The Seoul Diocese started recently a program in which they invite well known teachers to give a talk and at the finish open up the floor to questions. The first presentation was from the vicar general of the diocese. His topic was the 24 questions that a famous industrialist, the founder of Samsung, the wealthiest man in Korea, sent to a priest friend. He was not a believer. He died about a month later from lung cancer without ever hearing the answers. They were answered 24 years later by Father Cha Dong-yeop in his book: Forgotten Questions.
The bishop said that on his bucket list, he had two wishes he would like to accomplish before he dies, and one is to start a school for prayer, and the other is to answer the 24 questions that were left by the industrialist. Below is the list of the 24 questions, freely translated from the written list that he sent the priest. Others have put their hand to answering the questions; not only, Catholics, but other religious groups and even atheists have given answers.
1) How can you prove the existence of God? Why didn't he make his existence clearer?
2) How can you prove that God made everything?
3) Biologists say that humanity is the product of evolution. What does creation of humanity mean? Isn't humanity and all living things the product of evolution?
4) With the continual advancement of science and the conquering of disease and long life, won't the belief in God disappear?
5) If God loves us, why do we have pain, unhappiness and death?
6) Why did God make evil people? Examples: Hitler, Stalin, and permit the horrendous crimes that we see?
7) Jesus is said to have died for our sins, what are our sins? Why did God leave us with these sins?
8) How were the Scriptures made? How can we prove they are the words of God?
9) What is Religion? Why is it necessary?
10) What is the soul?
11) What are the different types of religions and their characteristics?
12) Can we go to heaven if we don't believe in Catholicism? There are unbelievers, atheists and followers of other religions, and among them many good people. Where do they go after death?
13) All religions preach how to live a good life. Why do Catholics say they are the best and all the other religions are heretical?
14) After death we say the soul doesn't die. How can we believe that it goes either to heaven or hell?
15) There are many people with no religion, and they enjoy riches and honors, and evil people who have comfort and ease. What is the lesson that God is teaching us with this reality?
16) In the Scriptures we are told the rich man to get into heaven is like having a camel pass through the eye of a needle. Is being rich, evil?
17) Italy and similar countries are 99 percent Catholic. Why do they have so many social problems and so many crimes? Why are they not a good example of what a Catholic country should be?
18) Religious people are at times fanatics. What is the difference between a fanatical communist and a fanatical religious person?
19) Communists and Catholics are opposites. Why did so many Catholic countries become communist? Example: Poland, East Europe and Nicaragua?
20) In Korea we have churches spread throughout the country, there are many believers, why do we have so much crime and suffering?
21) They say the pope can't make a wrong decision. He is a man, how can that kind of self-righteousness be possible?
22) What are priests and religious sisters? Why don't they marry?
23) There are groups in the Catholic Church who consider that industry is exploiting the workers; they are promoting divisions and harm in society. Do they not see any good in capitalism?
24) Will the world come to an end?
There are many different answers to these questions. Fr. Cha has given us his answers in his book. The vicar general would like to give his answers to the questions. The article mentions that he already has answered six of them. In his retirement, he plans to give these questions a great deal of thought. One of the participants asked: If a person lives a good life, and he doesn't believe in God will he be saved? The bishop answered: eternal life is God's gift; it is not for us to judge whether one person enters or not, the Church is teaching us the way.
When religion does cause a change in the life of a person, there is
joy for often we see little that differentiates us from those without a
religion. Korea because of the suicide rate being so high is doing
everything possible to determine the causes and to find remedies. In the
recent study by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare,
reported on the front page of the Catholic Times, those with a religion
had a lower rate of suicides than those without a religion, and
Catholics were the lowest of all those with a religion.
Besides
the many reasons, we have for suicides; suicides
because of honor and feelings of guilt are often seen in Asia. The recent suicide of the vice
principal of the high school who was rescued from the sinking ferry
that was carrying students from his high school, was found dead two
days later hanging from a tree with a belt. He expressed regret having
survived while so many died. Suicides are motivated by many different
reasons and are often, not like the vice principal, contemplated for
long periods of time.
Korean Ministry of Health and
Welfare in 2013 reported that those who attempted suicide 65.5 percent had no religion. The experts in the field say that the spirituality
of the religious person helps them to overcome the hardships and
hopelessness they encounter in life. The numbers of those who
attempted suicide, 3.5 percent were Catholic; Buddhists were 9.4 percent, and
Protestants were 16 percent.
The article mentions the reasons
the Catholics had a low rate of suicide were the small parish groups,
the work of the Legion of Mary and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and
the constant teaching on the respect for life that has influenced our
Catholics to avoid suicide as a solution to their problems. Since the
study showed a correlation of the number of suicides with the religious
belief, there are those who think the Church should make efforts to
spread the strong points of their teaching on the respect of life.
The
investigation by the ministry was an attempt to decrease the number of
suicides. This is the first study that was national in scope to study
the mental state of those who killed themselves. Interviews with those
who attempted suicide and their families determined the ways they killed
themselves and the dangers that prepared one for such an extreme
solution to their problems.
One religious sister at the
'One Heart and One Body Movement Suicide Center' in Seoul said: "Each
one of us needs to be filled with the joy of the Gospel, each of us to
be interested in our neighbors, to extend our hand to others, to
approach others and listen to them. This will help decrease the numbers
of suicides and to do this we have to change our vision and our way
of thinking." In order to do this many say that the Church has to become
interested and invest more in this movement.
In the study, 73.9 percent of the respondents said we cannot in any way justify the killing of oneself, but 25.6 percent said once a person decides on suicide, there is nothing that can be done to prevent the suicide. Here it will be necessary to work to change this type of thinking. Efforts also necessary to find those who are in hopeless situations and do what we can to give hope. The campaign, said a priest involved in the welfare work of the diocese, will need a network to identify those living in situations that pose a danger for suicide and encourage people to become involved.
During Lent, we had the three Scrutinies for the catechumens before baptism on Easter. The Gospels used for these rites have deep conversations of Jesus with those who appear in these incidents. In our lives we rarely have conversations with others at this level. For Christians sharing our faith experiences and the meaning we give to life with others is one of the deepest levels of interchange: a way of participating in group spiritual direction.
An article in a pastoral review speaks about this faith sharing: the experience of our relationship with God and the awareness of his presence in our lives. Jesus selected his disciples to be with him and to listen and share with him. He sent the disciples out two by two, and in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10: "Two are better than one; they get a good wage for their labor. If one falls, the other will lift up his companion. Woe to the solitary man!" A maverick is not the way of a Christian, who believes in the natural synergistic effects of relating with others.
Society more and more is becoming individualistic, rather than discuss issues with another it is easier to do it alone, faster, and less of a bother. We are not concerned in looking for opportunities to hear about other possibilities, analyze and purify our motives.
Consequently, to
find others who would be interested in joining a faith sharing group is
not easy. 'Cor ad cor loquitur' is a Latin phrase we hear often: heart
speaks to heart. Most of our conversations are small talk; little time
is expended in serious, meaningful and for a Christian, talk that
deepens our spiritual development and helps to mature us to face the
difficulties that invariable will come.
The
writer mentions a missionary society of priests that had a workshop
some thirty years ago that began this faith sharing among the members of the society. The workshop was conducted by a group of Camaldolese
monks for five days, after which the group committed themselves to meet
once a month with 5-8 in a group for a period of six months.
They
took the example of Jesus with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus,
Luke 24,13 as their example to follow. The topics depended on the group
to select; each member of the group would be responsible for conducting
the meeting. One meeting could discuss the parable that each member
liked the most and to explain why? What does one do when he is faced
with a crisis in life? What phrases from the Scriptures did one find
helpful and why? These would be introduced to prime the pump. One could
also select some article on a spiritual matter to use as a point of
discussion. The topics to be discussed are unlimited.
The meetings did continue for over the 30 years but gradually because of the age of the participants and a decrease in the members, the last group decided to stop last year. The willingness to share the spiritual life with others will be blessed, he says. The writer recommends the practice and although they have discontinued he writes the article hoping that others will read what he writes and seek to form groups.
Spring he thought was here but briskly Summer has entered. The magnolia and forsythia without concern for time, bloom and disappear, which makes many have a serious concern about climate change and global warming. These are the words in a pastoral bulletin that was received recently.
The priest last year began to learn how to farm. He has been busy with preparing the land and planting the seed and with a hopeful heart preparing for the mystery of life. It has been a happy and precious time.
Pesticides, chemical fertilizers, vinyl, fossil fuels are not part of his farming methods.Those who have been accustomed to the customary ways of farming told him he would not succeed, but when they saw his harvest, it made them reflect on their ways. He wants to call this method the 'law of coexistence'.
In the area with weeds, and all kinds of bugs swarming in the earth; grasshoppers, butterflies and dragon flies fluttering around; many were those who told him you were not going to get an ordinary harvest. However, he read all about natural farming and deemed it possible, and the results were a grand success. When he planted the weak seedlings, he thought the bugs would do a job on the seedlings and not allow them to grow, but the results were not so.The cabbage seedlings that were planted after a couple of weeks showed less damage than he expected. There were signs of the presence of insects on the leaves and stem, but it did no harm to a good harvest. One of those who said that he had to use chemical fertilizers seeing the harvest: "Ah it's possible" he blurted out.
If, he says, he got rid of all the weeds in the area hoping for a larger harvest, the nesting place of the insects would have been eradicated, and they would have infested the plants in the garden.When we try to eradicate the bad insects by spraying with pesticide, we are also killing good insects that feed on the bad, and destroy nature's equilibrium, and we are eating our food mixed with pesticides.
Easter is a time to bring in a new value system and go beyond the fixed one to a new hope. With natural farming, the writer could see Easter in a new way.
Father Paul has a good reputation among his Christians. He is devoted, zealous in his pastoral work, and in his religious exercises. He shows a great concern for the works of charity, helping those living in difficult straits. In his sermons, he talks a lot about the need to practice the virtue of love in our daily lives.
He relates well with the wealthy and is rarely seen with the poor or the alienated of our society. He does not speak with them. He does not have the opportunity to hear the cry of pain and oppression coming from this segment of society. He is living with security, a sense of justice or social consciousness is missing, and he does not look favorably on those with head ribbons and those shouting rallying words.
This is the introduction to an article in a bulletin for priests written by a priest. He reminds us it is right to speak about love and to do works of charity, but at the same time it is necessary to do something about the unjust and immoral structures and to work to change these structures. This concern has also to be shown when it comes time to vote so we don't side with those who are not concerned with the poor and the alienated of society.
“Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life.” The priest uses these words of Karl Marx, but there are many who agree with this kind of assessment, he says, and they have a large following. He explains this to mean that the books we read or what we have learned are not as important as the people we have met and the environment in which we live.
Christians read the same Scriptures, and say the same prayers and yet when it comes to voting there is a big difference in those in the East and those in the West of the country. There is a tendency to be opposed to each other, and this does not change with the passage of years. Of course, there are elements that influence the individual.
He quotes another saying of Karl Marx: "God made us in his likeness... and we make him into our likeness." The poor and those who desire change, and those who are satisfied with the status quo have two different images of God. What one sees as incorrect we try to justify or rationalize. We see ourselves on the side of truth and of God. Instead of searching for the will of God, we see our perspective as correct. Our wills are filled with egotism, prejudice, error, greed and the like.
There is the expression: "We have to see the world from beneath to see it correctly."To see justice and truth correctly we have to see our reality from the perspective of those in the lower strata of society. We will then have a social consciousness and become aware of reality. We then want to see change, and become one with those hurting.
He concludes his article with a quote from one of our Korean bishops. "A Christian is one who follows our Lord. Jesus did not stay in one place but moved around to meet people. Different from other religious leaders, he associated with those that society didn't want to see, the alienated, those pushed to the sides, those that many considered the dregs of society."
The Desk Columnist in
the Korean Times believes Pope Francis' exhortation 'The Joy of the
Gospel' will be a means of renewal for the whole Church. She mentions
Pope Francis called together the heads of the Church offices in the
Vatican to discuss how to integrate their work with the exhortation.
This is what the Bishops' Conference of Korea has done during their
spring bishops' meeting.
The bishops want it to be
more than just an exhortation but to have a change in the way the
Church functions. They recommended meetings to study the exhortation in
all the dioceses and find ways to implement the teaching in our works.
In Korea signs of interest were seen in the number of copies of the exhortation sold.
The way the mass media reported on the exhortation did help. After two
weeks, they have sold over 20,000. Usually in the past with the
printing of Roman documents they sell between 3 and 4,000, so there has
been much interest in 'The Joy of the Gospel'.
What
is the reason for this kind of response in Korea? The answer given by
many, she says, is a style of writing different from the past. The
exhortation is appealing to read, with an easy presentation of ideas,
but also she says, the feeling many have of living in difficult times.
Materialism, egotism, worldliness is rampant; the exhortation helps us
to face this reality with a faith filled understanding, which is
attractive. The appeal comes also from the concrete ways we are called
to be missioners in this world environment.
The
pope, more than anything else stresses how we are to be a poor church. A
sign of a renewed Church is the concern and love for the poor and the
promotion of peace. After the end of the Year of Faith, we have the
directions given to us by the pope on how to be a poor Church.
This August we will have
the visit of the pope and the beatification of 124 of our martyrs. There
is the hope that the whole Korean Church will be energized and gain a
new hope for maturity and renewal. At this point in time, to find
happiness we are urged to look at the poor, share joy with others,
show the beauty of this view to others, and invite others to the banquet
of joy to which we have been called. This is the vocation that we have
been given in the exhortation.
Our ancestors in the
faith in order to follow the commands of God suffered all kinds of
difficulties, but were not delinquent in their carrying out the command
to love. They had the hope of the resurrected life that Jesus showed
us.
We are celebrating the
Feast of Easter. At this time, we meditate on the happiness that the
Easter message gives us, and remember what is necessary to receive this
joy. Decisions necessary should be self-evident.
A Happy Easter to all.
A farmer-poet, in his column in
the Catholic Times, was invited to give a talk to a group of women
involved in social work. He started by asking them a number of
questions: Are your parents important
to you or their property? Is your husband important to you or his
job? He asked
them to put their hands on their hearts, and after serious thought
give honest answers to themselves.
He
looked at their faces
intently and thought they were having a hard time deciding. He then
asked another series of questions. Would they exchange their children
for all the money in the banks of the country? No matter how lacking in
talent or the trouble their children caused, they said they would not
exchange them for
money. However, when he asked if they would exchange their
husbands for money, it was then that a smile came
to the faces of the women. One women said that she would have
difficulty giving up her child but the husband would not be so
difficult. With that answer everybody broke out in laughter. The poet
said that he
did not find it a laughing matter. To him it seems that we are willing
to exchange anything and everything for money.
He then asked another question. Let us suppose, he said, that you
were again a young women and ready to marry, would you be willing to go
to the country and marry a poor farmer? Would you be willing to marry a young, single farmer who was kind, honest
and devoted? He asked those who would be willing to raise their hands. Of
the 100 or so women present no one raised their hands.
The
farmer was not able to laugh. If there had been one person willing to
marry that farmer, he said he probably would have managed to laugh. On
his way home that evening he
reflected on whether our journey was for life or for death. Isn't the
journey in life, for most of us, a journey in search of money and
comfort? he asked himself.
The
fact is that the young men on the farms are not finding it easy to
find Korean girls who are willing to spend their lives on the
farms. Women are well educated and are able to find lucrative jobs in
the city. Spending their lives on the farms is not an
attractive option for many of the young women of today.
New
rules require that foreign brides have to have basic Korean
language skills to obtain a resident visa. This will make the
possibility of finding foreign brides for farmers much harder. In 2012,
20,637 of Korean men married to foreign women 6,586 were
Vietnamese; the second most popular brides, after the Chinese.
It is well-known that the inability to communicate was the primary
reason for the divorces and violence in the
home. Recent attempts to remedy the situation will no doubt help, but without helping very much the many farmers of today
who are looking for brides to live the difficult country life.
