A religious sister writing in the diocesan bulletin recalls the great
strides Korea has made in the last 50 years, and the
growth of the Church in Korea with over 10 percent of the population
Catholic. This reality is envied by the Church of the West for the
dynamism and progressiveness of the Korean church--the number of women,
according to recent statistics, numbers 58.2 percent within the Church.
However,
with the economic growth of the country after 1990, interest in
religion and the zeal of the Christians has decreased.
With the economic improvements, the democratization of the country
and the entrance of women into the work force we are experiencing
the problems the Church in the West experienced after the Second
Vatican Council.
The church is concerned with the poor,
the weak, the abuses of nature and the oppression under patriarchal
thinking that women have endured. We need to return to the original
beginnings of creation when all was in the correct order. For the Church
to respond to this call we have to change the structures of injustices,
and distance ourselves from them with counter proposals.
"
Each one of you is a son of God because of your faith in Christ Jesus.
All of you who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves
with him. There does not exist among you Jew or Greek, slave or freeman,
male or female. All are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal.3: 26-28).
Equality was a hallmark of the first communities, all worked for the building
up of God's kingdom according to their ability. We are all members of
the body of Christ, this is our mission and we listen to Jesus on how to do it.
There are many in the Church,
especially women who see the discrimination within the Church and are
dissatisfied but they don't want to speak about it for fear they
will be a headache to others. This fear of
bringing up the subject is one of the customs we face. The reason
we don't see any change is that we are afraid of conflict,
but without it how can we change?
Women have to get involved. In decision making in parishes and meetings, women's voices need to be heard. In parish events we can have the
women and the men take turns preparing. We have to start in small things
in breaking down the stereotyped thinking that we have. This will make
for a more vibrant and active community.
The society
in which we live has many problems. We are God's children; men and
women need to pool resources, share and cooperate to make one
living community. Together as equals we can do much to heal the problems
we have in creation. This common vision of equality, sister concludes, is necessary for a
correct order in all of creation.
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