Testimonials for "Work as Vocation: Does Catholic Social Thought Work at Work?" by Michael J. Naughton
Students gave the following responses to the questions,
— What in Naugthon’s talk resonated with me?
— What reflection was elicited in me during or after I listened to Naughton’s talk?
— Is there something I can do or would like to do as a result of this reflection?
- Asking myself, “What am ‘I’ working for? What am ‘I’ resting for? What am ‘I’ living for?” helped me to take a step back and see the big picture of life.
- Reflecting on where I fall on Dr. Naughton’s matrix became more powerful when prefaced by “We’ll never get work right until we get leisure right.”
- I’m working to form a healthy balance of my work and leisure, which is a challenge.
- The lecture was very applicable to this transition time from student to career-oriented lifestyle. Change is difficult and this helped give positive and meaningful direction.
- The concept of going to the margins, being with those we serve. Also, recognizing the importance of the Sabbath, of taking time to appreciate life and leisure.
- I began to wonder how much time I take every day to just be alone with myself – to pursue silence inside. We live in a constant state of motion. When am I taking the time to be still?
- I want to spend more time in meditation, without noise or stimulation.
- I think it is important to educate people on the historical, cross-cultural value of meditation and how it can add to people’s quality of life, and propel us towards our vocation.
- In America, we remain more concerned with what we do for a living and less about who we are as human beings.
- In reflecting, we need to look at the depth of our lives along the way rather than simply looking at our work as work without integrating necessary silence and leisure to balance our souls.
- I would like to work on taking more time for silence in my life, remembering Dr. Naughton’s meeting with Mother Teresa upon where she handed him her business card which began with the words: “We must start in silence.”
- I really connected with Naughton’s concept of connecting our vocation with our personal lives.
- I want to come to a place in my life where I am able to blend my personal and professional life. I want to be able to find a holistic life.
- I want to connect my personal values and mission to my professional work. I want to make my divided life whole.
- It was an amazing talk which brought together many of the concepts from my classes. It has brought to light many of the things I want to be able to look at in my own life.
- Most striking to me in Naughton's talk was the concept of work as a job and leisure he presented as being "an escape" to help us forget what is happening in our work or in our personal lives. I instantly identified with this concept of leisure, as this is how I think of my leisure time, though I think at this time I do have more of a career orientation towards work. Nonetheless, the integration of these concepts of work and leisure result in a focus on gratification which is illustrated in our increased consumerism. The focus in this view of work and leisure results in an emphasis of “having over being" which is something I find myself in conflict over often, struggling to overcome the outside influences suggesting having is what is important and what people are measured by.
- Both my husband and I attended this talk, and spent a good deal of time afterwards talking out our current sense of how we perceive both work and leisure, and then how we would like to alter our current views. We discussed the concept of work as a vocation, as well as where we are called to give both professionally and personally at this point in our lives.
- The most immediate result of this talk for my husband and I was our decision not to upgrade our cable. Before attending this talk, my husband and I had been considering upgrading our cable to get more channels, as currently we only get about 12 channels with basic cable. However, after listening to Michael Naughton's talk, we decided we didn't need to upgrade at all, as that would encourage us to use our leisure time to "escape" into television instead of spending our leisure time in service, solitude, or spending quality time with each other or friends.
- I appreciated this talk was offered both during the day and in the evening so I was able to attend with my husband after he finished work. Furthermore, I enjoyed the relevancy of Naughton's talk for me, as a student, and where I am in my life. I would definitely attend talks in the future focusing on related topics.
