The Way

This film has taught me to open my mind to different possibilities, even if they are not what was in my plan. Tom was happy with his job and did not want to walk the Camino, however when his son died, he decided to walk the Camino with his son. Walking the Camino was never in Tom's plan and he never wanted to do it, but his circumstances changed and he adapted. I like the idea of a pilgrimage because it allows you to find the purpose in you life. A pilgrimage can have different meanings for different people. You can go on a pilgrimage for one reason, and realize that there is a deeper meaning for your pilgrimage. When Tom went to pick up his son's body, he never thought that he was going to walk the Camino. Once he was there, he decided to walk for his son. By the end of the pilgrimage, Tom was walking for himself. He gained a new perspective on his life during the pilgrimage. The friends that Tom met along the way shaped his journey and helped him to gain a new purpose to his life. 
  

Women in the Church

The Church sends positive messages to young women by asserting that women are equal in dignity to men. The Church also sends the message that women need to be loving and caring mothers.

In my grade school, we had a wonderful example of a woman doing Christ’s work and at the same time demonstrating her wisdom in education. Sr. Elizabeth McCoy was the director at Ancillae-Assumpta Academy when I started kindergarten. She died a few years after I started school, but her work continues on even to this day. Her doctorate thesis is the basis for the schools mission. She always had a vision and was always looking for a way to improve the school and its facilities. The school continues to follow her R.I.C.E. process for students to be -responsible, interdependent, creative and empowered Christians. She accomplished a lot as a woman and certainly guided plenty of Ancillae graduates over the years and in the years to come.  

According to the article, the author sees marriage as a male dominated practice. In the Church we are all told women are equal yet women do not have the same rights to participate in the full mass as the male members of the Church do. Respect is for our human rights as a person but the rights are restricted based on the historical documentations. We all agree that the Church needs to see change in order to move forward, but the change will have to be seen in actions not just in words. 

Abortion

According to the article abortion rates are higher and more unsafe in countries where abortions are illegal. There is an obvious correlation between illegal abortions and the safety of the abortions. The rate of unsafe abortions in Africa is 97%, and in most African countries abortions are illegal. If a woman wants to have an abortion, she will have an abortion regardless of the legality of the procedure. Making abortions illegal only increases the number of unsafe abortions because women will have the abortions performed by people without medical training. About 86% of abortions occur in the developing world where abortions are illegal or unsafe. Banning abortions will not decrease the number of abortions performed each year, it will only increase the number of unsafe abortions. Instead of making abortions illegal, I think we should educate the people in the developing world which will help decrease the number of unsafe abortions. Also making contraceptives more widely available will help decrease the number of abortions performed each year. Another problem regarding abortions is that in some developing countries women do not get the choose when to have a baby. Therefore, women may not even tell their husband that they are getting an abortion because the women are afraid of what their husband would do if he found out about the abortion.