On His 49th Year as Priest

June 11, 2009 4:31 am According to the Korean way of calculating I was 32 when I came here I’m 81, now, What’s the same? And what’s changed? Nothing’s the same And nothing’s changed. The really ‘me’ inside, that Essence – the consciousness inside that mud from Eden that we now know as star dust. A star dies, explodes, its dust gives shape and form to us. Out of space and silence Comes --- us…. The shapes we have at age two, thirty-two, eighty-one. But those shapes and concretions added to us since our first appearance here, whether healthy body, active mind, bad decisions, good works, unhappy failures, joyous accomplishments – none of these things are us. The “I” that is “me” – The conscious awareness – is separate from all these things – it can’t be labeled anymore than what we label “God” can be labeled nor can it pass away any more than “where-it-comes-from” can pass away. Philosophers, theologians, Hindu holy men, sibyls, oracles, holy women, thinkers of all shapes and sizes And often very varying opinions, all are consciousnesses! (There’s a word to tell you how difficult it is to try to place a name on it - ) The Buddhists say God has nine billion names; Saint John said it better: ‘God is love,’ Which is as easily graspable as how many billion stars are in the sky. Love: you and I, he and she, we and they all related, interconnected (hooray for DNA) not only to each other, but to apes and peacocks, taro roots and lily pads, dirt, mud, ice, water, steam – every-thing that is part of us, from exploding stars big bang, before, after, Space, Silence, Two, thirty-two, eighty-one ‘Past’ and ‘future’ are mere mental constructions. The joy is now – this moment now – forever all inter-connected, God is love. Thoughts early on a June morning 49th anniversary of ordination. James Sinnott, MM To learn more about Father Sinnott and his years in Korea click here.

Sad Statistics

The Catholic Magazine for priests that was published for many years called Samok stopped publishing in the beginning of 2007. It was the theological magazine for the clergy of the country; the expense of publishing and the subsidy it required was too much to carry, so it was discontinued. In 2008 the Gaudium and Spes Pastoral Institute began publishing with an introductory issue Joy and Hope (Gaudium and Spes). This year the 3rd volume has come out and below is an article that I will summarize titled, Sad Statistics.

Money is the standard of happiness and success in our world , he begins .

He mentions in the Gallup Poll taken last August the young Koreans see money as the prerequisite for happiness. The following was taken from a daily newspaper.

1) Do you believe that becoming rich is life's meaning for success?
Korea (50.4%), Japan (33%), China (27%) U.S. (22%)

2) Do you think that any method of making money is permissible?
Korea (23.3%) U.S. (21.2) Japan (13.4%) China (5.6%)

Transparency International this year had a survey among the middle and high school children in Korea, Bangladesh, Mongolia, and India they were asked.

3) To become rich is more important than to live honestly? Right?
Korea (22.6%) Bangladesh (3.1%) India (8.4%) Mongolia (9.1%)

The writer makes it very clear the sadness he feels seeing that the Korean students are over 3 to 7 times more disposed to wealth over honesty even though they are the better off of the four nations listed.

He mentions that 90 % of the European population has become much wealthier over the last 30 years but they have not been able to translate this into happiness. He feels that the Church has not been able to portray itself with the spirit of poverty. Jesus made it very clear that life is not the amassing of material things. They are absolutely necessary, important, and good but they are not everything. He concludes his remarks with: "The Church has joined the way of the World in its trust in the material and by doing so we have not been able to give Him to the world. "














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The Catholic Bishops' Report

The report of the Bishops on the 2008 Catholic Statistics had no real surprises except for the fact that the number of Catholics has reached the 5 million mark- 10% of the population consider themselves Catholic.


The first official statistical report was published in 1907 with a total of 70,000. There has been a very large increase over the intervening years. However, it is not all rosy as one editorial expressed it in business parlance: "we have been selling more with a decrease in the profits."

From the year 2000 we have been increasing but the number of infant baptisms, those frequenting the Sacraments, Sunday attendance has decreased, the number of tepid has increased. The number of women is 58% and men 41%. This can be seen in any Sunday Mass. The Seoul Diocese has the largest percentage of Catholics with 13.6% .The number of those coming into the Church over the past 7 years is an increase of about 2%. This seems to hold steady for the other religions.

The most significant figure for me is the number of those attending Mass on Sunday. This should be a reliable figure of the devotion of our Catholics. It is 24% a decrease of 6.7% from what it was in 1998. The United States despite the problems the Church has had with the sexual abuse issue, the closing of Churches and other serious scandals, the number of Catholics is reported to be 25 percent that attend Mass on Sunday. That for me is an extraordinary figure when I compare it to the Korean 24%. We know statistics can mean very little but it does make the Korean Church concern on trying to match the internal situation with what we can see externally a very important task for the future.

Charisma Quotient (CQ) Demanding Times

One of the priests in the diocese writing for the Pastoral leaflet written for priests, had a very interesting take on our dealings with others. He mentioned how he himself when working as a manager of one of the committees preparing for a Church event, worked extremely hard, to the point of exhaustion.

There were many difficulties during that time but the biggest was working with a superior who thought differently than he did. He would give a stipend to those who worked on some of the preparations ; even when help was requested of someone, giving a stipend was frowned upon.

He mentioned the case of a person who was asked to write an article for a Sunday Bulletin and received 50 dollars as a stipend.“Father I work on this article for 5 full days and was given 50 dollars isn’t that a pittance?” He said laughing sheepishly.

He mentioned how those of us who work for the Church, and put in a great deal of time, take it for granted that this should be the case with others. However, we can not force others to volunteer their services even for a good cause.

He then ends by saying we should spend more time trying to win people to our side. This is what society seems to ask of us these days - CQ (Charisma Quotient) I would summarize what he said by the Dale Carnegie line: "to win friends and influence people". He concludes the article: “It is when others feel thanks and love that they will be large hearted and act warmly to others.”

The Sergeant Who Didn't Give A Damn

One of our Maryknollers who died in 2002, Fr. Roman Theisen, wrote a booklet titled People I Love. In the dedication he wrote: " The Good Lord has Blessed me with His Love and with the Love of many good Friends both in my homeland and in the "Field Afar". I will, at times, take from the booklet and paraphrase his vignettes for the blog.


Between the Parish and the Tribunal I was swamped with work, and already tired just thinking of it.

The Sister Secretary of our Seoul Archdiocesan Tribunal seemed frightened as she ushered a big U.S. Army Sergeant into my office. "Good morning, Father. Our Chaplain sent me to see about my marriage. I was married in the Church and divorced some years ago. Now I'm remarried out of the Church. The Chaplain said I should see you to get straightened out. I don't really give a damn about this religious stuff. But the Chaplain is a good Joe and I don't want to hurt his feelings. I thought I'd humor him."

I sighed, and thought of the hours of work it would take to process this man's case. And this for a belligerent bore who didn't "give a damn".

I felt anger rising within me, but I was too tired to throw him out. I took him through the questionnaires and obtained the other documents necessary. It turned out the Tribunal was able to grant him a declaration of nullity for the first marriage.

He returned to the Tribunal as belligerently as the first time, even refusing to sit down. I told him that the tribunal granted a declaration of nullity for his first marriage and he will be free to marry his present wife in the Church.

The big man looked at me; his face showed complete astonishment. He sat down. Tears flowed down his cheeks and he began to cry. When he regained control, he said quietly: "Father, this is going to be a very Happy Easter. My wife and I haven't been able to receive the sacraments for twelve years."

I wondered, "How many hurting people hide their hurt with a 'I don't give a damn?'"

Is the Latin Mass Necessary in Korea?

My colleague over in Western Confucian has a report on the "first Mass" in 40 years celebrated here in Korea. Check it out here.

I was surprised to read the report of a Traditional Latin Mass that was held in a church in Yongsan. It was commented that no Catholic media was present or any welcoming by a bishop, even though this was the first Latin Mass in Korea in 40 year. I can certainly see why and sympathize completely with the Church approach to this attempt to introduce the Latin Mass in the Country. It is not coming from the Korean Christians themselves.

In many parts of the Catholic world there is a legitimate desire for the Latin Mass but I believe that it is a mistake to think that the Catholics here in Korea have a desire for the Latin Mass. Most of our Christians are very recent and have no idea of what the Latin Mass is. We in Korea have not been polarized as many parts of the Catholic world have. We also have the Society of Saint Pius X in Korea with its strong desire to return to the pre-Vatican II days. I can see how the Church in Korea is not too happy to see a return to a time that most of our Christians do not miss or have any idea of what it was like.

It was reported about 200 attended the Mass. Those present, it was mentioned, were unfamiliar with the Latin Mass and the kneeling and receiving on the tongue was something they were not used to seeing, but commented on the reverence that was shown. There are many times when a person prefers to receive on the tongue and this is appreciated but you also have, very rarely, those that come to communion and want to receive kneeling. The Korean Church is probably one of the best organized and obedient Churches in the World. There is a problem when all is from above but the Korean Church is a young Church and the Christians are intelligent and zealous, the laypeople very active. We will be seeing a maturity and hopefully not with a loss of the unity, Church harmony and docility of our Korean Catholics.