In Korea there are many things that are illegal but you would
believe were legal. An article in the Peace Weekly begins with the words
of a doctor turned ethicist who mentions a news story where 117
persons were apprehended for child pornography and of that number, half
were in their teens and one third of those were in elementary school.
Doctor
Lee was a well known gynecologist who is now teaching at Catholic
Universities the ethics of life. He received his doctorate in ethics at a
university in Rome last year. In 2008, at the age of 64 he decided
to go on to study moral theology.
He wanted to find
out why God made male and female to be one. Why was the Church
opposed to artificial birth control and condoms? He wanted to find out
where the roots of this teaching on life came from. This desire as a
Catholic to find the reasons for the culture of life teachings,
at his age was difficult, but he was adding to the knowledge he
had as a doctor, which made it very satisfying.
The
doctor was now more interested in the moral issues associated with life than the field of gynecology that he had devoted most of his
life. He was now interested in natural child birth, problems with birth control, abortion, stem cells, suicide and the other issues connected
with the culture of life. He now wants to share his knowledge with
others.
Korean society has little teaching on sex which
is a large problem. Schools have given up on sex education which makes
it open for all kinds of distorted views. By the coupling of the male and female, we have new life and the meaning of this life:
morally, philosophically, is to be taught within the Church. There are
certain elements that can't be taught with medical and
scientific knowledge.
Doctor Lee has entered late into
the movement for life. Even though he is well on in years, he feels
it is a call of God, and wants to dedicate the rest of his life to the
movement.
In Evangelium Vitae (#5), Pope John Paul II addressed an appeal to all of us: "in the name of God: respect, protect, love and serve life, every
human life! Only in this direction will you find justice, development, true
freedom, peace and happiness!"