Religions Visit to Pyongyang North Korea

At the end of last month a delegation from South Korea, including the leaders from seven major religious groups--Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist--visited North Korea. The visit was approved by the government, a sign of the desire to improve the relationship with the North.
 

The Catholic Times interviewed Gwangju archbishop Kim Hee-joong, a member of the 24-man delegation, who said that the hope for the trip was to contribute, even in a small way, to uniting hearts toward reunification and opening a new chapter of reconciliation and cooperation. The Times' editorial expressed hope for a change in our relationship with the North, and for more interest from our Catholics.  Below are some of the salient points made in the South-North statement, paraphrased from a short summary in the paper.

We have been together as a nation for over 5000 years, united by sharing the same blood. However, because of foreign intervention and by force, the country has been divided. Representatives of the South and North religious groups want to break the deadlock in our current situation,  and to work toward reconciliation and unity. We set our hearts for peace and unity, hoping for a new relationship.

We affirm that:
We want to break the hostile and confrontational relationship between the South and the North. We want to be on the front line with efforts to bring peace to our country, putting an end to war. The ones that are hurt by the confrontation are our own people.

We affirm that:
We support and want to carry out the historical declarations between the  South and the North. The problems between the South and the North have to be solved with the cooperation of our people according to  our thinking and to our benefit.

We affirm that:
We aspire to work for  unity with all religious groups and all segments of  society, national and international. In order to strengthen the dialogue and cooperation between the South and the North we hope to meet regularly and work for the realization of  unity of all religious people and for the unification of the homeland.  And with this in mind, we hope the  different segments  of society will be active in meeting and corresponding with each other.

The response of the North to the delegation from the South was warm and exceeded expectations. The North-South relationship has been extremely difficult to gauge, and doubts concerning unification continue to be expressed. But the efforts being made in that direction bring hope for a better future, though many are cynical, and with good reason. Efforts of religion in this very  political and difficult situation can be seen as futile. And yet, that the South had  seven leaders of different religious groups make the trip to the North is itself praiseworthy. As Archbishop Lee said, they were placing stepping stones between the two separated parts of Korea.

What Happened to the Church of the Poor?

Ordinarily, we tend to view religion as being concerned about what is happening in society, but now we have a society upset with what is going on in religion. Editorial director of a newspaper and past president of the Catholic Publishers Conference, writing the lead article in our premier Catholic magazine, presents his views on the subject.
 
"Religion has become the worry of the citizens." These words, spoken by a Buddhist monk, were picked up by the press and circulated widely. And our writer, on reading these words, had to agree, and believes he's not the only one who agrees with the monk.
 
Some of the larger Protestant churches in Seoul were too involved in what many saw as playing politics: trying to sway the recent vote in Seoul by their actions. Also in the  press recently, we have been reading about one of the largest churches in the world, where one family was seen as trying to make it their personal fief.  And there are  stories of churches  receiving privileges from the government to build their churches. Putting it bluntly, the Church was seen as too close to the party in power.   

The writer then considers the Catholic side of the issue, and looks at our problems. During the democratization of Korea,  Cardinal Kim, and  the impetus of Vatican II thinking and the foresight of the priests won the respect of the citizens, he says.  And this respect is still operative but there is a change. We should keep in mind the words of the Buddhist monk. The increase in the number of Catholics has reached a plateau. There are different ways of looking at this but our writer thinks that Catholicism is becoming the religion of the rich.

A Protestant newspaper, in a 2008 survey of the wealthiest area of Seoul, found that the Catholics outnumbered the Protestants. That many Catholics are rich is not a bad thing, but that the poor find it difficult  to approach the Catholic Church because of this fact is a problem. The poor Catholic going to church may say, "This is not a place where I feel I belong." Though said in jest it's a truth seen and expressed by many.  The weak  and poor of society find the threshold of the Catholic Church too high, and so turn away.

The Church is for the world and not the world  for the Church is a teaching we all accept; it is the teaching of Vatican II. Saying the world worries about the church and not the church about the world is  said sarcastically, and leaves one  sad and embarrassed. But the thought points to the very reason for the Church.  For Catholics to have a proper faith it is necessary not to  be content with the  present world situation but to work for a just world society and when necessary, to raise our voices, so we, as Church, can be heard.

Playing Hide and Seek

Once upon a time--as ancient tales often begin--when humanity was on friendly terms with God, he asked what fun game they would like to play. "How about playing hide and seek," they answered. "You hide and we will look for you; do not show yourself until we find you." God  said, "Good, I will hide." And so  began the game of hide and seek.

The desk columnist of the Catholic Times wants us to follow his thinking about this most important 'game.'  As we know, humanity has looked everywhere for indisputable evidence of God's presence in the world, but without success. And a game that seems to be without an achievable goal is no fun. Not enjoying the game anymore, most 'players' gave up. It was a game they didn't want to play anymore.

The columnist tells us that wars began, armies  were formed, weapons were made and sold, laws were promulgated and broken. The whole world was in turmoil. There was a desire to have God come out of hiding and put an end to the turmoil. But it was not to be. 

The philosopher Kant helps us out, says the columnist, by his critique of reason, claiming that reason has three objectives: determining what constitutes proper knowledge, what constitutes proper behavior, and what can we properly hope for. The answer to the first was a philosophy; to the second, a moral life, and to the third, religion. For Kant, the realm of religion was hope--a great insight. The knowing and  doing are possible according to each person's abilities and situation, but hope is something that transcends our personal limitations and is always available to us.

We often have hope for the ideal experience in life but experience instead its opposite. We hope that something will not happen and it does. Or hope that something will happen and it does not. We hope to make money and give to others but the opportunity never comes. We hope to live without worry but it seldom happens.  But the hope that society will change according to the belief we have is the ideal hope of the 'fools' who believe in God. A theologian has said, "Hope is faith  and despair is sin."

There are many, of course, who are still looking for God. These fools are always looking for traces of God in life. They  are looking for the reflections of righteousness and with their lives are giving it life. The world is being changed by those with ideals and hope.  They find the game of hide and seek a great joy.  

Philanthropy In Korea

Many of those donating money to society are now being publicized in the media. Their names and  pictures have appeared recently on the front page of the Chosun Daily, though four donors refused to have their pictures displayed. The donors are members of the Honor Society; begun in 2008 with six members, it now has 49. Donors who have given over one hundred thousand dollars of their own money to society qualify for membership.

An article that accompanied the front-page article mentioned that in developed countries individuals donate more money to charity than does industry. In the US, the ratio of individual to industrial donation is 8 to 2. In Korea, the overall increase of donations from what it was in 1999 has been 6-fold, and the amount of monies given by individuals has also increased over that given by industry.

80 percent of  donated money in Korea  is given for religious purposes. In England, the amount given for religious purposes is 13 percent.  In the US, it is 30 percent. In Korea, the amount given to society would be very small, according to a study group finding at a university.

The money donated in Korea would be about 0.54 percent of the GDP (gross domestic product). This would be similar to  Australia and South Africa, and one-third of that given in the US. In Korea, the average Korean would be donating about 200 dollars a year. In the US the average would be about 1,220 dollars, seven times what a Korean donates. In England they are giving about three times what a Korean is giving. Considering that Korea ranks 13th economically in the world, the article says it is a poor showing.

A 2008 survey revealed that the primary reason for not donating was a lack of interest 40 percent. Others:  " don't know where to give," or indicating that there was a lack of trust on how the money would be spent.

Those in the Honor Society feel that education and publicizing the need for more donations have to begin if we want to see an increase in giving. The rich have to give more, they said.  Others thought there should be more tax incentives for those who donate.

The campaign to increase the donation of money in Korea has started. The  Chosun Daily also had an editorial comparing the Honor Society to the Tocqueville Society in the US, whose members give over 10,000 dollars a year to the United Way charity. They started with only 20 members in 1984 and now have 26,890 members.

In Korea, the mass media will have much to do with how successful philanthropic giving will be in the future. The regret of many is knowing that much of the giving is not the kind often described as "one hand not knowing what the other is doing."

Taxi an Ideal Place to Evangelize

"A taxi is the ideal place to evangelize" is the headline of a Peace Weekly article, which portrays the life of a taxi driver who uses his taxi to inform his riders of Catholicism. Some of them find his talk disturbing, but the talkative driver usually gets their willing attention by the earnestness of his words. His passengers may be a worker returning  home who he engages  in talk about the difficulties of the workplace, talking to a mother about raising children, or a young man taking his girl friend home, about romance.

Peter, the taxi driver, after the usual conversational exchanges, will talk of his own confession of faith and the change it has made in his life; he then hands them a pamphlet on Catholicism.

The response of the customers is mostly favorable. When he does receive a negative response, he tries to come to a consensus by speaking honestly. In the back seat, very conspicuously displayed, are books and pamphlets, which are the tools of his evangelizing.  Seeing the literature, some of his customers will initiate the conversation, often saying they were interested in learning more about the Church. He thinks that about one out of ten customers are fallen-away Catholics. .

Peter is the head of the evangelization committee of the Catholic Federation of Taxi  Drivers and has been doing his taxi-evangelization for the last six years. Fervently committed to helping those with life problems, he is now taking a course on counseling. 

Every day he prays that he will say the words that God gives him as  he begins his work. Speaking about God to people he has never seen is not an easy task but he feels that the Holy Spirit is with him as he speaks to those who ride in his taxi.

Something about Korean culture--perhaps its being less secularized and more in tune with the unseen world--enables one to be less self-conscious when speaking about God.  At times, Peter's approach does have a counter effect, repelling rather than attracting some of his customers, but with charm and sincerity that is clearly not feigned, he attracts and disarms many, some of whom become members of the Church.

Seeing the Handicapped Differently

Writing in the Catholic Times, a columnist remembers the time 15 years earlier when he worked in a facility for the handicapped. A woman in her early thirties  came with a rather large bag to the  home.

She lived in an apartment  across from the home for the handicapped and met many of the  handicapped and felt pain and sorrow for them. When she saw one of the children she thought of her own child who could have been one of them and gave thanks. Then one  day the thought changed to  thinking that her child was in fact one of the handicapped; it was a new way of seeing the handicapped. That day, her child's first birthday she, prepared rice cakes for the children at the home. The writer was moved by the young woman remembering those at the home.

The  columnist mentions that when a facility for the handicapped comes into an area, many are opposed. The price of land goes down, and they feel that it will not be helpful in the education of the children, among other reasons for being against the home.

A  kindergarten student returning from  the market with her mother saw a beautiful older girl in a wheelchair. Seeing someone in a wheelchair for the first time, she asked her mother, "Why is she  like that?"  Without  hesitating the mother replied, "If you do not  obey, that will also happen to you." What a horrible way to respond to the child's question. There was a time when the problems one had in this life were seen as the result of sins of a past life.

The writer was much moved by the gesture of the young woman who came
with her rice cakes to the home. Her child is now 15 years old and he 
prays that the child is growing into a healthy maturity.

100th Anniversary of the Maryknoll Mission Society

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Maryknoll Mission Society. The Catholic Times interviewed  Fr. Edward M Dougherty, the superior general of the society, in presenting the first installment of Maryknoll's history of mission.

"Our  society began work in Korea in 1923, said Fr. Dougherty, and this year we are celebrating our 100th anniversary.  We have always been one with the Korea Church. We worked in the Pyongyang Diocese,  helped in the establishing  the Sisters of Perpetual Help,  were together with the Korean people fighting for  democracy and the rights of workers and  were with them in developing health education, welfare, and in working  for  peaceful unification. We have been working closely with them in many areas of development for the last 88 years."

He went on to say, "The Korean Church from its foundation has seen a rapid increase of the number of Catholics, and its participation in society is a sign of the zeal of Korean Catholics. It is easy to see the spirituality and sacrifice motivating their faith life."

He did mention one problem that he saw with the Korean Church. With its history of foreign missioners coming to Korea and helping the Church grow, and now with the maturity of the Korean Church  he wonders if the Korean Church is not  somewhat negligent in the work of mission to other countries.

The society  will also continue to  dialogue with religions in the countries in which Maryknoll  works.  This need for  dialogue between religions Maryknoll considers very important and will continue to draw up plans to implement this among the Maryknollers working in the different world cultures.                                                                                                                                                                                                          
Maryknoll  will continue to have events to commemorate the anniversary of the first Mission Society of the American Church. The superior general did say the small number of candidates  coming into  the society is a problem Maryknoll will have to face. With the changes in society there will have to be a change in the way Maryknoll  approaches prospects. We will be working  not only in the formation of new candidates, Fr, Dougherty said but also in improving the quality of those who are members of Maryknoll. He ends by thanking  the Korean Catholics for playing such an important role in Maryknoll history.