Who is the True Leader?

Most of the parents today want their children to grow up to be  leaders in society.  Who are these leaders in society? asks the columnist writing in the opinion page of the Catholic Times. Are they not those who have succeeded in life and have some influence in society? He says that in our world a person does not find it easy to be in a position of influence, to wield power over others, for  the mass media is always ready to put our leaders on the chopping block. Most of our leaders  have been elected to their positions of power, thus being beholden to those who have elected them.

Even those in high positions who are not elected are faced with the same situation, the columnist reminds us. Junior officials who are visited by senior officials no longer treat them, as in the past, with meals and perks. When this is done, much is made of it and the mass media is there to make news of the situation. This is seen as a sign of the democratization of the culture. Today, leadership that honors respect and service is what wins followers, without these qualities it is difficult to lead.

Politeness, respect and sincerity are stressed in the Analects of Confucius, in keeping with one of the principles of Confucianism: "Don't do to others what you do not want them to do to you." In Confucian philosophy, one should show concern for the other more than for oneself, to respect and serve the other humbly.

Though the respectful way the young behaved with their elders in the past is fast disappearing nowadays, our narrow thinking and concerns about the customer is being replaced by a concern for all citizens. Respect and service leadership is becoming the predominant social climate.  

Chondogyo, meaning "the heavenly way," is a native Korean religion. We are to respect others, they say, like we do the heavenly realm, which is another way of stressing the respect and service way of life. The columnist thinks that this central idea of Chondogyo may have a great deal to do with what it received from Christianity.  The washing of the disciples' feet is a prime example of this thinking, and is illustrated in other ways in the life of Jesus.

This has been a teaching for a long time, both in the East and in the West, but the journalist wonders how universal the idea is. The way the weak suffer daily at the hands of the strong, one is forced to conclude, he says, that all our talk about respect and service has had no more influence on how society operates than do mere slogans. If that is the case, the writer considers all that he has written  as mere slogans, less than the truth--"lies," he calls them. However, even if this respect and service leadership ideal has not done much to improve the conditions of the poor and suffering among us, he does proclaim that it has now spread throughout the world. Perhaps in time the reality will also spread throughout the world, and be the reality not only for the few of us but for all of us.


            

Women's Role within the Church

A symposium of the many women groups within the Church recently met to talk about the Korean Catholic Women's Movement--"yesterday, today and tomorrow." It reviewed the history of the discipleship of women in society, and presented prospects for the future.

Of great concern was the women's role in spirituality-of-life issues: healing, service, works of mercy, and the extension of these endeavors within society and the Church, as well as a concern to see the roots of  equality continue to be deepened, and to work to accomplish this goal within society and the Church. Individual efforts, the symposium stressed, have to develop into communal efforts. There has been much progress, said one participant, but there is still more to achieve, which will require that everyone participate.

In the introductory remarks, a group representative said that living as a woman demands a lot and yet is still joyful. At the same time, when looking at history, we have to acknowledge, she said, the yoke we have had to carry and have had to deal with.

The editorial in the Catholic Times commented on the symposium's overview of the women's movement within the Church since 1990. The work of the women within the Church is at the center of their ongoing work within society, and is what supports that work, the editorial pointed out. This can easily be seen in any of the parishes within the country. The women, much more than the men, are keeping the works of the parish going.

The reality is that the women are doing most of the work, but their roles as leaders are few. It is understood that we are dealing with a patriarchal society, a fact known to all, but the editorial wonders whether this is most evident within the Church, and suggests that more leadership roles be opened to them.  The Church has to help form these leaders, educating them to take positions of leadership within the Church. Women themselves, the editorial said, have to work to bring this about.

However, more importantly, it would be enlightening if more of us were to reflect on the current role of women as individuals within our societal and church structures to see the depth of the discrimination. This has to be quickly remedied.  After the resurrection, women were Jesus' first witnesses--not men, something  the editorial urges us to remember as we reflect on these issues.

Praying the Office of the Dead

On the spiritual page of the Catholic Times, the columnist recalled a talk with a younger priest who reminisced about a visit to a Catholic village in the country, where he grew up. Having been always interested in what it meant to grow up in a Catholic village, the columnist asked the priest to give him an idea of what it was like living in such a village.

He told him how the family would kneel every morning and evening before the crucifix to say their morning and evening prayers. In those days, the priest said, if you did not say your prayers you would not eat--so you prayed.The rosary was a family prayer every day. Each month, during a feast day, they would be visited by the priest for Mass, with the children scrubbed clean and wearing their best clothes. 

Since all were Catholics, each  family's sadness or joy would be experienced by the whole village. He remembers when there was a death. His father would take him by the hand to the home of the deceased for the prayers of the dead. The priest mentioned that the prayers and routines were always the same, but the attitude of the villagers was different than it is today.  It was not simply praying for the one who was deceased, but rather we were all the deceased who were imploring God to look down on us and be merciful. As an example of what he meant, he said that all of them prayed to the Blessed Mother and the saints  to intercede for the deceased. But we, in the place of the deceased, were asking the Blessed Mother to implore her son to look down on us who also have died. Since the deceased is no longer able to pray, we do so in solidarity with the deceased. Even as a child, not knowing much about death, in praying the prayers for the dead he felt a great relief from the recitation of the prayers. He has never been able to forget, he said, the feeling he had after those prayers.Today, when he goes to a home or a funeral parlor to pray the same prayers, he returns home with a feeling of loss. How can he explain his feeling? he muses.  It isn't that they didn't pray, but it wasn't what he felt praying as a child growing up.

The columnist ends by saying that he felt a shiver in his whole body when the priest was speaking about what the prayers for the dead meant for him as a child. The villagers were meeting God in the person of the deceased, all anxious for the sake of the deceased. He would like this kind of thinking to return as an intangible inheritance of faith from the past.                                                         

     

Only Active Deaf and Blind Priest in the World

Fr. Cyril Axelrod, whose autobiography  was recently published by the Catholic Publishing Corp., will give a lecture on what it is that we all can do to make the world a better place for the handicapped. Fr. Axelrod is one of only 15 priests worldwide who is deaf, and the only one who is blind as well as deaf. Both Catholic papers had articles on the publication of his book and on his visit to Korea.

Born in South Africa, in 1942, into a religiously observant Orthodox Jewish family, he was diagnosed with the Usher Syndrome, which was the reason for his complete deafness at birth and subsequently going blind. He converted to Catholicism and became a Redemptorist priest, working to set up centers for the deaf in many parts of the world. He maintains that even with this handicap there is something they can do; it is his message of hope.

In South Africa, despite the apartheid policy of the government, he began a school for the deaf, regardless of race, and started centers providing education and training for employment; this was continued in the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong  and Macau.  He travels to different parts of the world to give hope to those who are deaf and blind, helping them to become self-sufficient.
 
Because of his devout Orthodox Jewish family, there were many problems with his becoming Catholic, besides the problem of his own deafness. In writing his autobiography, he did not depend on a ghost writer but wrote it himself, wanting his readers to gain courage and wisdom from hearing about his own experiences.  He said he first decided to be a Rabbi to help those of the Jewish faith who were deaf, but this was not possible because of his physical condition. The frustration was great, he said, but because of a special experience in his life he converted to Catholicism, though his decision was opposed by the family. Regardless of belief, he wants to help all those who have handicaps to live life fully, recently helping the deaf of the Jewish faith to have a meaningful Passover in South Africa. 

The Catholic Press has provided an audio of Fr. Cyril's voice, dubbed so that the visually handicapped can listen.  Part of the income from the sale of the book will go to the work for the deaf in Korea.

The only Korean deaf priest is Fr. Park, who met Fr. Cyril in 1997 at the Gallaudet University, the only liberal arts college for the deaf in the world. Fr. Park considers him the Helen Keller of the 21st century.

Fr. Park wrote in one of the articles, "The two handicaps that Father has he considers gifts and a reason he shares his love for those similarly handicapped. Fr. Cyril told him his deafness is nothing compared to the cross of Jesus, but that his personal cross shows us God's glory. Fr. Cyril is a great sign to all in the world that there is hope for the handicapped, especially to those who have lost hope because of their difficulties in life."  

Working for a Win/Win Situation

Recently much has been made of the Gap-Eul culture (see May 26 blog).  Even comedians are finding ways of getting the words into their routines, says the Catholic Times writer in his View from the Ark. The current understanding, seen as natural,  of the words ascribes being strong (having an advantage others don't have) with the word Gap, and being weak (lacking an advantage in any confrontational situation) with the word Eul, our writer believes this understanding to be woefully misleading.

No one is questioning, he says, that society is made up of individuals who are often described as weak and strong participants in our society, but we should not forget the win-win possibilities, one of the ways to build a healthy society. Otherwise, the weak tend to be oppressed by the  strong, and the law of the jungle prevails.

Recent incidents where the Gap (the strong) have oppressed the Eul (the weak) have angered many, leading to demands to remedy the situation. But law is not the answer for this type of abuse, says the columnist. We should rather look at ourselves and see where we have played the part of the Gap and used others to our advantage. He points out the example of Jesus, who was the Gap of Gaps and yet he accepted the role of the Eul.  Guided by this example, the writer suggests six ways for persons who are in a Gap position to overcome the temptation to take advantage of their position.

First: When someone asks for help, I can give it or not. This is my Gap position, but since as a Christian I have the duty to love, which is a debt I can't fully repay, this makes me a Eul.

Second: When people ask for my opinion or advice, I can consider myself Gap because of the trust they place in me. But remembering that wisdom comes from God makes me a Eul. 

Third: If I have a position in society with some authority, receiving respect that comes with the position, that makes me a Gap. But realizing that as a Christian I'm obligated to love my neighbor as myself, I know that when another is suffering I too am suffering, this makes me a Eul. Fourth: When I have received help and have paid out money for the help, the work done, I am a Gap, but to remember that without that help it would have been difficult to live the way I do, making me thankful and respectful to those who have helped me, this makes me a Eul.

Fifth: When I have money at my disposal to use the way I want, I am a Gap, but when I remember those who have difficulty living well, often not getting enough to eat, this makes me a Eul. Sixth: Thinking I can use what I have in the way I want makes me a Gap; when I realize all is a gift, this makes me a Eul.

Above all, when I remember I am God's child and friend and the temple of the Holy Spirit, I'm teaching what it is to have the blessings of a Gap. And when I live as a Eul, admonishing myself, lowering and behaving circumspectly, and asking especially from  the Holy Spirit for the gift of awe, I'm teaching what it is to have the blessings of a Eul. Both qualities are needed, both blessings help us to become the whole persons we were meant to be.


                               

Aftereffects of Propaganda

During the month of June, Catholics will be asked to pray for reconciliation and unification. This year, marking the 60th since the end of the Korean War, each diocese will set aside days to form a chain of prayer for the country.

A journalist of the Catholic Times recalls that during her first three years in grammar school, when the "Defense of the Country Month" came along, she often felt stressed because of the anti-Communist posters that seemed to be everywhere. She was too young to understand what happened during that war, she said, and being asked to draw pictures of North Korean soldiers captured by the South was difficult.

She had never seen a North Korean soldier, but in her drawings she remembers drawing dog-like teeth and horns coming out of their heads, making them look like monsters on a blood-red background. Her imagination or creativity, she said, had little to do with what was drawn; the pictures were similar to what the other students had drawn because of the intense anti-communist school programs. It was only later that she realized that those in the North had the same facial features as the Koreans in the South. The shock in learning this, she says, is still with her today.
 
At that time, rather than peace, it was confrontation that she and her classmates were being taught. The anti-communist programs have ceased but our understanding of the North, she says, has not changed very much. There are many who feel no need for unification and still harbor feelings of hostility toward the North. Those that feel this way would be considered the normal ones. Those that feel unification is a task for others to pursue would be large, since most Koreans have no interest in the unification project.
 
The Bishops National Reconciliation Committee has a number of different programs to help change this thinking: prayer meetings, symposiums, pilgrimages to the demilitarized areas, and the like. If, as Christians, we remember that the North Koreans are our brothers and sisters, our efforts are more likely to lay a solid foundation for reconciliation.
 
As Koreans, the bishop-president of the committee says we want to reconcile. As Christians, being brothers and sisters in Christ, we want to show magnanimity. And the journalist adds that like the times we made posters against the North, now is the time for making posters for reconciliation.

When we use propaganda to achieve a goal without a proper regard for the truth, the results often come back to haunt us. The efforts in the past to manipulate the thinking of the South toward the North may now be a stumbling block for many South Koreans who are finding it difficult to give up the old stereotypes of the past.

Doing what we Believe

We have all seen the picture of the  beheaded soldier in England and the woman who accosted the killer to stop any future killing. The picture was seen throughout the world. There were children leaving a school, and she thought that her actions would help stop the killing. She asked the person with the knife and gun in his hand, what did he want? As a Christian she felt it was her duty to do what she did. "We have the duty to help one another" is how she felt.
 
A columnist writing in a recent issue of the Catholic Times gives us her account of what happened, believing it was the woman's religious motivation that moved her to act as she did more than her maternal instincts.  She wanted to help those who were in a difficult situation, the columnist said, and was willing to face personal bodily harm by doing so out of love for her neighbor.

The columnist brings up the acronym NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard, which she says is the thinking of many in society: the unwillingness to accept any kind of sacrifice. The tendency in society is such that even those supposed to be the salt and light of the world are having difficulty bringing God into their everyday experiences. Isn't this what the Church is meant to be in society? she asks.

A theologian once said the greatest crisis facing the Church is that we do not live what we believe.  Numbers increase while the quality of our inner life decreases. Seeing this 'black cloud' hovering over the Church, she laments what this could mean for the future of the Korean Church.  
Pope Francis  in one of his recent sermons said our words have to be consistent with our actions. To make the Church believable, our words and our lives have to be one. We have to understand that when we are not witnessing by our lives what we believe, we can't proclaim the Gospel of Jesus.
 
The Second Vatican Council told us that justice was the way to peace. Peace in the world is the result of a life of love, and Jesus is the icon of that peace and its result. At each Mass, we say the prayer for peace. We should reflect on how to  make it a part of our life of faith, and can honestly say we are instruments of God's peace in the world.