Population Dilemma!

The Catholic Times' View from the Ark column, written by a Catholic University professor, reviews the problems with the birth rate and how it began with the government's fear of overpopulation. 

Our country's family planning slogan in the 1970s confirms its population control policy. It started with ‘Have three children’ and changed to ‘Let’s have two children and raise them well, not differentiating between daughters and sons’. In the 1980s, it changed to ‘If we have just one child, all will be well'.

The government not only carried out a national movement to encourage contraception and vasectomies to suppress the population but also implemented a policy to impose additional resident tax and health insurance premiums on families with three children. This population control policy continued until the 1990s, and a positive perception of contraception and vasectomies resulted. At the same time, tacit approval of abortion was deeply rooted in society, and a social atmosphere was formed that made having multiple children unpatriotic.

As the birth rate rapidly decreased in the 2000s, the family planning slogan changed 180 degrees to ‘Something missing with one child, two happy children, three strong children.’ However, people do not consider having multiple children a social obligation or perceive it positively. This means that the social values ​​and attitudes influencing individual choices have changed. There are pros and cons, but our society has become freer and wealthier compared to the past. 

On the other hand, we have pursued a strong birth control policy for economic growth. Consequently, we have condoned and encouraged abortion, and as Cardinal Kim Soo-hwan said, “In the end, the fundamental values ​​of human life have been overturned and materialism has become the center, and various social problems have emerged." As a result, the trend of disregarding the lives of the weak and a materialistic way of thinking have spread, and our hearts have become increasingly traumatized. Many people have lost the meaning of life.

In this way, the legislation of the National Assembly and the government's policies are important matters that directly affect our society, each citizen, and our future. However, let's look at recent government policies or legislative proposals of the National Assembly. They are still short-sighted and try to solve problems like in the past. 

The Ministry of Health and Welfare expanded the list of genetic diseases that can be tested from 63 in 2009 to 222. The genetic diseases that can be alleviated or treated through this test are extremely limited, and even if there are genetic abnormalities, they are not all manifested. Rather, it is being implemented to screen embryos or fetuses, and there is concern that this policy is being justified from the perspective of comparing the costs and benefits that would arise from giving birth to a baby with developmental defects. This will deepen prejudice against people with disabilities, make childbirth seem like a verification process within the market economic logic of the bio industry, and increase the pressure on women who are pregnant with children that do not meet certain standards to have abortions.

In addition, the partial revision of the Maternal and Child Health Act proposed in the National Assembly in October of last year mainly includes support for unmarried pregnancy procedures to address the issue of ultra-low birth rates. The way of thinking that looked down on fetuses in the past to suppress population growth now treats fetuses as products to pursue happiness for unmarried people and increase numbers. 

A substantial medical industry market has been formed in the process of unmarried pregnancy, including sperm and egg trading, in vitro fertilization, genetic testing and gene editing, and surrogacy. Population policies that have lost the dignity of life and the meaning of marriage and family or the pursuit of individual happiness will soon boomerang in our society and cause another social problem. It is an uncomfortable truth but a reality we must deeply reflect on.

Ecumenical Christian View of the Impeachment Trial In Korea

 

A reporter for the Catholic Times gives us this report in which the Catholic Church, working ecumenically with many other Christian churches, explains how it currently sees the situation in Korea. It is a complex situation that has divided the country and put the political situation at an impasse. This is how a group of Christians sees the situation.

With the impeachment trial of President Yoon Seok-yeol expected to be announced sometime this month, the Christian Council of Korea (Co-chair Bishop Lee Yong-hoon (President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea), Secretary General Kim Jong-saeng) emphasized that “the decision of the Constitutional Court must be accepted by the political, civil, and religious circles,” and that “we must pool our wisdom and strength to make our society a democratic structure so that events like the December 3 martial law do not happen again.”

The Christian Council of Korea, which consists of various denominations, including Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians for Christian unity, issued a joint statement on the Constitutional Court’s impeachment trial on the 18th under the theme, “Plow up your fallow ground. Do not sow among thorns” (Jeremiah 4:3). In the statement, the Christian Council of Korea expressed its hope for an end to political division and hatred and the spring of democracy.

The Faith and Ministry Association said, “The calling of all Christians sent to this land is to become the light and salt of the world with the power of the gospel,” and “The church has the task of exploring the signs of the times and interpreting them with the light of the gospel.” It continued, “Korean Christians felt the vulnerability of democracy in the unconstitutional and illegal situation,” but explained, “We learned that democracy can be rebuilt with the firm will and resolute action of awakened citizens.”

However, it was pointed out that the situation was still ongoing. The Faith and Ministry Association criticized, “The people have not yet escaped the night of martial law, but President Yoon is consistently telling lies rather than apologizing to the people,” and “The extreme right has invaded the judiciary, and a significant number of the ruling party is also trying to undermine the authority of the Constitutional Court.” It continued, “Politics is holding back the status of Korean culture,” and emphasized, “The starting point for restoring the people’s daily lives and raising our status in the international community is the impeachment of President Yoon.”

While saying, “As Christians, what is shameful is that some Christian groups belong to the extreme right,” and “They are using Christian symbols and language for hate, not love. Civil society’s distrust of the Korean church is growing,” they expressed concern. The Faith and Ministry Association said, “The church is one universal church,” and “the mistakes of some in the church are the responsibility of the entire church.” They continued, “We confess the mistakes of extremist Christians as the mistakes of all of us and repent,” and “We appeal to our brothers and sisters to return to the path of justice and love.”

In addition, the Faith and Ministry Association appealed, “Korean society and the church must accept the Constitutional Court's decision on impeachment, △ achieve harmony in the community after the Constitutional Court’s decision, and △ oppose repetitive acts that cause hatred and social division.”

Spiritual Self Healing

The Catholic Peace Weekly's Philosophy Chat column, written by a Jesuit philosophy professor, gives us some ideas to explore in our desire to understand life more deeply.

In philosophical counseling, spiritual healing aims for spiritual growth and vitality based on human nature. It seeks a healthy life by examining emotional reactions and experiences related to one's own problems, establishing proper relationships between oneself and others, maturing one's personality, and expanding consciousness through self-healing and daily self-reflection to strengthen the inner life.

Fundamental and philosophical insight into human nature is necessary to understand spiritual healing properly. The classical concept that defines human nature is the 'psyche' or soul. Ancient Greek philosophers understood the soul as the principle of life corresponding to matter and gave it a unique status.

Humans are the only living creatures in nature with a unique soul that can grasp and understand the principle of all things, which is the spirit that the ancient Greeks called 'nous'. Spirit is the core concept of human nature that encompasses technology that produces and manufactures something, perception that discerns things, moral practice that pursues the meaning and value of life, and wisdom that follows principles and truth of all things.

Humans are beings who have a physical body and a spiritual soul. Humans are limited by their bodies but are spiritually unrestricted beings. Humans can constantly attempt self-transcendence toward the absolute despite being finite because they possess this unrestricted spirit. As a unique person, I am primarily distinguished from others through my body. Still, I exist as a unique individual only through mental self-consciousness and reflection. Since we have this kind of unconstrained spirit as our nature, we can transcend the defined self through internal self-transcendence, outside of ourselves, and ultimately transcend to the supernatural ultimate reality beyond nature.

Internal self-transcendence means transcending the self that has already been defined and understood through our experiences. These experiences of the self don't exist alone. They are formed through communal life within the continuity of time and space. External self-transcendence toward the other means self-dedication that overcomes the self. Of course, this does not mean physical union but mental unity with the other through self-denial.

Lastly, self-transcendence toward the ultimate reality means self-opening to the absolute being. Since the true meaning of our entire life and existence is ultimately revealed only through the absolute being, self-transcendence toward this ultimate and absolute reality becomes the core of spiritual healing.

Spiritual healing comprises three stages based on transcendence, the inherent characteristic of this spiritual human existence. The first stage is first-person self-transcendence, which is establishing a relationship with oneself that emotionally controls the passions of the mind and objectifies oneself. The second stage is second-person self-transcendence, which is establishing a relationship with oneself and others by examining the causes outside of oneself that cause passions and empathizing with and understanding them. The third stage is third-person self-transcendence, which establishes a relationship with oneself and the Absolute with an open attitude toward unconstrained reality. In our traditional approach to spirituality, these were the Purgative, Illuminative, and Unitive stages of the spiritual life.

Values of Our Society

In the View from the Ark column, a pastor in the Korean Times expresses his feelings about the present society.

Sometimes, you suddenly become brave when you go to an unfamiliar place. It's a vague feeling that if you keep going, you'll reach your destination, even though you've never been there. If the premonition is correct, all is well, but you will most likely return the way you came. This is because you're lost. In the not-so-distant past, there was always a map present that gave one confidence. 

Nowadays, navigation systems play that role, but there was a time when people who were good at reading maps were recognized. Starting with the declaration of martial law, impeachment, arrest, and detention, the Constitutional Court, the waving of flags, protests, banners, the Battle of Namtaeryeong, for and against… You hear many voices, but it isn't easy to know the situation. It is frustrating that we must live like this, divided and enemies again. 

Has the day that Jesus warned us about here again?  "From now on, five members of one household will be divided against each other...."(Luke 12:51-53).

What is our standard? The Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests of the Second Vatican Council states: "In the context of the modern world, the preaching of priests is so difficult that, to move the hearts of those who hear it more appropriately, it is necessary not to explain the word of God in general terms or abstractly, but to explain the eternal truth of the Gospel in a way that applies it to the concrete circumstances of life."

It first needs to be based on truth. Many words are circulating here and there, disguised as truth. However, if untrue things happen and we accept them, we abandon our fundamental values entirely.

The second is freedom. The right to exercise freedom, an excellent sign of human dignity, is a gift from God granted to all humans. As a value revealed in relationships between people, 'freedom as a right to exercise' and 'freedom to refuse' according to conscience are precious values ​​that lead to a humane social life.

Next is justice. The Church defines justice as a continuous and firm will to give what is due to God and our neighbor. The Church demands respect for the most classic forms of justice: commutative, distributive, and social justice. It is not a matter of taking sides but distinguishing right from wrong. What is right must be our moral choice.

The last value is love. 'Love presupposes justice and at the same time transcends justice. Justice must be completed in love.' Furthermore, the Church teaches 'love that urges individual action' in society and politics. And reaching out in individual action to those suffering and abandoned.  Eliminating the social factors that create the situation is our continual task.

Let's examine the aspects of our social life and consider the fundamental values ​​of social life that have already been given to us. We will clearly see where and how we should go.

Personalitiy: Basis Of Human Dignity—

Asking St. Thomas Aquinas about the path to happiness. The expansion of the concept of ‘personality,’ the basis of human dignity, was the topic of an article by a professor of philosophy at a Catholic university written in the Catholic Times.

Many are the suicides of those whose dignity has been trampled on and were not able to recover. An apartment security guard who could not bear the insults and the  ‘tyranny of the powerful’ was one of these reported, drawing public outrage. Even more shocking was the incident in which an elementary school teacher who could not bear the bullying of parents ended her own life. Such acts of ignoring others’ human rights continue.  

Why are things not tolerated in the past being carried out so openly in a democratized modern society? To answer this, it may be helpful to examine the concept of ‘person’, which implicitly contains the basis of human dignity.

Kant’s categorical imperative in its second form is “You shall use humanity, both in your own person and in that of another, always as an end, never as a mere means.” Boethius recognized the unique status of individuals by highlighting the concept of the ‘individual substance’ of the person. This definition provided an opportunity to overcome the two extremes:  identifying humans with the soul or emphasizing only the material aspect. 

It is known that the concept of person was established as the basis for asserting universal ‘human dignity’ through the modern philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). He presented the second form of the categorical imperative: “You shall act in such a way that you always use humanity, both in your own person and in the person of another, as an end, and never as a mere means.” This commandment is never an exception, even for those with money or power, and it is something that all humans must follow, not just in exceptional cases.

However, it is not well known that a deeper reflection on personality than Kant, who based his thinking solely on universal human reason, developed within the tradition of medieval philosophy. The most influential definition of ‘persona’ (person) is that of the last Roman philosopher, Boethius (480-524).

He defined “personality as an individual substance with rational nature” (Persona est rationalis naturae individua substantia). Boethius first emphasized the rational nature of humans, which is distinguished from animals, following the Greek tradition that emphasized universal nature. However, he was also inspired by the biblical tradition that emphasized individuality, as in the expressions ‘God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob’ or ‘the one lost sheep’. Therefore, he did not identify personhood with a universal nature but recognized individuals' unique status by highlighting the concept of individual substance. This definition provided an opportunity to overcome the two extremes of simply identifying humans with the soul, like Plato, or emphasizing only the material aspects of individuals, like materialists.

However, with the beginning of Scholasticism, various criticisms were raised against Boethius' definition of personhood. In particular, the main issue was that this definition did not sufficiently express ‘relationship’.

However, St. Thomas Aquinas made Boethius’ definition fully usable by deepening its interpretation without replacing it with another one. He synthesized not only Boethius’ definition but also his criticism of it, thereby revealing more clearly the meaning contained in each element of ‘rational’, ‘nature’, ‘individual’, and ‘substance’, and connecting various positions. It seems that he achieved this result not only because of his philosophical genius but also because of his theological insight.

St. Thomas highlighted the uniqueness and irreplaceability of personality and sounded a loud alarm to those who tried to treat others as objects or means. Beyond this, he also paid attention to ‘relationship, which was not expressed in Boethius’ definition, and ‘self-transcendence, which was based on the analogical connection with God. This insight aligns well with Martin Buber's dialogical concept of personality (I and Thou), which has been highlighted in modern times. St. Thomas further emphasized that personality is ‘the most perfect thing in all nature’.  In conclusion, he discovered the fundamental ‘dignity’ of the ‘complete whole’ encompassing all these characteristics.

Of course, this synthesis by St. Thomas can never completely reveal the mystical nature of personality. However, it is very rare in many modern and contemporary theories of personality to have such diverse elements closely connected to form a single system. This rich concept of personality is not simply theoretical but can be utilized in various fields. In particular, this concept will serve as a guideline for protecting human dignity wherever the dignity of the individual is threatened by all forms of totalitarianism, including the state and religion.

Nobody should or can purchase the ‘personality’ of those working with their money. Since we cannot solve everything alone, we can purchase goods and services provided by others with our money.

However, no matter how much wealth a rich person has, he can never buy the ‘personality of others’ who serve him. The ‘personality’ created as the ‘image of God’ uniquely and irreplaceably possesses a dignity that nothing should damage. This is why we should not personally insult our neighbors by putting our positions or wealth first. The professor hopes that through changes such as the Workplace Bullying Prevention Act and the Teacher Rights Protection Committee, society will awaken, rediscover, and respect the personality of those who help us.

Seoul Diocese: 1000 Priests

The Catholic Peace Weekly has an article on the recent ordinations in the Seoul Diocese, commented on with great joy. 

The Archdiocese of Seoul has reached a historic milestone, entering the "era of 1,000 priests" 194 years after its establishment. This achievement is particularly noteworthy because many dioceses worldwide are facing declining vocations.

On February 7, 2025, the Archdiocese held a priestly ordination ceremony at Myeongdong Cathedral, presided over by the Archbishop. The ordination of 26 new priests, including one from Redemptoris Mater Seminary, increased the number of priests in the diocese to 1,000.

This milestone places the Archdiocese of Seoul among the dioceses with the highest number of priests worldwide, second only to the Archdiocese of Milan in Italy, which has around 1,700 priests. The achievement is especially significant as Seoul prepares to host World Youth Day in 2027.

The Korean Catholic Church currently has nearly 6,000 active priests. According to the "Statistics of the Catholic Church in Korea" released by the Bishops' Conference, there were 5,721 priests as of December 31, 2023. Since the ordination of Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gon, the first Korean priest, in 1845, the total number of ordained Korean priests has surpassed 7,000, reaching 7,019 as of March 1, 2024, according to the Korean Catholic Church Priest Directory.

The ordination ceremony also marked a significant milestone with the ordination of Fr. Kim Dong-jun, Korea's second and Asia's fourth deaf priest.

The newly ordained Fr. Kim Dong-jun is the one who marks this milestone, coming 18 years after Fr. Park Min-seo, who was ordained in 2007 as Asia's first deaf priest. Fr. Kim expressed his aspirations: "I want to serve both the deaf and non-deaf communities with the compassion and warmth of Jesus Christ, especially for the vulnerable." He will begin his first pastoral mission as the assistant priest at Ephata Parish, the Archdiocese's first parish for the hearing impaired. He will also serve as chaplain at Seoul Aehwa School.

During the ordination ceremony, Archbishop Chung emphasized in his homily, "As collaborators of the bishop, priests are called to be united with him in their priesthood and to serve God's people." He urged the new priests to "carry out the ministry of Christ the Priest with true love and unwavering joy." He also reminded them, "Remember that you have been chosen and appointed from among the people to do God's work for the people," and encouraged them to always take the Good Shepherd—who came not to be served but to serve, and sought the lost sheep to save them—as their model. 

Truth vs Perception

In the Science and Faith column of the Catholic Peace Weekly, a science teacher introduces us to a meditation on the 17th-century European painter Caravaggio.

The columnist visited the Seoul Arts Center to see the exhibition of works by “Caravaggio, the Master of Light & Faces of the Baroque.” He was excited to see the works of Caravaggio, who left a significant mark on Baroque art, and the painters influenced by him.

In particular, the work he wanted to see the most this time was “The Doubt of Saint Thomas,” which depicts a scene from Chapter 20 of the Gospel of John. 

The work on display is not Caravaggio’s original but a copy from the Uffizi Gallery in Italy, completed by a later artist influenced by him. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe” (John 20:25).

Thomas doubted the resurrection of Christ, and heard the words of Jesus: "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Do not doubt but believe" (John 20:27). This passage depicts Thomas poking the wound in Christ’s side with his finger.

The intense contrast of light and darkness and the hyper-realistic expression of St. Thomas were too shocking to try to express in words. “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). 

Christ’s voice telling Thomas resonated deeply within the writer, and he found it difficult to leave. He reflected on his attitude toward life as a Catholic, recalling the words of St. Augustine: “Faith is believing in what you have not yet seen, and the reward for believing is seeing what you believe.”

In this world, there are things that you must believe without seeing, and on the contrary, there are things that you must see with your own eyes and believe. The former is faith regarding religious beliefs, and the latter is social phenomena and news we encounter in our secular lives. 

South Korea is in an uproar due to sharp political and group conflicts. This results from political beliefs and actions based on them, which has polarized the country.

Who is right? Humans tend to commit the error of confirmation bias, seeing only what they want to see and believing only what they want to believe. The formation of beliefs that modern brain science has revealed so far are not the product of an analytical and rational process, but rather the result of a complex network of individual experiences, memories, and emotions, and different areas that perform various functions in the human brain are connected to complex neural networks.

The brain is only about 2% of the human body's weight, but it consumes 20% of the energy consumed during the day. Therefore, rather than consuming energy and processing information analytically and critically, it operates according to efficiency, looking at phenomena based on subjective beliefs already within itself and drawing conclusions it wants. 

This is why it is easy to be deceived by fake news and agitators. In times like these, we must ask God for wisdom so that we are not immersed in superficial phenomena but can keep our center and seek to see what is. Do I believe what I see about the world now, or am I seeing what I believe?