Sugar Coated Poison

The Catholic Times' writer on spirituality recalls walking passed a high school and seeing over the main gate a placard with the name of a student and the college he will be entering. The writer surmises it was big news for the community to have a student from the high school accepted in one of the country's top colleges.

More significant, he thought, than placing a placard at the entrance to the school, strange as that may seem, would be asking how much discussion went into the decision and whether any consideration was given to some of the possible results of labeling a student in such a manner; and did they also consider, he wonders, what the other students in his class might make of this singling out of this one student?
 
The writer, a priest, who worked in a mental hospital for many years, remembers a young man he came to know many years before. He was very talented and had his own placard when he graduated from high school. He attended one of the top colleges, and in his third year decided to leave and follow another dream. He wanted to get rid of the pressure he experienced from the many years of study.

However, when he left college, he couldn't forget the past and the 'placard of success' the sugar covered poison from his high school. He had difficulty sleeping, becoming restless and irritated, acting strangely and talking gibberish; he soon was admitted to a mental hospital.

The priest had many talks with the young man during his period of recovery; the young man was finding it difficult to adapt to every day life. He couldn't forget the expectations family and friends had for him. The placard over the gate of his high school was determining his life; it was a mold that all his expectations were being forced into. And knowing he was also at fault made it all the harder for him to accept.
 
He concludes his column with the  columnist's own reflections.  Don't, he says, put students into a mold and make them follow what first-class colleges and departments want for their students. Let them  dream. Don't let one exam determine how a person is to live his life. Discard words like first-class colleges and first-class departments.  His own dream is to see a day that not all have to follow their strong points to the detriment of a  healthy and rewarding life in society.

Not Art for Art's Sake

"Art today is not just something to look at but has a mission to perform not much different from the mission of the Church." These are the words of the rector of the Incheon Catholic University of Art and Design in an interview with the Catholic Times. He says the school's mission is to form persons who will use their artistic talents to influence the culture of Catholicism; it will be a tool that can be used for evangelizing, by sending out into the world those that have been formed with this vision.
 

When this profound message is missing from Church art, we have a diminishment in quality. We need artists who have grafted religion and art in a way that can inspire and transmit the Christian message. In our world, it is necessary to break down the walls between disciplines so students are free to study what they want.
 

The place of  art in the culture of a society is important in the way religion will be seen. The Church needs to have a new understanding of the rightful place of art and culture in our lives. Diversity is a necessary ingredient in a fulfilled life. If this is not experienced, we will have impediments to religion, art and culture, and we will not be able to form mature artists. The rector said that in Germany, all have an  opportunity to participate in the creating and selecting of religious articles and religious art. 

The interviewer asked the rector what was the reason the University failed to get a good evaluation from the government. He said it was the result of the way the government appraises universities, considering all universities as places to educate for employment, comparing the Catholic University of Art and Design with other universities, using the same standard. Since their University does not have all the allowable seats taken, and many of their graduates were unemployed, this was seen as a negative in the evaluation.
 

The rector is committee chairman for the policies of the combined  art schools, and will make his suggestions known. At present, the foundational studies for an integral education are widely being discarded in schools throughout the country, but in the Catholic University the basic humanity courses, as well as others necessary in preparing for a career in the art world, are taken seriously.
 

Catholic University started 15 years ago and has grown rapidly. In the country, it is considered third in visual arts and fifth in pure art. The aim of the school is the formation of artists who have a message to give, not the once popular idea of art for art's sake.

Need to Lower Expectations

A secular paper carried the story of a priest of the Seoul diocese who spent his life working for the poor in different countries of the world and  finally ended up seriously depressed and living with his sister.

 A journalist, a woman young enough to be his granddaughter, interviewed him for the paper.
 At one point during the interview, he said, "It's strange to have a priest with depression isn't it? Well, I have all my life worried about money, and that stress put me here."

His father, a wealthy and prominent Catholic doctor, was hoping to be working in a hospital with his sons. The first son did become a doctor and the second son started off in Seoul University Medical School but after two years dropped out to enter the seminary. His son's decision to leave medical school so angered the  father that he turned away from the Church for a few years. But not entirely giving up hope, the father secretly had the medical school consider his son on a leave of absence. While the son was in the seminary, the rector heard about his problem in deciding between medicine and the priesthood and told him to go on for a medical degree, and return to the seminary to become a priest-doctor working for the poor. Which he did and was ordained a priest, spending 10 years working for the poor in a refugee area of Seoul while teaching in the Catholic Medical School.
 
 In 1987, he left Korea to go to South American and ended up working in one of the poorest areas of Ecuador. He returned to Korea and sold all his possessions to help in the medical work. From Ecuador, he went to Africa and a number of other areas where they needed medical help. During all this time money was necessary to form medical teams to continue the work for the poor without any burden on them. This was a great drain on him and a reason for much of his stress.
 
Returning to Korea near his 70th birthday, he had difficulty eating and sleeping. He found it even difficult to face his priest friends and went to the home of his youngest sister to live. There he would spend hours looking out into space. The sister made efforts to have him see a doctor, but his answer was always: "this is the will of God."  He knew his problem for his symptoms were the classical ones for depression in all the medical books. He didn't want to face the facts. But his sister convinced him to swallow his pride and see a doctor. Which he did.
 
He was told the stress in raising money and overwork brought about his depression. His condition has improved greatly and he is already planning to continue his medical work for the poor. This is part of the reason he agreed to the interview and is hoping to have enough money to continue his work.

This is a good example for us to ponder on what faces many in living up to their ideals. Many have great expectations but are not sufficiently prepared to carry out what they envision. Some are able to maneuver within the situation while others are overcome by it; their dreams being bigger than what they are able to handle, there often is a breakdown of health, either physical or mental. We sometimes hear, spoken in jest, "Keep your expectations low and be an overachiever." Though there may be some truth expressed here, which will motivate some, others may find that having realistic expectations will ultimately be more satisfying.

Physically Disabled in the Church

The chairman for the United Handicapped Groups in the Incheon diocese, in his interview with the Catholic Times,says that church facilities for handicapped have improved a lot, but we still have discrimination toward those who are disabled.

From the age of four, the chairman has not been able to walk because of infantile paralysis. After many operations and therapy, and with the aid of crutches, he walks but with difficulty. He has received second level government recognition as a craftsman in precious metals and is working as a dental technician, but is still aware of being discriminated against, he says, both in society and in the church.

In the past, when facilities for the handicapped were rare, it was difficult for the handicapped to go to Mass. However, when a person with disabilities was seen standing before the stairs leading to the church, there would usually be some Christian there asking if they could help; now it is rare that someone would approach them, asking to help.

In the early days when there was no help from the diocese, the different groups of the disabled in the diocese would go to the parishes to sell tickets for  their plays and events. There would be those who would be helpful but many who would look at us coolly, the chairman recalls. Now, with the financial aid from the diocese, he went on to explain, we have the necessary funds to have our events, but when we go to the different parishes to announce our programs, the priests and office-help find it difficult to react naturally with us, and sometimes refuse to make our programs known to the Christians.

Since 1998, all new buildings must have facilities for the handicapped. This has made a big difference but the deaf and blind still need help to participate in the sacramental life of the church. At Mass, the handicapped usually sit up front. For some of the handicapped it is necessary that they have help at the offertory and at communion; without the help, they are lost on what to do.

With the proliferation of facilities for the handicapped, he tactfully observed, this should cause a change in the care for the disabled within the Church, adding that he hopes the disabled Christians will be more active in approaching, with respect and love, other members of the community, as Jesus did when with us on earth.

"Life is the Here and Now"

Columnist in the Catholic Times in his  'semitransparent notes on life,  reflects, now in his early eighties, on what he would say if asked, "what is human life?" His answer: "Life is the here and now." Even if, he goes on to say, the place and time will never be repeated, the here and now can always be experienced.
 

For us who have lived through the important places and times of our lives: infancy, adolescence, middle years, and now old age, it is not meaningful to ask what was the best. However, it is naturally thought that the youthful years were the best. He reminds us of Hesse's novel Youth, Beautiful Youth  which gives us this view of life. Even more so the sculptor Auguste Rodin, who extolled youth; for him this was the time to enjoy life: romance, feasting, adventure, physical vigor, dreams, and the like.
 

However, our writer for the Catholic Times returns to the here and now, which for him is the important place and time on life's journey. But there is no absolute standard of judging this place and time, he says. As our inner life continues to change, it tends to bring lasting changes into our lives as well.

The columnist looks at a picture of his years in kindergarten; obviously the same person but hardly recognizable. The movement of life has been one of continuation and non-continuation. If we had a graph of the time from infancy to old age, he claims that the middle years would stand out like some mountain top. However, it would not be difficult to see the similarities of the first and last stages in life.
 
Both in the early and later years one cannot go it alone. Someone has to be there to help. And life becomes simpler. We cannot go after the competitive goals of life, and sex is something no longer of interest if we are old, or not yet of interest if we are infants. Comparing ourselves with others has ceased to be important or not yet entered our awareness. Overall, life tends to become orderly.

In conclusion, the writer reflects on his 80th birthday party, during which he said he is now entering his best years. He made the remark, he said, without thinking but in retrospect, he believes it to be accurate. He considers every day important, and lets distracting thoughts go by the wayside; it was this feeling he was expressing. He now experiences a peace he did not know when young; each day is filled with joy. It is like a three-part harmony: memories, joys and sorrows--and the melody, life. And it's beautiful. 

Human Rights Day 2011

Today, Dec. 10, is Human Rights Day. The day the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948. "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." This first article of the declaration sounds as if it were taken from the Bible.
 
Throughout the country this week, the Catholic Church, in its many parishes and institutions, has examined the social teachings of the Church. Many will hear a review of Catholic Korean history concerning human rights, and specifically about an incident that happened in a small country parish on an island in Incheon during the 1960s.

The Young Catholic Workers Movement (JOC) was started in this country parish in 1965 by the Maryknoll priest-pastor. Many of the members worked in the textile factory on the island. Because of their membership in the JOC movement, they were sensitive to the human rights abuses they experienced and decided to start a labor union within the factory; management was opposed and the young workers were fired. About 30 Catholics were detained at the police station, and the pastor was threatened by the president of the company, government officials, and the police. No Catholics, it was decided, would be hired in the future.

The president of the JOC was the bishop of Masan, who at that time was Bishop Stephen Kim, later to become the cardinal-archbishop of Seoul. He strongly backed the workers, and Bishop McNaughton of Incheon also proclaimed the right of the workers to unite. This response to the incident in Kangwha, the first formal declaration of the Bishops Conference on a societal issue, marked the official entrance of the Church into the problems of society. The company did rescind its order and rehired the workers and all, at least temporarily, returned to normal.  
 
Some years later, another Maryknoller was forced to leave the country because of his involvement with a so-called spy conspiracy plot by the members of the Peoples' Revolutionary Party, who were considered communist spies. They were arrested and quickly executed. The Maryknoll priest very vocally sided with these men and was forced to leave the country. However, with the change in the political climate of Korea, many years later he was invited back with a hero's welcome and invited to the Blue House by the president. The eight men who were executed were later declared innocent, and their families given a large sum of money in reparation.
 
Many of the very visible problems concerning human rights violations have been solved to a large extent in Korea, and past history will be part of the education for the future. The Church hopes the consciousness-raising during this week of proclaiming the social teachings of the Church will help to open the eyes of our Catholics to an important teaching that many still are not sufficiently aware of. It will give added meaning to the first article in the Declaration of Human Rights.

Steps to Self-actualization

On the opinion page of the Catholic Times, the columnist brings up Abraham Maslow, the psychologist who made us aware of what he called the hierarchy of needs. The title of his opinion piece is "For what does one live?" 

The first need, according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is for physiological, biological fulfillment: food, clothing, shelter and sex. Food is not everything, but without it nothing else matters.
 

The second need is safety. When the physiological needs are filled, we then look for security. But this  also is not enough and there is a search for love and belonging. Since this also  does not fully satisfy there is the search for esteem or self-worth.  Here, we have the desire, according to our columnist, for  recognition, feeling of superiority over others, confidence in  one's capabilities, search for status,  fame, and  the desire for a good reputation, to receive rewards and to control  others.

However, here again a person is not completely satisfied. So we go to the last level, which is self-actualization, which Maslow also called 'growth motivation.' The columnist feels this is where God has an important part to play in the self-actualization process.
 
This does not mean that each person has to follow these steps to self-actualization. Gandhi, the columnist argues, did not follow the usual steps, as many others did not, but he feels this is not how it's commonly done.
 
The columnist mentions that he has heard of many who have made a name for themselves in life, but when death comes they look back and wonder what they did with their life that could have been done better,expressing remorse for not having lived a more fulfilling life.The desire later in life for self-examination  often leaves many with a feeling of dissatisfaction. But many reach the 4th level of needs and rest there, content to enjoy the pleasures of life and indulge one's self-importance.  

In the fifth level, self-actualization, the columnist says we should not underestimate the part of religion in reaching this level and going beyond it. It is in the here and now, in the place where we find ourselves, that we realize our ideals. This is not to impress others or be acknowledged by others, but to satisfy our own need for personal growth. 
 
He ends the article with the Genesis story of Joesph and his growth from a selfish young man to a person that could forgive and overcome all he had endured in the past. Helped by the grace of God, he had become a self-actualized human being.