When everything goes well there should be an alarm bell telling us watch out for what is happening. This was the gist of the article in our recent diocesan bulletin. The Korean Catholic Church has gained the respect of Society, a favored religion when it comes to polls and surveys. Even our Catholic religious leaders get high marks from society. However, the writer sees great problems with this for our future.
Looking over Catholic history, the seeds we plant when times are good make for later problems. With a sense of security we remove our eyes from the Lord ; bask in the ease of life, and see only what we choose to see. We do not see the weak around us; society becomes our teacher and we forget the teachings of Jesus. The status quo ( present situation ) is important, Christians do not like to hear a message that upsets this state of affairs. We want to be comforted in our ways, and those who tell us not all is well are criticized. When things were not so rosy hearing the words of Jesus were comforting, but when we are part of the good times the same talk is no longer life giving but works on the conscience. The clergy are satisfied in getting the Christians to give money and the Christians are satisfied in giving, and all are content. This situation is also affecting the religious orders. The Gospel is no longer primary.
This present situation is seen by many in and outside the Church. We are distancing ourselves from the spirit of poverty and forgetting our love we should have for all, especially the ones most in need of our love. This bothers many and we want to deny it, but our denial does not make the problems disappear. This is our opportunity to do something about the problems and again return to the Gospel and the message of Jesus.
