Accustomed to Divisions in Society

The Catholic Times View From the Ark column had an article on the divisions in society that a priest wanted to make known to the readers of the paper. It is well worth reading.

The general election is over. He is not normally interested in political news. Only after the election campaign materials arrived at the rectory did he know who the candidates running in his local constituency were.  Even then, many political parties were unable or did not send public information due to lack of funds.  He had to go to the search bar and go through the trouble of finding the information. 

Since 2012, the Bishops' Conference has been sending policy questionnaires to political parties and candidates ahead of major elections. and publishing the answers to help believers become more aligned with the values of the Gospel and the teachings of the Church. 

The questionnaire sent by the Bishops' Conference contains 43 questions in eight areas, including labor, national reconciliation, social welfare, bioethics, ecological environment, women, justice and peace, and youth,  areas in which the Korean Church is greatly interested. 

According to data released by the Bishops' Conference, among the responses are labor,  ecological environment, enactment of a special law on high-level radioactive waste, discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima), justice, and peace ( Significant differences of opinion between political parties were revealed in the areas of enactment of the Special Act on rental Fraud, the Framework Act on Life Safety, and the Enactment of the Itaewon Disaster Special Act.

The problem is that these differences of opinion exist not only between political parties but also between believers. No, to be more precise, it should be said that since believers use the position of the political party they support as a standard for judgment, differences of opinion between political parties are transferred to differences of opinion between believers. When talking with believers on the pastoral front, it is not difficult to come across cases where they confess their own difficulties, saying: “Depending on the current issue, the church’s position straddles the line between conservative and progressive, making it difficult to follow.” When you advise, “Look at the gospel or the teachings of the church as a standard,” most people agree and go away, at least in front of a priest, but there are also cases where people raise questions, saying: “How can the church know what’s going on in the world?”

This kind of dichotomous thinking does not simply divide the world into spirit and body, sex and nature. Using this as a tool, one's self-image as a Christian is only effective within the church, which means giving up living as the light and salt of the world. In addition, even fellow Christians who try to live as the light and salt of the world go on to claim that, like themselves, they should be Christians only within the church.

If we cannot use the gospel, which is the word of Christ, and the teachings of the church, which is the mystical body of Christ, as the standard for judgment, then how divisive and vain the name 'Christian'  engraved on our hearts becomes. Christ wants to save the whole of who we are. 

It is said that it is a world where division is familiar, but even Christians, who must testify to the kingdom of God ‘here and now’ while living in the world, should examine whether they are so accustomed to division that they do not even feel the pain, and suffering from division all around us.