Back in the beginning of the 70s, in the country area in which I was a pastor the ecumenical relationship with the Protestants seemed very healthy. We got together on the big feast days of Easter and Christmas for some type of ecumenical service. We would parade together singing hymns, carols, and meet in some school yard for a joint service. The relationship with the Protestant Pastor was friendly, we would meet occasionally and I recall him talking to our Catholics and I to his congregation. This changed when I went to the city for pastoral work.
The Peace Newspaper had an editorial with the happy news that the Buddhists , Protestants and Catholics in an area of Seoul have been getting together for the last 10 years sponsoring a Bazaar to help children with incurable diseases.
In Korea we do not have the strife between religions that we often seen in other countries. This is a great blessing. On the "Day of Buddha's Coming" we often see congratulatory messages at entrance to Churches and the same at the temples of Buddhist on our big feast days. Each one showing respect for the other.
However, getting together with other religious groups to sponsor a bazaar is going another step and this has been going on for 10 years. There are three communities getting together and it seems this may be spreading to other areas of the city and the country.
The group has helped 159 children to deal with their diseases and given hope to some for a cure. Over the years they raised close to half a million dollars. The hope is that this will continue to spread and break down some of the walls between different groups in Korean Society.
