Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Korean Catholic Church's Present Address

Religious men and women leaders conducted a  seminar commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation held on Oct. 31, the day Martin Luther attached his grievances on the church door.
 

The Catholic Times in an editorial and article reported on the seminar's theme: "Where are you?" (Gen. 3.9). Agreed was the need to examine the years since the Reformation and determine what we have learned about communication and the way we come to decisions.
 

Briefly, the outline of the discussion was about the communication structures in the church. God's people can go to the Lord without getting lost when we have the proper communication structures within the church.

Five hundred years later what we can learn from the Reformation is that the Church's journey to the Kingdom of God, the community of faith, can not neglect for a moment the continual work of reflection and renewal. History shows us how we have been made God's community and we continue on this journey when we constantly renew ourselves, in line with the words of Jesus: Stay awake.
 

Difficult to see the Christian community today making efforts for reflection and renewal. We seem to pay more attention to external matters: number of believers, church buildings, money offerings, events and the like.  We are lost in external matters and forget what is important. We repeat the history of division brought about by the lack of communication that was present in the past and continues in the present. We don't know how to go about renewing ourselves.

We Christians, the children of God, have a duty to be awake,  pray and witness to the life of the Gospel, together. The influence of the world can easily shake the faith of the community and bring confusion and difficulty. That is why we have to be awake, examine and reflect on the calling we have received.

Clergy, religious and laity are all members of the Church and we need structures that allow an easy access to meeting and discussing the mission we have all received. Not only meeting to consult but also participate in the decision making.