The Catholic Times in a featured article gives the readers some idea of what and how the women religious are working in this area of mission. They are looking for the essence of apostolic activity in a prophetic role sensitive to the demands of the times.Today, the concept that refers to the church’s participation in society is "Justice Peace Integrity of Creation". JPIC has been universalized in the church by religious, especially female religious, who are looking for the essence of apostolic activity in a prophetic role sensitive to the demands of the times. Consider why women religious see JPIC as their renewed role.
When imagining female religious, we usually picture them offering prayers in the church, caring for the sick, and children who have lost their parents. However, over the past decade, it is not unfamiliar to see nuns in numerous social scenes, shouting loudly for justice and peace, protection of life, and the ecological environment.
Nuns meet at the scene of injustice. It is not only recently that the religious have joined the scene of injustice. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has constantly strived for social justice and peace, and the religious have been with the priests and laity at the scene. When the spirit of the Council began to permeate into the Korean church and society, it was a period in which democratic order was destroyed by the dictatorship, social justice, and human rights violations were committed.
The Church has struggled at the forefront of political democratization, exposing injustice and striving to achieve justice. Women religious were also involved, but strictly speaking, the participation of priests and lay members in society at that time was remarkable, and the woman religious activities were relatively limited.
After political democratization took place, the church grew rapidly based on its reputation and trust as a bastion of the democratization movement. During this period, social participation was centered on the life and environmental movement, and their social participation was insignificant. However, since 2008, social participation activities within the church have been expanded. This trend has continued now in the form of the so-called (JPIC).
In 1984, during the bicentennial pastoral meeting of the Catholic Church in Korea, the issue of religious women was discussed, and concerns about their identity and role in the renewal of the apostolate began in earnest. Concerns about religious life demanded a return to the founder's spirit, revitalization of their unique charisma, a prophetic role sensitively responding to the demands of the times.
Through the process of identification, the female religious recognized that their essential mission was to play a prophetic role. For about 10 years since 2008, they have realized the apostolate of this age is social participation.
The JPIC activities of female religious were organized by the leaders of the Catholic Association of Women Religious Orders rather than at the level of individual religious orders. A dedicated person was dispatched to the Social Pastoral Division (later the Life and Peace Division), which was the predecessor of JPIC, to secure professionalism, solidarity, and networking with others were strengthened. Naturally, related activists were nurtured and appointed in each religious order.
Expansion of JPIC for female religious is based on the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. After the Council, since 1966, the Vatican and the World Council of Churches (WCC) have discussed social justice issues in mutual exchanges. JPIC was first proposed by the World Federation of Reformed Churches (WARC), an association of Presbyterians, and was adopted at the WCC General Assembly held in Vancouver.
In 1990, the JPIC Seoul World Congress was held and the Catholic Church participated, making JPIC known in Korea as well. In particular, the reason this event was held in Seoul was in consideration of the situation of Korea as a divided country and the environmental destruction caused by years of dictatorship. Through this conference, the social movement of the Catholic Church expands the paradigm of justice and peace by adding the concept of an ecological environment.
Today, Korean women's religious groups perceive JPIC activities as a new apostolic role in the consecrated life of constant renewal. It is a return to the spirit of the founders an important direction for the religious who consecrate themselves to God and discern the demands of the times in prayer for the Church and the world. Such commitment is not exclusive to the religious but is the responsibility of all Christians who profess Jesus Christ as Lord.
