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How to go about Online Counselling?
Some Practical Guidelines
Sahaya G. Selvam
Background
The situation created by COVID-19 is difficult for most people. Internet and online services have filled the gap in social distancing. Online teaching and learning have become the new norm.
COVID-19 induced lockdown might create increased need for psychological help for some people, while reducing the possibility for physical sessions. Therefore, there could be more regulated possibility for online counselling and therapy sessions.
The guidelines here refer to some practical hints on how to go about online counselling sessions. Remember, all regular norms of ethics and code of conduct proper to counselling and therapy will apply: confidentiality being a primary concern. These guidelines are not meant to offer alternative code of conduct to any existing norms offered by governments or professional […]
Author: selvam
Religion and Spirituality in Time of COVID-19
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Religion and Spirituality in Time of Corona Virus
The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is due to change the current world order. Besides the economic implications, many social agents and institutions are adversely affected by this viral phenomenon. The global extent of the disruptions in educational institutions, religious practices, entertainment industry, including the media, have been totally unprecedented. The lack of predictability around this virus aggravates anxiety eliciting extreme measures, and some panic too. In any case, it has emerged that the defeat of COVID-19 requires a concerted effort led by the civil administrators.
The initial response of religions to the phenomenon of the novel virus has been a subject of debate, even in Kenya. It is a plain fact that religious gatherings have been early triggers for the spread of the contagion in many […]
Sermon for Palm Sunday – Year A Homily
The King on a Donkey en route to Die
Today we begin the week of weeks in the liturgical calendar: the Holy Week. Today we begin the commemoration of the high points in the history of salvation: the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus – the Paschal Mystery. Today we accompany Jesus on his solemn entry into Jerusalem where he will suffer, die and rise again. And this day is a day of contradictions.
The King on a Donkey’s Back: Jesus is on his final journey to Jerusalem. It is going to be a solemn entry, almost as a King is about to enter to take possession of his capital. And the procession begins at the Mount of Olives – the mount that is be the stage for the ultimate Day of the Lord (according to Zechariah 14:3-4), the day of […]
Sermon for Cycle A – 3rd Sunday of Lent
The Living Water
3rd Sunday in Lent – Cycle A
As I have pointed out in my reflection of last week, during the first two Sundays of Lent every year we have the same themes. The gospel text of the 1stSunday of Lent is always about the temptations of Jesus – from the three synoptic Gospels according to the three year cycle. Similarly, the 2nd Sunday of Lent invites us to reflect on the story of Transfiguration. The remaining three Sundays before the Palm Sunday in Cycle A are special. The gospel passages are taken from the Gospel of John and they develop three central themes of our experience of Jesus that are particularly important for the catechumens – those adults who are preparing to be baptised during Easter:
Jesus, the Living Water (Jn 4: the Samaritan woman) – 3rd Sunday of Lent
Jesus, the […]
Religious Antecedents of Secularisation and Secularist Consequents on Religion
Religious Antecedents of Secularisation, and Secularist Consequents
on Religion: Insights from Social Sciences
Sahaya G. Selvam, sdb
Abstract
Religion and secularism have a reciprocal relationship. The roots of political secularism and social secularisation could be traced within religion, and the rise of a secularist culture elicits a reactionary feedback from religion in the form of religious spirituality at best, and fundamentalism and fanaticism at worst. Basing itself on the historical context of the watershed events in European history that marked the rise of secularisation and secularism, the present paper points out the antecedents of secularism situated within religion. The paper argues that religion can be described in its four dimensions: creed (a set of beliefs explaining the mystery dimensions of life), code (a set of ethical principles and prescriptive and proscriptive […]