RJ 21

With my WA4, I took off with text. I interviewed Veronica Juarez, our Bible study leader. She always teaches us new things about our faith in Bible study, and she’s extremely well-educated, so I thought I would start with her. Our 1.5 hour interview went lovely, and I got loads of information. I typed her answers as she said them, but didn’t record the interview on audio. I am not good with technology, and I think a text version would benefit my project as a whole better. I typed her answers in an organized way that shows everything we talked about, but tried also to put the reader into the scene at the interview by incorporating scenery and settings (somewhat like that in the “I can read and I can write” example). I learned so much in this interview. I hope to incorporate some pictures she emailed me into the text to liven up the words. This will feed into my larger project because a lot of the points she made are valid arguments for discrimination against Catholics. She also opened up new doors that I can explore.

Code Book: My code book is still in the works. I missed class last Thursday due to soccer, so I am somewhat confused on my codebook. I have codes for discrimination, like I posted in my last blog and I am using them a lot. The majority of the ones in use are P, M, CON, CinE. These codes tell me what Catholic concept is misunderstood that lead to discrimination against the religion. I have collected a lot of data, and it is telling me there are a wide variety of instances when Catholics are discriminated against. I think the most interesting point I have come by is that uneducated Catholics may be the starting point for discrimination. They cannot stand up for their faith correctly and are bad examples of it. The Catholic faith is so much more than what these people show, and this can lead to discrimination. I found an interview done today quite compelling. It was with a Catholic student who actually disagreed with the religion on Confession, a prime discriminatory factor. This will be analyzed later, but it was so interesting to me, definitely shocked me!

I missed class, so I do not have the East Caney fieldnotes/codebooks to expand or analyze, but I will expand my own set of fieldnotes taken from mass this past Sunday (11.8.09). It was a packed church, which was so nice to see because on the weekdays, the church is like a ghost town. I cannot get over how friendly the community of the church here in Commerce is! They are so welcoming. The mass greeter that stands outside before church politely asked me if I would help collect the money at collection, and I said yes, of course. The mass was really long, a lot longer than usual due to Father George’s homily. I didn’t mind though. I used to hate long masses because I would get so bored, but the more I do this study, the more interested in the Catholic church I get. I learned so much. Father talked about being a “practicing Catholic” and what that means. He cited information from the Catechism. I learned that we are only required to go to Confession once a year, at any time. I thought it was once every three months, but obviously the more you go, the better off you are. Also I learned that you are only required to receive Communion (the Body of Christ) once every year, during the Easter season. I figured it would be way more than that since we are obligated to go to mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation. The sign of peace still amazes me. Everyone is so lively, full of energy, and ready to throw some love at you. I love the environment that this church provides. After church all parishioners signed up for pictures taken by Olan Mills for the Parish Directory. I was shocked that this small church did those, I thought my church back home was the only one that did picture directories. I signed up for a time and can’t wait to get the book to see all the parishioners. Not to mention, this will be a great artifact for my project. I will also be able to see exactly how many families are in the church and get some numbers. Coffee and donuts along with fellowship was provided after the mass. I visited with my friends, the Juarez family, and played with their cute kids. I also talked to Dr. Joe and Fr. George and we are ready for Bible study this Wednesday! I am strolling right along with interviews. I have two done, and two more set up. I can’t wait to get more information and delve deeper into the mystery of Catholic discrimination. Let the interviews begin!

Add a comment November 10, 2009