Korean Geomancy (풍수지리)

Some years ago some of the Catholics seeing the position of my bed which was facing North-South recommended that I change the position. Having the head of the bed facing north was not propitious. I have forgotten what they answered when I asked, "Why?"

There are many off handed remarks that one hears over the years and some of them register and some do not, but the interest that many of the Koreans have with grave sites is something which one hears too often not to take serious.

In Korea there is “Wind Rain Earth Theory” (풍수지리) which in English is often translated as Geomancy. It was and probably is a way of divining but for many it is a way of selecting a site for a house or a place for a grave. If the sites are not pick appropriately then the fear of misfortune for the family is not an uncommon concern of many.

In our times when ecology is a very important part of our interest the Koreans' interest in the relationship that the natural surrounding have on us was always an important part of there thinking. "If you have a mountain range facing you with gentle rolling hills than those who live in that ambient will be gentle and meek those who live in the proximity of steep and pointed mountains will be quick of temperament and lack smoothness." There are areas of this thinking that for me are superstitious and for a Christian of no help for a follower of Christ. Much of the thinking that follows from the relationship that we have with nature is healthy but the fear that it sometimes begets, and has no basis in reason, is not healthy for either the body or spirit. However, how much of the tradition is based on just good common sense is an area that might be interesting to study.

The Korean Comfort Women Issue

Received this letter in the mail this morning telling me about an article in the Korean Times.

“In the Sunday edition of the Korean Times for May 24, i.e. the Saturday-Sunday combined edition, there was an interesting article on comfort woman and their history of fighting exploitation. This mirrors very much an article in “Mission in the South”…. Check it out here

The Maryknoll Sisters were always active in the plight of these women. The reference is “Sharing House”, their abode since the 1990’s is what I reported in the book."

The following is a paraphrasing of the article from the Book, Mission in the South by Rev. Robert Martin Lilly,M.M. on the comfort woman.

Solidarity with former Comfort Women

The term “comfort woman” is a euphemism for the Asian women who were forced to become sex slaves for the Japanese Imperial Army. Battlefront brothels were common in China and Southeast Asia in the 1930s and throughout the Pacific War areas in the 1940s. In April 1988, the issue surfaced in Korea when a Protestant group called Church women United denounced the current “sex tourism” phenomena saying it was a modern equivalent of “comfort women”.

In 1990 an elderly Filipina went public with her story. In 1991 women from Korea came forth when as young girls they were forced to serve as sexual objects for Japanese soldiers. Since then the movement for support has gained momentum. Maryknoll Sisters were instrumental in helping the Association of Major Superiors realize that sisters as churchwomen would do well to support the “comfort women”- which they did.

.A number of organizations Christian and non-Christian are involved in the overall effort. Programs have included an international gathering in Seoul in 1999 and the movie, “Silence Broken: Korean Comfort Women”, produced by a Korean –American.

The ninety-minute film traced the abuse and maltreatment the women suffered upon their return home, surprisingly not from Japanese perpetrators but at the hands of their own family, local community and government. It also points up the nonchalance for the the issue on the part of scholars. It was shown in Korea and on PBS in the US in May 2000. This was the first time anything dealing with it appeared on nationwide TV.

In the fall of 2000 there was an international tribunal in Tokyo on the issue.As always the key point was the demand for an official apology from the Japanese Government with financial recompense.

Ecumenicism in Korea

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity this year was the combined work of the different Churches in Korea. This material was used throughout the world.

The Catholic Church in Korea, is not a leader in this Ecumenical Movement but it does participate and this year the 9th annual forum was held at the Franciscan Education Center on May 14 with the guest speaker Jurgen Moltmann the renowned Protestant theologian.

The Catholic paper said Moltmann introduced a different direction from the polemics of the past. He proposed that we work together not only about life issues but with the problems that we face in globalization and to work together in a common effort to remedy the situation.

Moltmann felt that following the methods of the past in ecumenical dialogue we are not getting any closer to one another and suggested that we in the future not remain trying to directly get the unity of the separated Churches but work together against the dehumanization in our society, destruction of the environment, and the polarization in our society. He felt that this would enable us with God to grow closer and this is the meaning of the unity we seek.

My reading of the article was that there was not unanimity on what was said. One participant made a good point, I thought, when he said the whole idea of the work for unity is not just the work of the specialist but of all the Christians. In Korea it is mostly the work of the leaders in the movement. It will have to get down to the level of the ordinary Christians. It is here in their lives , works and sharing their faith experiences with others, that we will see change.

The Catholic Education of our Young People

Tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday and Youth Sunday in Korea. The Church has been concerned for many years now on the decrease in the number of our young people who have stopped going to Church. It is a “dark cloud” over the future of the Church in Korea.

The Seoul diocese’s report on the state of the problem is that there has been a decrease in the number of children attending catechism classes comparing to what it was 10 years ago. Only about 10% of the young who have graduated from high school attend Sunday Mass. This also holds steady for the number of 30 and 40 year old Catholics who have stopped going to Church. Only 5% of the youth are involved in Church activities.

The Church will have the second youth day next year trying to put some life into the youth movement in Korea. The influence of the mass media on the education of our children is something that we all acknowledge but can do little about. There are few of our young people that find a joy in their religious practices and what it means to be Catholic. There is an effort to make discipleship more of an experience; to feel and not only know the presence of God in our lives but how this to be done is the question.

A recent editorial on this problem wondered whether our programs have a lot more to do with dealing with the stress of our children than with educating them. We have to put feeling into what we teach. In our diocese we had a very strong YCS movement going for many years. The Young Catholic Student movement had the principle of See, Judge and Act and was an attempt to get the Children involved not only with the head but with the heart and body. It discussed problems within society and putting Christian principles to work in trying to solve the problems. It was to develop leaders and to help change society. It was a strong program but the parents did not like to see the time taken away from the student’s studies and the program eventually died.

The editorial ended with a rather gloomy forecast : “If the family or school is not able to educate than the Church should do it.” It is a gigantic job and if the individuals involved are not equipped to benefit by the education it will be an attempt ending in frustration.

Funeral of Korea's 16th President

The funeral service for the late former President Roh Moo-hyun took place today at 11 a.m. at Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul. There was also yesterday a Mass at the Cathedral in Seoul for President Roh offered by the the priests of the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice.

President Roh came up from poverty to the highest position in his country. He did not have a college education but with determination and confidence in his ability was able to pass the necessary exams and work as a human rights lawyer, helping the poor. He showed a desire to benefit the underprivileged of our Society. How much of what is said about him after leaving the Presidency and his involvement in bribery will be the job of history to determine. How much of the publicity concerning the scandal was politically motivated is also a question for history but that politics was part of it is very difficult to deny.

The Catholic Paper's editorial mentioned over and over the intensity in which he did everything and even the way he chose to die. The editorial went on to say our desires were not considered when entering this world and we should not take control of the way we leave it. There is a sadness in that the late President Roh died in the way he decided. By doing so he cast a shadow on the intensity of his life, its meaning and values that he lived. This makes the grief and regret over his death all the harder to bear.

The Mass at the Cathedral was celebrated by Monsignor Kim Pyong-sang as the main celebrant. He mentioned that he was disappointed in that the bishops were not the ones saying the Mass. Although the President was baptized he never lived the life of a Catholic but the monsignor mentioned that he tried to live the contents of the Encyclical of the Holy Father, Deus Caritas Est.(God is Love ) He was a man who took seriously chapter 25 of Mathew, and monsignor felt that few would deny this.

We can all pray for him, the family and the country; pray also that the different political camps do not use his death as a ploy to further their own political ends at the expense of the unity that we should strive to achieve in these difficult times.

Second Part - Visit to Cardinal Kim

Stephen Cardinal Kim was a work of art.
He was like a lake that reflects the sky, and the light and the scenery around it.
You can't be awe-struck by a lake.
It demands nothing for itself, but enhances everything around it,
Allows us to contemplate beauty.

In April, 1974 I spend 40 minutes in his quarters talking to him alone.
How I wish I could remember more of what he said.
I was very wound up about false arrests and torture
And am sure I did most of the talking, especially as he was such a good attentive listener.I had knocked at his door and began to apologize to him for the impertinent letter I'd written about the lack of Catholic reaction to worsening repression.

`But before I'd gotten a few words out of my mouth, he ushered me in, seated me while
saying, and waving his hand:
"No, no no! These are daily problems of my heart."

In the 35 years since that April day I have often repeated those words of his to me and I usually tear up and sometimes choke up, too, when I say them.

Just like I tear up and choke up seeing shots on TV of the long lines of people waiting to spend a few seconds before his body in the cathedral.

One day in 1969 or 70, soon after taking office, he came to Maryknoll and spoke to us, asking a favor of us as citizens of a culture that was by nature more tolerant of
differences than most.

"Our Korean Catholics would die to protect the Church, but they are not trained to care for the rights of others," he told us, and asked, "Teach them to do so in your parishes."

I filed that away, remembering it only years later, after that unfair letter I'd written him, unaware as I was of the "daily problems of his heart"

The cathedral he was buried from became what he wanted it to be, the center of more
than Roman Catholic worship. Those 400,000 mourners proved that to be true, By
providing sanctuary behind its wall he broke down walls, and by being the person he was, he led the Church out of its own walls.

Adoption in Korea

Many years ago I was asked if there was a possibility to adopt a Korean baby by one of the Catholics. I was new in the country and did some asking about adoption procedures and it seemed that there would be no problem. The Catholic told me that he would not be able to tell his parents of the adoption because of the strong feeling they have to bloodline. He told his parents that while he was on a business trip he met a woman with whom he had a affair and fathered a son. This was at the same time that he was making preparations to adopt a baby from one of the orphanages run by the Church in Korea.

This was something that I found difficult to understand -the adultery was not as important to the family as having a grandson who was in their blood line. I believe this has changed a great deal over the years. In recent years the domestic adoptions are larger than oversea adoptions.

The government efforts to offer financial incentives and health benefits for adoption have helped a great deal but there has been a change in the thinking of the ordinary Korea. It was an embarrassment that the Koreans were exporting so many of their babies to overseas parents. Also the whole idea of preserving the blood line is not as strong as it was. In our yearly ordination classes to the priesthood it is surprising to see how many are an only son. When I came to Korea they would not accept an only son. Things have changed greatly.

There is also the change in the eyes of many Korean on boy versus girl choices. Since my time in Korea it seems that the girls are seen to many parents, as a better investment than the boys. They remain closer to the family of origin and in most cases show more affection toward their family. A great deal of this may be the globalization of the culture but also the influence of Christianity.