The Interview
The following interview was carried out on 5 th of July, the year 2018 by Rita Fred to the School’s hospital chaplain, Mr. Marks Linders who happens to be one of the staff in the guidance and counseling department. The interview was conducted in his office, after a prior booking of an appointing through his email address as also a one-on-one booking. Mr. Marks’ email address is.
Interviewer: Good morning sir, my name is Rita Fred, a student at Oklahoma University. This is our second encounter just after the last week’s visit as I was coming to book for an appointment for this day. Our main agenda is to carry out an interview concerning your religion, just as I had told you earlier. The interviewer is only meant for learning purposes, and therefore, no investigations are ongoing, please.
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Interviewee: Good morning miss Rita. Thank you for the explanation. I do understand it is alright.
Interviewer: Thanks once more. Would you mind telling us a bit of your profile?
Interviewee: Yeah, sure. My name is Doctor or Bishop or counselor Marks Linders. I was born and raised up in New York and studied at the same city until I was done with my education. I am the second and the last born in our family, having only a male sibling whose name is Justin.
Interviewer: What is your profession about?
Interviewee: I am a teacher by profession, but different people call me using different titles such as a doctor, counselor or bishop depending on how and where we interact. I am a doctor due to my education level, and a teacher as a profession. I am a bishop because it is a calling and I serve God for instance, in the church masses I lead. I will be very okay if you call me any name within my profession.
Interviewer: Sir, were you raised in the Catholic Church?
Interviewee: Of course, yes. Ever since my childhood, I have been attending the Catholic Church services.
Interviewer: What family figure shaped your beliefs and how?
Interviewee: Definitely, it is my mother. First of all, she is a strong believer and serving the Lord has been a choice in her life. Therefore, she would always prepare and accompany me to church which inspired me to work in the church too. Through her, I found the joy of being in church all the time.
Interviewer: Do you believe that the catholic religion is the best?
Interviewee: You know; it is not wise for one to compare religions. Different people have different faiths and therefore, claiming your religion is the best you will be offending the other people. You will be also judging the other religions and the Bible is against that. We should pretend that all religions are equal and also are human inventions which is based on the historical circumstances as well as the cultures.
Interviewer: I understand that you have been located in an institution whereby you meet people of different faith on a daily basis. So, how do you manage to counsel people with different belief?
Interviewee: It is quite challenging. You need to understand the faith of different characters and what they believe in, otherwise, you might end up offending them. Mostly, you need to try your level best to give general counseling without touching on people’s faith. If the issue is based on belief, you need to explain to your audience regarding its importance for them to feel free while interacting with you. Anyway, I have worked in this sector for some years, so I have the experience.
Interviewer: How were you trained?
Interviewee: That is too general. Education wise, I went through the education process just like the way you are studying right now. About my calling, I went to a Bible Study College and studied Theology. However, if you do not have the calling from the Almighty, trust me you cannot make it at all because it really calls for self-sacrifice, patience and confidence to accomplish the mission you have set for the church. Challenges will always be present.
Interviewer: Do you feel like you should have your own children, that is, a family of your own?
Interviewee: That feeling is so human. But the children of this institution are the children which the Lord has given to me. Am usually visited every day by the members and to be specific, the children in this institution and also children from the church, and therefore, they are my family.
Interviewer: Do Catholic belief in God?
Interviewee: All Catholics are Christians. However, not all Christians are Catholics. The essential belief of all Christians is that it is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ that the sinful people can be reconciled to God and then offered the salvation and promises of eternal life. Therefore, the Roman Catholics believe in the resurrection of Jesus.
Interviewer: Who does the Catholic Church worship?
Interviewee: We worship God. But the Catholics usually pray through Mary mother of Jesus, so that she can intercede for us through her son, Jesus Christ.
The Field Report
Bishop, Counselor, Doctors Marks Linders dressed in a blue suit, a white shirt and a red bowtie was seated on a chair at his office. He seems to be a joyful and full of good heart whose hospitability is his slogan, as perceived by his welcoming as well as reaction throughout the interview process he welcomes us with a cup of tea, answers all the questions clearly and we did not cross path at any given point. This was noticed after a visit to conduct an interview regarding his religion and to some extent, his profession. The interview was conducted on 5 th of July, during the year 2018. Mr. Marks is a Christian, a strong believer raised in the Catholic Church and he happens to be the hospital chaplain as well. He works as a counselor especially for the patients with different needs, for instance, spiritual and emotional problems.
The Catholic religion is part of Christianity, in that, all Catholics are Christians are Christians, but not all Christians are Catholics simply because there are varieties of religions in Christianity, for example, the Protestants, Anglican, Evangelical or any other branch of religion. The Roman Catholic is actually the largest Christian church having members more than 1.299 billion in number, that is, worldwide (Church, 2016) . From the textbook, the Catholics practice the Eucharist, which is derived from a Greek word meaning thanksgiving. The Eucharist, also known as the Holy Communion as well as the Lord’s Supper is the central act of the Christian worship, according to the Catholics (Church, 2016) . The Eucharist is basically performed by most of the Christian churches in different forms. The Roman Catholic Church differentiates the Eucharist as a sacrament, that is communion and sacrifice, which is mass. Being one of the oldest religious institutions in the whole world, the Catholic Church has played a significant role in the history as well as the development of the western civilization. Additionally, the Catholic Church has been of great help to the society because it has led to the opening of different institutions and also the children’s homes hence benefiting the society as it tries to serve the members of the community.
From the interview, there are various issues which eventually revealed themselves concerning the Catholic religion. For example, we get to learn that the Catholics worship God. The textbook says that the Catholics put a lot of emphasis on Virgin Mary, that is the mother of Jesus, as compared to the rest of the Christians, referring to her as The Queen of Heaven and Mother of God, and they pray via Mary to her son, commonly, as Mediatrix of grace at a level which is higher than other saints (Valuer, 2011) . However, from the explanation given by the hospital, Chaplain understands that they only pray through Mary so that she intercedes on their behalf, through her son, Jesus Christ for the grievances and sins of the people to be forgiven by the Almighty God.
Additionally, from the interview, we get to know that the Roman Catholic Church believes in God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, just like any other Christian religion. It is through the resurrection of the son of God, Jesus, that all humans with sins are reconciled with God, and that is the Christians to take the Holy Communion, known as the Eucharist. Similarly, it is through this resurrection that the people given the salvation and also the promise of the eternal life. Therefore, the Roman Catholic Church believes in the resurrection of Jesus and not Mary, the mother of Jesus (Church, 2016).
From the interview, we know that the priest and bishop undergo the feeling of owning a family, which is quite human. But because the Lord has provided them with the members of the Church which is made up of different people in terms of age and need, the servants of Lord get a family, which is the church. The church is termed as the family of the servants in the Roman Catholic Church because they are responsible for the spiritual needs as well as the physical needs for the poor the church members and by extension, the community. Similarly, the church has a lot of children which the servants should love and take good care of, as his or her own kid. This is the case because the servants in the Roman Catholic Churches are not allowed to marry.
The Roman Catholic Church does not restrict its members into only serving the masses and being in the church all the time. The servants of God can undertake any professional course of their will and work as they participate in the church too, just like Mr. Linders who happens to be a counsellor by profession. This enables them to interact mostly with the members of the society who have different faiths and also needs hence improving on their experience on how to deal with various issues and even extending their duty of helping people (Valuer, 2011) . Similarly, the get to have new converts who get touched by their behaviors and actions, hence the growth of the Roman Catholic Church. Roman catholic church is not the best religion because we are not allowed to rank our religions as this will be equivalent to judging them which is an offense, this is according to the Chaplain’s say. Therefore, all members from various religions are supposed to pretend that all the religions are equal and keep their faith in their religion. Failure to do this will lead to chaos among the religions which is not good in any way.
References
Church, M. (2016). Roman Catholic Church. Serbian Orthodox Church .
Valuer, I. (2011). The Roman Catholic Church: A Transnational Actor. International Organization , 25 (3), 479-502.
