Preparation for Session 4
Prior to the session, participants should read Deep Reflecting Part 2 from the Self-Study Guide, found here. This includes two video interviews with Mercy Associate Nelly del Cid of Honduras and the identification of systems that have made the extractive development model thrive.
Rather than expect each participant to explore all these perspectives, ask each participant to select one system they would like to engage with on their own and then share with the group next time. They can explore that perspective generally, through an example of extractivism from this process or from an example of extractivism in or near the community where they live or once lived.
Make sure all the perspectives are covered by the group; it is fine if there is more than one participant assigned to a perspective.
Prepare to show the video of Pope Francis from the self-study as an opening prayer. Or select another prayer that will ground your group in the reality of extractivism.
If you wish to extend the session, choose one of the additional resources listed at the end of the guide for this session.
Outline for Session 4
Welcome and Prayer
After a welcome and any initial business, the group in the opening prayer you have selected. Invite participants to share anything that came to them during this time of prayer.
Discussion
Remind people of where you are in the process: the second part of Deep Reflecting, in which we will use social analysis to understand how systems help the extractive development model to thrive. Read aloud this section from the preparatory materials and then lead the group into this discussion:
As we engage in social analysis, we will learn about the various impacts of the extractive development model (social, communal, political, economic, etc.). At this stage of the process, after we deeply listened to the harms of extractivism, we continue to be cautious about any tendency to problem-solve or to make decisions about what should or could be done. The focus here requires us to ask, Why? rather than, What can we do?
Invite participants to reflect silently or review their journaling on the videos they watched of Mercy Associate Nelly del Cid of Honduras.
Then pose these questions for discussion:
- What did you learn from these interviews?
- Knowing the theological lenses we have explored and discussed, did you watch this differently?
- What questions did these videos raise for you about where power and decision-making occur?
- Where would you turn to learn more about the situations described?
In their self-study, participants reviewed systems – economic, political, environmental, media/public information, social – that have helped the extractive development model thrive.
Last session, each participant committed to focusing on one of these systems. Name each system in turn and invite the participant(s) who explored that system to share their learnings. Then review that system’s questions, available in the Self-Study Guide. Explore together as many systems as time and interest allows.
Preparation for Session 5
Prior to Session 5, participants should read Deep Reflecting Part 3 from the Self-Study Guide until the section titled Contemplative Reflection, which will be reviewed as a group during the session.
Invite each participant to commit to exploring one of the issues that intersect with the impacts of extractivism. Those issues are Earth (the environment), immigration, nonviolence, racism and women. Participants should be prepared to share their learnings with the rest of the group.
Additional resources to go deeper:
Sister Terri Bednarz reflects on extractivism in her backyard
The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth
Mercy Justice Team member Jean Stokan talks about conquest, neocolonialism and women activists in the struggle against extractivism in Honduras in this 12-minute video.