Bishop William McNaughton, 85, the
first bishop of the Incheon
diocese and the last foreign bishop in the Korean Church, was
interviewed in Rome after attending the outdoor Mass in St. Peter's
Square, which commemorated the start, 50 years earlier, of Vatican II.
The Peace Weekly, taken from CNS, reported his recollections of the council, noting that
he is one of 70 still alive of those who attended the council.
Speaking
about his first visit to Rome, the bishop said that because of
television he felt he was at the gate of heaven, seeing the basilica
with all the lights turned on. He attended every session except for two
because of illness. For him, the highlight of the council was the
approval of the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, a magnificent
document that devotes a whole chapter to the "people of God." That term
is often interpreted as a reference to the laity, but a more careful
reading of the constitution makes it clear that it refers to everyone in
the Church: pope and bishops, as well as laity.
Bishop
McNaughton speaks with regret that there has been so much ignorance and
misunderstanding of the council documents. The Constitution of the
Sacred Liturgy, for instance, authorized moving the tabernacle to a
separate devotional chapel, he said, but many simply shunted the
Eucharist to the side of the main sanctuary. This is a reason, he
feels, there is not a full understanding of what the tabernacle means. The
document also called for fewer statues in churches, but some removed all
statues and put the Blessed Mother's statue out in a corridor or lobby.
Another example, he said, citing The Decree
on the Renewal of the Religious Life, was the directive that
urged religious women to
modify their habit according to circumstances of time and place and the
needs of the ministry. It did not say habits should be removed
because the habit is a "sign of consecration." All are obvious examples,
he said, that the documents were not being read, or not read closely
enough.
In the
interview, the bishop says the council must be understood in continuity
with the church's tradition and not as a radical break with the past.
"Look at the footnotes," he said. "There is a constant reference there
to the various ecumenical councils of the Church and to the fathers of
the Church. So it is a continuity."
The
bishop, accordingly, rejects arguments that the council was to blame for
the decline in Catholic observance and the rise of secularism over the
last century. "The council did not cause this, he said. It was the society we created that brought this change into our lives.
Our task now is winning
back the world, which is the aim of the new evangelization. However
unpromising the political landscape may appear for that project to succeed, Bishop McNaughton is ultimately hopeful that it will.
Baby boomers are now reaching retirement age, and what this means for
Korea is the topic of the View from the Ark column in the Catholic
Times. The columnist begins with a sijo (a short lyrical poem) a teacher gave him
on graduating from middle school: "In one hand a stick, in the other, thorns to beat and prevent the approach of old age, but no matter what is done,
the white hairs will come."
According to the census of 2010. our society is aging rapidly: 11 percent of the population is over 65; in 2018, it is predicted to be over 18
percent; in 2026, over 20 percent. One-fourth of those over 65, however, are still active in society; over half of them in some
religious capacity.
From a Catholic
perspective, the statistics show that more than 20 percent of Catholics are more than 60 years of age, and more than 19 percent are in their 50s. The Church is getting older quicker than
the larger society. The advance of the nuclear family and early
retirement means that the concern for the elderly will soon be a
societal problem. According to a survey made by the bureau of
statistics the concerns of those over 65 are money and
health.
The elderly also want more health examinations: 33
percent; nursing care: 29 percent; help with home chores, 16 percent; and help in finding a job, 8 percent. Consequently, the problems in the future, the columnist says, will be poverty, disease, loneliness, living alone, and difficulty in
finding work, which means the burden on society will increase.
The
setting sun gives us the beautiful twilight hours of the evening. And
at this time of year, autumn gives us the beautiful colors of falling
leaves. We come into the world with blessings, and after our formal education and
overcoming the vicissitudes of life, we too enter our twilight years. What will that mean for most of us?
The columnist
tells us the elders have much to teach the generations that will follow.
There is the wisdom of age: learning from poverty, lessons from life, and
asceticism. We all desire to live the happy life. Are
the elders in our society living the happy life?
Many have told us about the beauty of old age. St Augustine
tells us of his discovery of God, in his old age: "Late have I loved you, beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved you! Lo, you were within, but I outside, seeking there for you; and upon the shapely things you have made I rushed headlong." St.
Francis de Sales tells us in the Introduction to the Devout Life that
we, like a pearl in a clam, should be a pearl of joy to the world.
The twilight years are the years during which we should have emptied ourselves of the
accidentals of life for its essentials and a trust in God. Living with
thanks, mellowness, humility, and love, we can rest finally in the enjoyment of the everlasting life we have received on our journey of pilgrimage to God.
Examining a few hairs of the head to predict the future of a child
and the parent's disposition to disease would make life a great deal
easier, a professor begins his article in the Catholic Times, Even if we did not start off with the best mental and physical equipment, we would be able to attain long life and success. All thanks to the genetic information now available. But is this really the case? the professor asks.
We all would like to know what the future holds for us. Isn't
this the reason one reads books on fortune telling, casts horoscopes, analyzes a person's face, and the like. The
advances made in genetic science has given hope to some, that with the study of
the genes we will be able to foresee the future, and by comparing and analyzing the gene map, we will come to know the
height, personality, capabilities and possibilities of disease.
All these possibilities, however, carry potential dangers. Muscular dystrophy, as well as 139 other genetic disorders can be predicted in the embryonic and fetus stage. The possibilities of treatment are minimal so most of the unhappiness results in abortions, which the present Child Health Law allows.
The DNA Act and the Punishment of Violence Act, enacted a few years ago, allow collecting DNA from suspects of habitual and heinous
crimes in order to diminish the number of these crimes. But the professor says these laws can be
misused, as they were recently, following a labor dispute and a controversial government policy. Those who used work strikes to make their points in labor disputes, and those who were demonstrating against the government were arrested, and the courts had no problem with allowing the collection of DNA from some of the striking workers and the anti-government demonstrators.
But they are not violent criminals, the writer points out, and should not be considered habitual offenders.
Collecting DNA
from an individual brands the person as a sick member of society, and discrimination against the person usually follows. He mentions that the eugenics movement of the United States tried to prevent bad genes from increasing in society. A great deal of money went
into the movement and a great many things were done that are embarrassing to
remember: limiting emigration and forcing sterilization. It was later realized that the genetic information does not determine a person's
ability or future.
He concludes the article with a
question: what is to be done with DNA testing? It's an important issue requiring serous thought. Hopefully, many will be part of the discussion.
Ideas on the meaning of spirituality--its role in the world and its place in our personal lives--have been hotly debated for centuries. Recently, a journalist for the Peace Weekly has given us her ideas on this important subject after reading the book, Art of Living, by the German Benedictine priest Anselm Grun. By discussing spirituality in a very practical manner, Grun lays out nine ways we can go about giving spirituality a more prominent place in our daily lives.
-accept ourselves as we are and not as we think we ought to be -make time for leisure and enjoying life
-find meaning in whatever we do
-maintain a deep relationship with others
-relate with friends
-practice the virtue of charity
-turn difficulties into opportunities
-continue to search for your dream
-live each moment.
We are asked to look for the ability and courage to live; only we can do that. Too
many of us are trying to escape from ourselves, from our discontent,
from guilt, from other people. We can't do it by running away from our conflicts, Grun says, and no one can do it for us, so we should resolve to face our problems bravely and come to a reconciliation. The first step in this reconciliation, he says, is to permit ourselves the time to face the situation.
Grun asks us, the journalist says, to
be conscious of time; it will show us the true meaning of death. When
death is always before our eyes, we will relate correctly with our work,
with material goods, and with those around us; it will be our way to peace. To live with the thought of death means to live in the present totally and with awareness, and come to appreciate life as a gift.
Grun advises that we also slow down the pace of our lives, in order to lessen the anxiety that develops from living a fast-paced life. Anxious people can't stop, wait, and take the time to look around before deciding on what to do next. Everything tends to be done quickly, without much thoughtful preparation. They live frantically, run around in circles, and fail to live well.
To
live well, to allow our spiritual nature to flourish, we have to have time for leisure; without it, we will not take full advantage of the life we have been given. Only those who have found this deep rhythmic spirituality in their lives are able to
live a fully meaningful life.
Spreading the Gospel is the
mission of the Church. Each year the next-to-last Sunday of October,
the month of harvest, is Mission Sunday, during which we
hear sermons on ways to carry out this mission. On this Sunday all
collections are sent to Rome and distributed to the areas of the world
most in need.
It's also a time
to reflect on the need for
mission work and how we can help in this harvesting. What is
in question is not the mandate but how to put it into practice. The
columnist of
View from the Ark, in the
Catholic Times, feels using words to carry out this mandate no
longer has the results it once did in the early days of the Church.
In the time of Jesus, for the most part, words were the only way to express our thoughts; this is no longer the case. Today it can be done in many ways: with our hands and feet, our music, books, pictures, and films, our poetry and the internet, among many other possibilities. He
feels the printed page, although important, no longer influences us as
much as it did in the past; the electronic revolution has changed all
that.
Because of
the enormous amount of information we have to deal with today, it's
becoming difficult to distinguish what's true from what's false, and so
we tend to question whatever we hear and read, often adopting a doubting attitude about everything. Because of this tendency, the columnist feels that the influence of words to change our lives is greatly reduced.
So what do we do? he asks. In Korea we say "Confucius said," or "Mencius said," but what does that mean if we do not
act and live by what is being said. This is true also of the words of the Gospel, which we
aspire to make known to all.
The bishops of Japan made a study
of this problem and concluded that in the Japanese and Korean cultures words have li
ttle to do with the way we act. Actions, the examples of others, are what moves and inspires us to want to change.
Two
men who lived what they preached, according to the columnist, and influenced the lives of many were Fr. Lee
Tae Seok and Cardinal Kim. The documentary on the life of Fr. Lee in the
Sudan moved many people, and Cardinal Kim's visits
to refugee villages, saying Mass at the Seoul City dump, spending
time at Easter with women prostitutes and with those in prison moved the
hearts of many. It is this kind of evangelizing that should be the focus of our present concerns. Moving hearts, says the columnist, is what the
new evangelization is all about.
We don't find too many Koreans praising the Japanese but the
editorial board of a Korean bulletin for priest does just that. Founder of the Panasonic Company, Konosuke Matsushita has been praised for spreading his life-affirming message to today's young people.
Matshusita was born into a wealthy family that lost
everything while he was still very young. Never finishing grammar school and struggling with poor health during his youth, he worked at minor jobs before starting a small electronic company in 1918, which in
time developed into the Panasonic Company, one of the
world's largest company, with over 130,000 employees.
Much of his success, according to the Bulletin article, came about because of the gifts he had received. Because of the gift
of
poverty, he had to work as a shoeshine boy and as a paperboy, receiving
in the process a great deal of experience on how to live.
Because of poor health, he had to exercise to regain and maintain his health. And because of little education (his formal education ended at the age of nine), everybody he met was his
teacher. He never lost the opportunity to ask others for help in
improving whatever he was doing.
He was praised for his ability in dealing
with others, which he credited to his seeing others as his
superiors. His attitude was that they were likely to know more than he did, and were likely to be more competent than he was. Lacking formal education he
had to gather as much knowledge as he could from other people. By admitting to knowing nothing, he said he was at all times always learning.
The Bulletin article points out that many who have made a study of Matsushita say
he was a very ordinary man who became an extraordinary
man because he completely embraced his ordinariness as few others
have done. His secret for economic success was to enable those working
in his company to
work to the utmost of their capabilities. He was for a time an innovator
in improving cooperation between labor and management, in developing
talent,
and in making the workplace a lifelong commitment.
He
used to say that the difference between the jail and the monastery is the difference between living with discontent or living with thanks. If in prison and you give
thanks, you are in a monastery; if in a monastery and not content, you are in jail.
Here
is a man who grew up with adversity and yet could see the beauty, the
value and opportunities of life without having any religious beliefs to guide him. He became a great leader in our
world where so many others, having struggled with adversity, have given up hope.
There are
many who live according to what Catholics would call natural law or right reason. We can only thank God for their sensitivity to the dictates of right reason. When we see a
person who has money as his object and in search of profits and behaving the way Mitsubishi did it is extraordinary.
Starting
today, October 24, Maryknoll Sisters will hold a week-long celebration commemorating 100 years of service to those in need, a worldwide service that has been praised recently by Catholic media as their "All Weather Apostolic Ministry."
Many events have been planned for the
week, beginning with a symposium on "Mission: A Way of Showing God's
Love," and having on hand the illustrated book, in comic-book format, of the life of the founder of the Maryknoll Sisters, Mollie Rogers. Talks will be given during the week by sisters discussing their work in North Korea, the labor apostolate, their medical work, and their
work with women in society. On display will be photographs of the 123 Maryknoll Sisters who have worked in Korea for the past 88 years, and an exhibition of paintings by a Korean Maryknoll Sister working in Hawaii.
The Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic: M.M.--the full name of the congregation--was started by Mary Joseph
Rogers with three sisters in 1912, becoming the first
American women's missionary society. Today, there are 550
members in 30 countries of the world.
The Sisters began their missionary journey in the country in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 1934, working as teachers, doing parish and medical work, and founding a vocational school
for women. They were also involved in starting the first
Korean Sisters Community: the Sisters of Perpetual Help, in 1932. Because of
the Second World War and the Korean War, the sisters who were American had to
leave the country. One of the Maryknoll Sisters,a Korean, remained behind and is presumed killed by the the Communists during the ordeal in the North.
On the return of the sisters
to Korea after the war, they started the Maryknoll hospital in Pusan, a
clinic in the Chongju diocese and a hospital in Kangwha in the Inchon
diocese. They worked in welfare, in the labor apostolate and
in education. The first credit union in Pusan, an innovation in Korea, which was started by Sister Gabriela, spread throughout the country. In 1968 the sisters turned over the Maryknoll Hospital in Pusan to the diocese, and in 1978, the
Nursing School to the diocese.
As the society began to
flourish, the sisters went to the country and farming areas to help, while continuing their medical work on a number of islands. The sisters who remained
in the city were involved in justice and peace issues, the labor apostolate, building
communities, teaching English, and helping
battered women. About 10 Koreans are now working with the
Sisters as affiliates.
The sisters have played a significant role in building the Korean Catholic community and now, having turned over
most of their works to the Church in Korea, have moved on to other
countries where their ideals and charisms are more needed.
