countryside to regional politicians, some so powerful that they become known as warlords.In Philippine politics a family name is a valuable asset. A good name translates strongly to an advantage in polling. Believing that an established name carries cachet and qualification, parties often favor a promising scion of an old line when selecting candidates. Many Filipino politicians use their kinship networks (McCoy 1993, 10), to assure their ascension to power. A kinship network is a working coalition drawn from a larger group related by blood, marriage, and ritual.As elite families bring such a flexible kinship ties into the political arena, elections often assume a kaleidoscopic complexity of coalition and conflict, making Filipino politics appear volatile. It has a unique capacity to create informal political team that assigns specialized roles to its members, thereby maximizing coordination and influence. The Visayan Context Most of the well-known political families in the Philippines have political roots in their home provinces. Whether in the provinces of Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao, there would always be certain political families that would dominate the political arena.The Lopez Family In A lfred McCoy’s essay (1994, 429-517) â€Å"Rent-Seeking Families and the Philippine State: A History of the Lopez Family† illustrates the close connection between state power and the private wealth by elite families in the Philippines. He says that in the Philippine setting, the study of a single rent-seeking family may be the most appropriate way of bridging the gap between western economic theory and the Filipino familial paradigm. Among the leading Filipino families, the Lopezes are, by virtue of their history, well suited for such a case study.Seeking knowledge of the family’s origins and early character, McCoy’s essay begins in the 1870s when the Lopezes enter the historical record as pioneer sugar planters on the plantation frontier of Negros Island. But early on 1850s, they already first appeared to be local merchants. Basilio Lopez served as one of Jaro’s cabeza-de barangay and later as a gobernadorcillo. The growth of their political and co mmercial influence paralleled the emergence of national political elite (McCoy 1994, 440-441).While the second generation consolidated property and position within a regional planter elite, their children made a successful transition to sugar milling and commerce during the 1920’s. In the five generations of the Lopezes it has a history of both skillful male and female entrepreneurs and politicians (McCoy 1994, 441-444). However, among the family’s twenty-six hundred descendants, it was Eugenio and Fernando Lopez, who initially raised the family’s position to first rank of national prominence. Backed by Eugenio’s growing wealth, Fernando Lopez was appointed as a mayor of Iloilo City for two years in September 1945.He quickly secured overall leadership of the province, relegating Jose Zulueta, his ally, to the position of perennial challenger. His career as provincial politician involved the using violence to advance their interests. In 1946 the Lopezes sh ifted their capital and residence to Manila. They traded in influence and avoided violence. No longer rooted in the land or dependent upon the social power of the provinces, the Lopezes came to depend upon the state, through the medium of presidency, for the financial and regulatory concessions that would assure the prosperity of their corporations.With the Lopez brothers’ relations with a succession of Philippine presidents, they prospered under the administration of their allies from their patron Quezon, Sergio Osme? a, Elpidio Quirino, and Manuel Roxas. In 1947, he was elected to the Senate. In 1965, the presidential candidate was Ferdinand Marcos. Fernando Lopez, despite his presidential aspirations, became Marcos' vice-presidential running mate, creating a ticket that married private wealth to populist appeal. The Lopez alliance with Marcos was a strategic blunder born of tactical necessity.To insure the defeat of incumbent President Macapagal, the Lopezes had felt compe lled to ally themselves with Marcos. Eugenio Lopez used his money, media, and machine to make Marcos president in 1965 elections. Not long after, Eugenio Lopez launched a major expansion and diversification program at Meralco. Again, with the Lopez support Marcos was reelected in 1969. In January 1971, however, a break occurred, which erupted into what may be the most public and vitriolic split in the Philippine political history.According to Marcos, the Lopezes were demanding concessions to advance their interests. According to the Lopezes, Marcos was demanding shares in their family corporations. Using the Manila Chronicle, the Lopezes began an attack, publishing exposes of graft within the administration. When a delegation of Tondo workers called upon the president at the battle’s peak, Marcos vowed: â€Å"we will crush the Lopez oligarchy to pieces. † After suffering five months of media criticism, Marcos finally sued for peace by paying a call on Eugenio at his Pa ranaque residence (McCoy 1994, 508).Sixteen months later in Marcos’s declaration of martial law, the Lopez family became the main target of his â€Å"revolution from above. † He used the same licensing powers that had built the Lopez wealth to destroy the family’s fortune and transfer their assets to a new economic elite composed of his own kin. Paul Hutchcroft (1991, 414-450), a political scientist said that, â€Å"using the state and its army, Marcos became the first president since Quezon to reduce the autonomy of provincial elites.He employed economic regulations, backed by threat of force, to pursue the main aim of his rule-changing the composition of the country’s economic elite. In Negros Occidental, for example, Marcos created a new stratum of supralocal leaders whom he financed with rents. On July 1975, Eugenio Lopez died of cancer in San Francisco while Geny Lopez remained in prison on capital charges. In the end, Marcos did not destroy the Lop ez family’s accumulated legitimacy, contacts, and skills (McCoy 1994, 518). Marcos’s fall from power in 1986 heralded the restoration of the Lopez fortunes.In the restoration of the family’s fortunes under President Aquino, it is argued that Eugenio Lopez succeeded in handing down enough of his capital and skills to perpetuate his family’s position within the national economic elite. In his essay, McCoy (1994, 431) explains the role of rents for it has a good deal about the weakness of the Philippines and the corresponding strength of Filipino political families. As defined by James Buchanan (1980, 7-8) rents appear when the state uses regulation to restrict â€Å"freedom of entry† into the market.If these restrictions create a monopoly, the economic consequences are decidedly negative—slowing growth and enriching a few favoured entrepreneurs. Competition for such monopolies, a political process called â€Å"rent-seeking,† can produce intense conflict. Anne Krueger (1980, 52-57) has argued that in many Third World countries rents are â€Å"pervasive facts of life. † In India such restricted economic activity accounted for 7. 3% of their national income in 1964, while in Turkey rents from import licenses alone represented about 15 percent of the gross national product in 1968.In the Philippines, political economists have applied this theory to explain how the Palace’s rent-seeking courtiers after Marcos era used state power to plunder the country. Manuel Montes (1989, 84-148), a Filipino economist, argues that â€Å"the economic structure of the country stimulates, encourages, and provides the greatest rewards to ‘rent-seeking’ activities. † As evidence for this provocative reconceptualization of rent-seeking, Montes offers his readers a superficial catalogue of businessmen who have served regimes from Quezon to Marcos. In the presidency of Manuel Roxas,† says Montes in a t ypical passage, â€Å"Soriano, Eugenio Lopez†¦ and Jose Yulo were influential businessmen. † The story of Eugenio Lopez illustrates that for over thirty years, he had used presidential patronage to secure subsidized government financing and dominate state-regulated industries, thereby amassing the largest private fortune in the Philippines (McCoy 1993, 429-430). In the Philippines, the succession of presidents has played partisan politics with the state’s economic powers, awarding loans and creating rents to reward the political brokers who assured their election.Underlying the executive’s partisan use of state power are political elites who fuse public office with private business. For the elites to justify the high risk of campaign investments, public office must promise extraordinary rewards. More than any other entrepreneur of the Republican era, Eugenio Lopez, Sr. , mastered the logic of political investment. The Lopez brothers, being the most successf ul rent-seekers, formed corporate conglomerates that relied in some way upon the state licenses.Since all of their major corporations were in some sense due to rent system, their commercial success involved a commingling of business and politics. Such a system leaves an ambiguous legacy (McCoy 1993, 435-437). Not only in Western Visayas had leading political families emerged as national actors but also a significant number are found in Central Visayas. The Osmena Family Another political family that has long dominated the political landscape of the Philippines for many years since the beginning of the 20th century is the Osmena family of Cebu.The Osmenas rose to prominence when Sergio Osmena, Sr. was elected governor of the Province of Cebu and then as Speaker of the Philippine National Assembly during the American colonial period. He was eclipsed only in power by the political maneuverings that Quezon made to overpowering him in the National Assembly and capturing the post as the P resident of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935. After World War II, Sergio Osmena, Sr. went back to the Philippines as President to establish his control as head of the government in the Philippine archipelago.Osmena’s son, Serging, later became the governor of Cebu and candidate for the Presidency in the 1969 election against Ferdinand Marcos. The present generation of Osmenas is still politically active in Cebu and in national politics. The Osmenas dominated the political world of Cebu not through the usual guns, goons, and gold that are usually used by their political rival like the Sottos, Cuencas,and Duranos. The Osmenas dominated the provincial politics of Cebu because they are highly skilled in the craft of politics. (Resil, 1993, p. 316) They are wealthy, but their wealth do not equate for their capacity to coerce people to vote for them.They use their wealth skillfully, by using it for political gains. They are not as rich as their opponents who have huge haciendas but they show their prowess as politicians during elections. Elections are an exercise deeply inscribed in the Filipino political imagination. Theoretically, an election provides the occasion for society to take cognizance to itself. This is the time when citizens are most self-conscious, a season of stock-taking, when voters reflect on their collective state and history and make choices about leaders, policies, and â€Å"futures†.The â€Å"democratic space† or surface that allows an unlimited range for diverse values and commitments is most visible in incumbents submitting themselves for popular judgement and candidates presenting ideas of government, in the public exchange of contrary views, and, finally, in the voter weighing his or her options and casting a ballot in the ritual’s inner sanctum, the polling booth. (Mojares 1993, 319) The reality of Philippine politics is not tidy. Intensive exploitation of mass media and propaganda techniques crowd public spa ce during the electoral season.There are restrictions of thought and action; however, beneath the diversity and dynamism of election, these restrictions, according to Mojares (1993, 319), are an underdeveloped party system, elite dominance and ideological sameness of candidates, exclusion of those who fail to muster the considerable resources needed to mount a campaign, the subordination of issues to particularistic concerns, elaborate forms of terrorism and fraud, and the cultural baggage of traditional values of power and dependence.Elections, therefore, do not constitute a free field but are in fact, an arena in which the existing limits on participation are further exercised and enforced. In Philippine elections we have a case in which the elite or dominant class usually constructs political reality for citizens. This process may be seen in the centrality accorded to the election itself as field of action and a channel for effecting political change. In elections, obeisance is r endered to the â€Å"state† of the people are constituted or reconstituted as its â€Å"subjects†. In effect, the periodic holding of elections nourishes and renews the government’s system.In the process, it also tends to reify the existing system and deemphasize other areas of political work such as mass organizing, interest-group lobbying, and â€Å"armed struggle. †(Mojares 1993, 320) Elections, by their very nature, provide us with a concentrated expression of the process of ideological domination. This is one area in which Osmena phenomenon is important since the Osmena have built their dominance less on sheer economic power (though the use of such power was basic in their rise) or physical repression (though they were not innocent of its methods) than on their mastery of the instrumental aspects of electoral power building.From this they draw their distinctive character as Filipino kingpins. Skillful management of ideological practices takes precede nce over reliance on superior economic leverage (as in the case of the Lopez family), a system of traditional patronage (as in the Durano Family), a mix of religion and militarism (as in Ali Dimaporo), or systematic electoral fraud as what the Marcoses did. The matter of ideology both as the world of social meanings and the politician’s stance in this world is germane to achieving an understanding of the Osmenas.In electoral contest in Cebu, public discourse has been dominated by conservative politicians. Political speech gravitates around the two poles of personality and issues. The Osmena discourse skillfully combines both personality and issues. Personality is the low mode of discourse and encompasses the verbal abuse, muckraking, vulgar humor, and gossip. Issue is the high mode, consisting of the presentation of government platforms or the qualifications and social ideas of candidates. It is not however a systematic exposition of ideology but a minimalist statement of gen eral and abstract principles and a isting of specific projects. Public discourse on politics is neither wholly open nor free. Control of public channels of communication, elite construction of tradition, selective deployment of languages, and the limits of Philippine language situation-in concert with material conditions that sustain attitudes of political subjection- prosper ideological domination. The Osmenas are masters in the management of politics and are, in fact, the ones who inaugurated in Cebu politics the systematic use of modern mass media for electoral purposes.They are skilful in the selection of messages and the manipulation of symbols so effective in Philippine electoral politics, particularly in the context of the structurally undeveloped urbanism of Cebu. Theirs is an ideology of â€Å"developmentalism† and â€Å"modernity† with its promise of rational management, bureaucratic efficiency and technocratic expertise in the design and execution of public projects. It is a minimalist ideology, however, in its loose aggregation of generalities and particularities and in its avoidance of a systematic critique of structures of social and economic domination.The Osmenas have put their considerable entrepreneurial and organizational skills to good use in their electoral campaigns such as in managing finances, contracting a quality staff for media packaging and opinion surveys, and running an efficient campaign organization. They have a fund of political experience, an organizational network built up through many elections, the support of big business and the persuasive reputation of â€Å"winners. † The Osmenas have defined their electoral campaigns in terms of â€Å"crusades† that use primordial symbols of democracy, autonomy, and progress.More adept than their opponents in ceasing the ideological high ground, the Osmenas have defined political reality in advantageous terms. They appeal to both the past and the future, on o ne hand by resurrecting selective images of the past, and on the other hand, by evoking visions of a modern, progressive future in their campaign speeches. Underlying, the Osmena phenomenon is a practice of conservative politics, one that restricts the distribution of power and constructs the politics as pulitika.According to Reynaldo Ileto (1984, 10), pulitika is the perception of politics as a process of bargaining, with implicit self of factional interest involved. The interaction between the colonial power and its native wards was pulitika. At another level, it refers to the practices by which leaders cultivate ties of personal loyalty and indebtedness to them and simply attract votes. In the Philippines, pulitika is not politics (whether construed broadly as the totality of public or civic life or narrowly as democratic bargaining or consensus building). Rather, it is that field of politics largely constructed and dominated by the elites.It is in this context that families with economic resources and political skills come perpetuate themselves in power. The specific character of the Osmena dominance has been shaped by such factors as the American ethos of rational government, the personality, and temper of the Osmenas themselves, their belief in the electoral system and the characteristics of the region in which they have founded their beliefs. To a significant extent, the Osmenas are not only instrumentalists but true believers in the precepts of liberal democracy and free enterprise.Theirs, however, is a minimalist ideology subordinated to the exigencies and demands of action in the realm of pulitika. It is also an ideology that mobilizes people around their leadership does not empower them nor seriously address the structural problems of Philippine society. The Osmena dominance has been shaped as well by the practical grosser realities of power maintenance in the Philippines, which require of leaders not only ideological competence but expedience skill s in realpolitik, in the lower-oder devices of lying, bribery, horse trading, and thuggery.Political culture has constructed the families like the Osmenas, for a political family is the sum not just what its members posses or do but of how it is regarded in the community. Politicians like the Osmena’s adjust because of the altered conditions: modifying the rhetoric by adding new messages, revising their campaign style and addressing new issues. By doing so they can appropriate new symbols, coop new leaders, re-establish new borders that keep political action bounded yet pressures from the below will make it increasingly difficult to give new life or maintain the old boundaries.To the extent that these pressures build and are not meaningfully confronted, the Osmenas may find that no longer holds sway, that the terms of the struggle have shifted radically, and that the struggle for power is now taking place elsewhere. Synthesis Elite families can be seen as both object and subj ect of history, shaping and being shaped by the processes of change. In many countries all over the world, elite families engaged in politics to gain power and influence, in turn they shape the history of their country. Among these are political families from Brazil, Mexico, and United States.As the family-based approach in history was employed and developed in these countries, the interest to utilize this approach in the history of Southeast Asian countries grew. The Philippines as a weak, postcolonial state became a breeding ground for strong and influential political families that defined the history of the country. The leading family of Cebu, the Osmenas, emerged through the use of their skills in statecraft. The Osmenas have displayed their brilliance in organizing their political machinery and the employment of symbols during elections.Meanwhile, the Lopezeses of Iloilo, started as hacienderos until they became leading national actors and businessmen in 1950s. The great influe nce, wealth, and success of the Lopez brothers until today can be attributed to their rent-seeking activities. Chapter 3 Research Design and Methodology Chapter 3 has four parts: (1) Research Design, (2) Data Sources and Collection, (3) Site and Participant Selection, and (4) Data Treatment Procedures and Analysis Part 1, Research Design, discusses the structure of the study and the research approach to which the study will be anchored.Part 2, Data Sources and Collection, addresses the sources of the data and presents the research method that will be employed. Part 3, Site and Participant Selection, describes the rationale for choosing the setting of the study on how the participants will be collected. Part 4, Data Treatment Procedure and Analysis, details the specific procedures in analyzing the data that will be collected during the study. Research Design This study will follow the principles of the qualitative research.According to Holloway (1997, 2), qualitative research is a fo rm of social inquiry that focuses on the way people interpret and make sense of their experiences and the world in which they live. A number of different approaches exist within the wider framework of this type of research, but most of these have the same aim: to understand the social reality of individuals, groups and cultures. Researchers use qualitative approaches to explore the behavior, perspectives and experiences of the people they study. The basis of qualitative research lies in the interpretive approach to social reality.In line with the research design, the researchers will utilize the case study as the approach for this study. The case study approach (Yin 1980, 2) is a research strategy entailing an empirical investigation of a contemporary phenomenon within its real life context using multiple sources of evidence, and is especially valuable when the boundaries between the phenomenon and context are blurred. RESEARCH DESIGN Experiential Knowledge Preliminary Interviews Li terature Review Preliminary Conceptual Model Observation Interviews Documentary Evidence FindingsRevised & Enhanced Conceptual Model Working Hypotheses Member Checks Final Report Data Sources and Collection Historical method will be used to investigate the political history of Aklan in the lens of familial perspective. Historiography, according to Furay and Salevouris (1979, 223-224) is the study of the way history has been and is written, it is the history of historical writing. In studying historiography, there is no need to study the events of the past directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in the works of individual historians.The researchers in order to collect detailed data needed in this study will employ participant observation. Participant observation (Pearson 1995, 1) refers to a form of sociological research methodology in which the researcher takes on a role in the social situation under observation. The researchers will also directly interview the pa rticipants. Interviews (Lincoln, Y. S. , and Guba 1985, 37) provide very different data from observations: they allow the evaluation team to capture the perspectives of project participants, staff, and others associated with the project.In the hypothetical example, interviews with project staff can provide information on the early stages of the implementation and problems encountered. Key informant interviews will also be conducted. Key informant interviews (Pearson 1995, 1) are qualitative in-depth interviews with people who know what is going on in the community. The purpose of key informant interviews is to collect information from a wide range of people including community leaders, professionals, or residents who have firsthand knowledge about the community. The researchers will also conduct document studies.Existing records often provide insights into a setting and/or group of people that cannot be observed or noted in another way. This information can be found in document form . Lincoln and Guba (1985, 198) defined a document as any written or recorded material not prepared for the purposes of the evaluation or at the request of the inquirer. Documents can be divided into two major categories: public records, and personal documents (Guba and Lincoln 1981, 22). Site and Participant Selection The selection of the setting for this research will be the Province of Aklan.Two reasons were seen necessary for the researchers: first, there are several political families in the Province of Aklan, and second, the province has a rich political history. The participant for this research will be conducted among a purposively selected political family in the Province of Aklan. Data Treatment Procedure and Analysis A case study analysis consists of making a detailed description of the case and its setting. (Creswell 2007, 163) in analyzing the data, the researchers will create an organized file for data.They will then read through texts and make margin notes from its ini tial codes. After organizing and reading the data, the researchers will describe the case and its context. The researchers will then use categorical aggregation to establish themes or patterns. After establishing the themes or patterns, the researchers will use direct interpretation to interpret the case. They will then develop a naturalistic generalization. Lastly, after developing a naturalistic generalization, the researchers will present an in-depth picture of the case or cases using narrative, tables, and figures.

Settling the Issue on Christ’s Presence in the Sacrament of the Eucharist

Questioning the Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist Jesus Christ shared the Last Supper with his disciples on the night before He was crucified. It was during this event that He introduced the sacrament of His blood and body. He instituted the sacrament to bring about the suffering on the cross through the generations and to let the church take over his Spouse attribute to his resurrection and death. As goes the Gospel of Matthew: â€Å"While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, Take and eat; this is my body. Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins† (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:17-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25) (Fay 8). Coming from Jesus Christ the Catholic Church says that as the Eucharist is celebrated, the body and blood of Jesus will be symbolize with the bread and wine through the power of the Holy Spirit. The priest serves as the instrument in this celebration. Through out the Eucharist, a priest utters the words Jesus said during His Last Supper and it says: â€Å"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world†¦ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink† (John 6:51-55) (Fay 8). Jesus Christ is present including all his divinity, soul, blood and body represented by the wine and bread during the Eucharist. Jesus Christ has truly been resurrected after dying for the sins of humanity. When church members talk about the real presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist, they talk about the other types of his presence like the wine and bread. His body and blood are the most important symbols of his presence during the sacrament of the Eucharist (Fay 8). Body: Bringing Back the Meaning of the Eucharist The first question then is how the bread and wine represent Jesus Christ’s presence. A lot of people may question how this happens. The truth of the matter is the church will never be able to fully explain the mystery behind the rising of the Christ during the sacrament of the Eucharist. Until now, it still remains to be an inexhaustible puzzle that overwhelms the Catholic Church. It must be remembered that the Creator taking place at the identity of God can do so many things that the imagination of humans cannot even reach or comprehend. God made the world for Him to be able to share His life to those who are not God (Fay 7). He created the world for the human beings. This act alone is a manifestation of His plan of salvation. It can be clearly seen that with this kind of plan, the kind of wisdom used was that kind that does not reach any human beings understanding. It is beyond the comprehension of the human mind. Despite all that, God did not leave His people in ignorance. Whatever His plans are He always shared it with his people. He revealed His majestic plans to the humanity by giving us the ability to understand the gift of faith. He also provided us with the grace of the Holy Spirit. With this, we are now able to understand God’s actions and God’s plans, all of which any human being would never understand in his whole lifetime. Because of the grace of the Holy Spirit and the gift of faith humans can now understand God’s mystery (Fay 9). Today, the bishops of the Catholic Church serve as Jesus Christ’s apostles. The bishops provide the people with knowledge about Jesus Christ and God. In short, they function as the teachers of the church. Bishops have a better understanding of God’s mystery than any other human being on earth. Bishops comprehend the mystery better than anyone who has a better job, higher salary, higher intelligence quotient and even those who have higher understanding of the different languages in the world. It is only the bishop who can reveal to the people whatever God has revealed. A bishop also encourages all church goers to make understanding of the mystery of God deeper than it already is. He also promotes a better understanding of the gift of the sacrament of the Eucharist (Fay 13). The question then is how else is the presence of God exists in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Not all people understand the mystery of God and especially not everyone is even willing to understand to begin with. The first question would be why, of all symbols, did it have to be food and drink that represent Jesus in the sacrament of the Eucharist? The bread, for example, is not just a representation of the food Jesus and the disciples ate during the Last Supper. The food serves as spiritual nourishment simply because of the love of Jesus for humanity. It has been said earlier that God has plan for our salvation and with this plan, He is asking us to participate in the life of the Trinity. Because of the food shared during the sacrament of the Eucharist, the people are brought back to the sacrament of Baptism. The sharing of the bread means the sharing of life which starts with a person’s baptism. During the baptism, a human being is joined to Jesus Christ, which, of course, is possible only with the power of the Holy Spirit. Here is where the communion of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit come in (Pannenberg 293). Because of Baptism, the humans become the adopted sons and daughters of God. This is strengthened through the sacrament of Confirmation. It is increased and nourished through the participation of the human being in the sacrament of the Eucharist. As a person drinks the blood of Christ and eats the Body, Jesus remains in the lives and spirits of the people who took him. This way, the humans are united to Christ and of course to His divinity. Humans are known as with corrupt natures. They are mortal. But because of the sacrament of the Eucharist, the humans are joined to Christ and both share the same source of life (Pannenberg 293). According to John 6:57, â€Å"Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. † As we are united to Jesus Christ and with the help of the Holy Spirit in us, a relationship is been among the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and the humans. This relationship is strengthened through Baptism and is deepened with the sacrament of Confirmation. Because of these sacraments, humans are able to share their life with the Holy Trinity. Through the Eucharist, humans give thanks and praise to the glory of God (Pannenberg 293). Another issue that needs to be addressed is that people are not aware of what the Eucharist is all about. Not all people know that aside from being just a meal, the Eucharist is also a sacred form of sacrifice. The truth is, our sins are the kind of sins that make it impossible for us to share God’s life. Despite all of it, God has shown His love for us by sending His son Jesus Christ to earth to die for our sins. Jesus Christ died and was resurrected from the dead. Because He is an almighty one, He was able to conquer these events and was even able to unite humans to God (Johnson and Penner 305). What the church does now is to gather everyone and commemorate what Jesus Christ has done for us. The Eucharist serves as an instrument to unite everyone in oreder for them to receive the benefits of God (Johnson and Penner 305). According to the book of Hebrews, Jesus Christ, was a priest spent his life creating intercessions for humans before God. Because of this, he is nowhere near the high priests who offered sacrifices in the temples of Jerusalem (Johnson and Penner 305). The powers of high priests are surpassed by Jesus Christ’s actions because the sacrifice he offered is perfect. The sacrifice he offered was himself (Johnson and Penner 305). In the Eucharist, the eternal sacrifices of Jesus Christ are always represented but the people are not just there for speculation. The church goers are not just spectators. They are different levels of activeness in the Eucharistic sacrifice among the worshipping community and the priest (Johnson and Penner 305). Before the priest stands before the worshipping community, he first has to be ordained. After ordination, he then represents Christ as the head of the Catholic Church. Everyone in the Catholic Church is baptized as a member of the Body of Christ. The Eucharist as a sacrament serves as a sacrifice of the church (Johnson and Penner 307). In the Eucharist, whatever sacrifice Jesus Christ has given is also the sacrifice that the members of His body offer. The sacrifice unites everyone. This sacrifice, during the sacrament of Eucharist, becomes sacramentally present. This way, the humans sacrifice themselves to God (Johnson and Penner 307). Then again, after this, people still question the existence of bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist. Another question people ask is why, after considering bread and wine as Christ’s body and blood, still taste like bread and wine? People are expecting the bread and win during the sacrament of the Eucharist to taste like body and blood of Christ and not just another bread and wine (Johnson and Penner 308). While celebrating the Eucharist, Jesus Christ’s presence comes in the form of bread and wine. The bread and wine are simply both appropriate for the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Looking back at the traditional language of theology, especially in the consecration act, the bread’s and wine’s substance is transformed by the Holy Spirit into Jesus’ Christ’s body and blood (Johnson and Penner 308). What changes then, is not the physical appearance and the physical taste of the bread and wine, but the â€Å"substance† and the â€Å"meaning† of each instrument. It is then natural that the physical attributes of the bread and wine remain the same (Johnson and Penner 309). Here is where the question of faith comes in. St. Thomas Aquinas coined the terms â€Å"substance† and â€Å"accidents† to study faith. He used the terms to address what appears to be wine and bread (â€Å"accidents,† being the physical attribute of a matter) appears to be Jesus Christ’s blood and body (now being at its â€Å"substance† state, which represents the deepest possible reality) (Johnson and Penner 313). There is indeed a change at the substance level, the bread being Christ’s body, and Christ’s blood coming from wine. Without this transubstantiation, no one would be able to even talk about and think of the presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (Johnson and Penner 313). The mystery of faith is indeed something that humans consider too great for their comprehension, which is why studies and researches are here to better equip the people with enough understanding of this concept (Johnson and Penner 313). The mystery of this faith can only be acquired by reading it from the Bible and the Catholic Church because these medium is where God comes for us to remember. Changes come every now and then, and sometimes, the characteristics of these â€Å"accidents† change. In some occasions, even when the substance is already different, the accident still looks exactly the same (Johnson and Penner 315). A good example would be having a child reach the stage of adulthood. When he reaches this stage, it is natural that his characteristics change. He grows taller, he develops an adam’s apple, he grows muscles and his voice becomes deeper and bigger. Then again, the fact remains that he is still the same old baby who his mother once delivered (Johnson and Penner 315). Another example would be a grape fruit which a person eats. When he eats the grape fruit, the fruit soon becomes digested and becomes part of the person’s body in form of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. The person who ate the grape fruit remains as the same person who ate the fruit even before the act. The fruit, on the other hand, has characteristics that are no longer the same. The grape fruit is no longer a grape fruit, but a part of the person’s body (Johnson and Penner 315). The same is true with the presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Even if the wine and the bread in the Holy Eucharist are in the blood and body of Christ’s substances, these no longer have the characteristics of a person, but only the wine and the bread (Johnson and Penner 315). This is where the question about the limitation of bread and wine comes in. People ask if the bread used during the Holy Eucharist stops being a bread, and if the wine does not remain to be wine for how long. Yes, the bread does not stay as bread forever, and the wine does the same. Jesus Christ can be present, all of His divinity, soul, blood and body, although the wine and the bread can no longer stay. The wine and the bread has to be given away because if not, there would be no transformation between the bread and the body, or the wine and the blood. The wine and the bread have to be given away in order for them to become Body and Blood (Johnson and Penner 315). Not all people still believe everything they hear and say about the Eucharist. They still question the use of bread and wine. It is really appropriate? Why, of all foods and drinks, does it have to be a bread and a wine? The presence of Jesus Christ and Lord God Almighty are indeed appropriate for being represented by bread and wine since Jesus Christ gave himself to humanity and to the world as a whole in a manner that engages the symbolism existing in drinking wine and eating bread (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Catholic Church USCCB Publishing, USCCB Publishing and Catholic Church 66). Aside from that, Jesus Christ offered himself to us in such a way that humans are kept alive, because humans sustain their means survival through drinking and eating, or through wine and bread. The use of wine and bread also tests the faith of a person because the presence of Jesus Christ’s body and blood can never be discerned whichever way a human tries except for having faith (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Catholic Church USCCB Publishing, USCCB Publishing and Catholic Church 66). St. Bonaventure once said that it is no difficult at all to say that Christ exists in the Holy Eucharist in manner of symbols, breads and wines. The more difficult concept to understand is the whether or not Christ actually exists in the sacrament as He exists up in the heavens (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Catholic Church USCCB Publishing, USCCB Publishing and Catholic Church 67). With faith, humans believe that yes, Christ in indeed present in the sacrament as well as in heaven. However, given that the use of bread and wine is appropriate, it still is not clear for many because not all people who consume the bread and the wine actually believe in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. They may attend the Sunday mass on a regular basis, but it does not necessarily mean that they actually worship the Lord, or even understand the ceremony to begin with (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Catholic Church USCCB Publishing, USCCB Publishing and Catholic Church 67). If â€Å"receiving† is defined as â€Å"consuming,† then naturally, anyone who receives eats the bread and drinks the wine, eats and drinks the body and blood of Jesus Christ. If, on the other hand, receiving is defined as accepting willingly of the body and blood of Jesus, then, someone without faith does not â€Å"receive† the body and blood of Jesus. A person â€Å"receives† the body and blood of Jesus if he is willing to accept the spiritual benefits of the act (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Catholic Church USCCB Publishing, USCCB Publishing and Catholic Church 68). He should also be aware of why he is eating the bread and drinking the wine. He should not be someone who went to the Church just to attend some mass. He should be there to worship the Lord, respect the rituals, listen to the Word of God and then receive Him through Jesus Christ’s blood and body (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Catholic Church USCCB Publishing, USCCB Publishing and Catholic Church 68). If a person consumes the wine and bread without faith, he cannot change the fact that he is consuming the blood and body of Jesus Christ. However, the different between having faith and having none is receiving the spiritual benefit that goes together with having faith. The spiritual benefit obtained from receiving Christ’s body and blood with faith is the communion with Christ. Faith can be practiced by simply following the grace of God. The human’s love for God must be increased (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Catholic Church USCCB Publishing, USCCB Publishing and Catholic Church 68). People question the symbolism of wine and bread. Are these foods just symbols that represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ? Symbol is used casually as something that represents another thing. The bread and wine used in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist are not merely symbols, because they do not represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ. They are the body and blood of Jesus Christ. According to St. John Damascene, having the bread and the wine foreshadow Jesus Christ is not underestimation. â€Å"The bread and the wine are actually Jesus Christ, because according to the Orthodox Faith, Jesus said, ‘This is my body'. He did not say, This bread is my body. Therefore, the bread and wine during the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist are not symbols, but the real, actual self of the Lord† (O’Gorman, O’Gorman and Faulkner 136). It has to be understood that the body and blood of Jesus Christ arrived on Earth no longer as the Lord’s muscles and life, but as a sacramental form. Jesus Christ is not symbolized by the bread and the wine because he is under these things. His presence exists. There are countless ways on how the symbolism of wine and bread, or of drinking and eating, reveals the meaning of the Holy Eucharist. An example would be with the way food provides and energy to the human body. If the food makes the body more nutritious, then it also follows that the Eucharistc food also nourishes the spiritual being of a person. Aside from that, it is already a fact that the sharing of food inside the Church is always communal, in which all members of the Catholic Church eat from the same plate of Jesus’ Christ’s body. This way, communion is established, and this communion exists not only between the Church members but also among the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit (O’Gorman, O’Gorman and Faulkner 136). St. Paul says that a single bread, once shared by the whole community on a Eucharistic gathering, is a manifestation that the believers of the Holy Spirit are gathered to worship one Lord (O’Gorman, O’Gorman and Faulkner 136). The bread and the wine then become an instrument of union among the people of God. Conclusion Jesus Christ has long promised his people that He will always be with His people. In Matthew 28:20, he said that he will not leave us as he uttered the words â€Å"Always, until the end of the age† (Price and Weil 136). With that, it is then confirmed that Jesus Christ has a â€Å"real presence† during the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, â€Å"the relationship between Jesus Christ and the people is just like the relationship of friends who live together, in that there is an unwritten law that friends should never leave each other’s sides† (Price and Weil 136). Jesus Christ has fulfilled His promise by having with us His blood and body which people receive during the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

'He treated only one subject - himself.' How applicable is this to the Essay

'He treated only one subject - himself.' How applicable is this to the work of Wordsworth - Essay Example Considered one of William Wordsworth's most important poems, The Prelude occupied the poet throughout his life. Wordsworth revised the poem intermittently but he did not publish it during his lifetime. The Prelude is autobiographical and essential to understand Wordsworth' life and poetry. The Prelude's fourteen books collect Wordsworth's meditations on his life, his poetic vocation and its evolution, and some historic critics claim it contains the poet's thoughts on his contemporary political context, such as his views on the French Revolution. However can we really insist that Wordsworth only wrote about himself And if we do, could we argue that other talented poets or authors have not done the same Wordsworth portrayed himself as a gifted man as he could dedicate himself to his poetry. In that sense we find that freedom in his work as he freely talks about all the subjects that he believed were crucial at that time. We would be wrong to see The Prelude as a one subject poem: the a uthor. It is mainly an epic debate of the themes of man and nature, a meditation of the mind. We can note, even from the titles of the fourteen books, -"Childhood and school-time", "Residence at Cambridge", "Summer Vacation", "Cambridge and the Alps", "Residence in London", "Residence in France", that this long poem is purely autobiographical. It would be a mistake. Using himself as a character, applying a personification, is only the method which Wordsworth chose to explore the themes of man and nature, and depict the "life of a nineteenth century man" Wordsworth is also referring to his own evolution, recognizing he has lost his childhood's imagination and replaced it with the wisdom that comes with age. The narrator is the poet himself and the subject of the poem is the poet. However, this is a timeless theme, the loss of innocence, the passage from childhood to being adult. This newfound wisdom allows him to see the "still, sad music of humanity" because he can achieve a more meaningful and realistic understanding of nature. This poem brings together two of what were Wordsworth's most profound concerns: nature and the self. Furthermore, Wordsworth needs to depict himself in his poems as he's presenting complex notions which can only be argued by living experiences. In "Tintern Abbey" Wordsworth wrote "the picture of the mind revives again" presenting one of his most important ideas: the memory is the instrument of the associative or transformative power. He sees a landscape through his mental picture of the same landscape, but five years earlier. How would it be possible to develop such a theory if he had not experienced it himself And what better means of persuading the reader of the true nature of this theory than depicting a personal experience - therefore personifying himself - which can bind every human being For Wordsworth, poetry was more than just a form of creative expression. He regarded it as a learning tool he could use to educate his readers on significance of history. Wordsworth believed that history not only shaped the world in which man lived, but also mankind itself. Wordsworth did not allow the repetition of history's mistakes to turn him into a jaded cynic. He productively used what he had seen, experienced and red and transformed it into poetry which was not only eloquent, but educational. With "The Prelude," he was speaking directly to his readers, in

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