Preparing for the Future

On the opinion page of the Catholic Times, the priest-columnist expresses his surprise on hearing that the Kodak Company declared bankruptcy. He reminds us that the main reason for the collapse was the company's inability to keep up with the digital camera boom, despite having developed the digital camera in 1975. Because the new camera did not require film, its best-selling product, they let others take the lead and were not prepared to respond effectively when the public left the conventional for digital.

The columnist uses this example of unpreparedness for something that will also come to pass when the names of the beloved hometowns of many will disappear from the map. The government is planning to change the local administrative system because of duplication in finances, to gain more efficiency and prepare for unification of the North and South. This plan has been on the books for many years and is seen as needed by both government parties.

This will also mean combining territorial areas under different names. It will be not only a vertical reorganization but a horizontal merging of territories. Currently, there is a great deal of discussion and disagreement concerning how to go about implementing the plan, but some day soon it will be a reality.

He hopes the Church is now preparing for the eventual territorial changes, for there will be changes in diocesan lines, necessitating name changes that without  preparation will prove very disconcerting for many.

Whenever we have changes, there is always a danger of preparing for the new and discounting the old in a way that causes confusion and misunderstanding, and not only with the territorial changes being discussed here. The hope of the priest is that this will not be the case within the Church, following the proposed territorial changes. He gives us the words that Patriot Ahn Joong-gun wrote three days before his death, taken from  the writings of Confucius: "if one does not plan for the future, one will face many present worries."  He hopes these words of Patriot Ahn will be taken to heart by the leadership in the Church.