'Catholics Protecting the Republic of Korea' made known at a press
conference, the list of 100 priests who they considered
friendly to North Korea, against the United States and the Korean
Government. The Catholics protecting the country made it clear they were
not condemning the priests but only wanted them to repent and be
converted. They are sick and tired of activist priests, and think they represent the ordinary believers.
Similar protests
are seen in many other countries where those who see the
social aspects of the Gospel as important as the spiritual. We are made
up of body and soul and Jesus made it clear that the commandment to love
includes God and our brothers and sisters. This holistic
understanding of the Christian message is understood by most, but here in
Korea as in other parts of the world, many have difficulty when the
Church speaks about social issues.
A large number
of Korean Priests have been vocal on the side of the social Gospel
from the time of the democratization in Korea. Catholic Priests'
Association for Justice played a big part in moving to democracy when they began in 1974. Sad, when we have Catholics fighting over what should be
understood by all as integral to our message but in the minds of many,
it is not having problems with the way it is done, where a difference of opinion would be expected, but the confrontation seems to be religion
has no place in the public square.They want the priests to stay with the
spiritual.
In
the Pastoral Bulletin one of the priests whose name was on the list of
one hundred writes about his feelings on seeing the list. He admits that
in every group or organization you have a difference of opinion. If we are not to go contrary to our beliefs, we are free to
express our opinions frankly.
However, there are limitations on what we say, especially when names are made known.
Even in society to say something false about
another is libel, and there are criminal penalties-- no small
matter. In the list was the name of his bishop. Seeing the name of his
bishop he was astounded, and the names of two other bishops were also
on the list.
Looking over the 'Catholics Protecting the
Republic of Korea', he gives us his thoughts on the subject. They want the
priest to repent and be converted and he can't figure out what they have done wrong. He is willing to even put his priesthood on the line
to defend his bishop. He has not heard one word, seen any action that
was contrary to his calling as a priest. How can one without
hesitation show this kind of disrespect.
What have these
Catholics done for their fellow human beings who are on the periphery
of society? His bishop, in a general meeting of the priests, has requested when he visits a parish every thing be done simply. He asked the
priests to put no burden on the parishioners when they are assigned to a
parish or on their feast days. They are also giving 10% of the income from Mass
stipends to help the poor. Does it make any sense to criticize this bishop. He's surprised to see how many Catholics have allowed this to continue. The language they use is far from what we would expect from those attending the same Mass. To the credit of the priests' association they have kept relatively quiet in the face of the criticism.
A priest recalls the days he was studying at a Buddhist graduate school, whose students were either Buddhist Monks or devout Buddhist laity. Hearing there was a Catholic priest studying at the university, the news spread quickly, he was approached by many of the students with questions. Most of them were interested in who was responsible for priests after retirement. He writes about this in the bulletin for priests.
How did you arrive at the treatment for priests in their declining years? There was a great deal of curiosity about the lives of the priests after retirement. The Church takes care of the needs of the clerics and religious in their retirement years. Was the answer given by the priest. Consequently, the priest does not have to save or do anything that would be contrary to Church teachings to make money.
Often priests give money as sponsors for different movements, donate to welfare programs, and assist people in need with their money, and at times they have little for their upkeep. However, there is no need to worry for the Church will take care of their needs in old age.
If the priest doesn't indulge in buying a luxury car, and expensive hobbies, he has enough money to help others. He was proud to express himself in the way he did to the Buddhist students, and hopes what he said was true.
Many of the faithful do not understand the life of a priest but priests do.There are many priests who live simply and are helping others and they do it without pride and no desire to make it known.They consider it a way of living the spiritual life and they don't see it as pitiable. It is the reason they became priests in the first place.
Recently there are priests that are having difficulty in their retirement. It all depends on the way one wants to live. If what is received is less than they would like, they should start living the Gospel life. No matter how difficult the financial circumstances there is no need for priests to put money in the bank.
In conclusion: if someone should ask him now, who is responsible for a priest's retirement years? His answer: " I am responsible for my retirement years." Structural provisions are in place but we need the determination to live the Gospel life.
Catholic Times' column on spirituality, shows how easy it is to be
moved and influenced by what we do not believe and even think foolish.The columnist, a priest, on passing the lobby of the monastery saw
one of the senior priests reading the newspaper.
"Father, what grabs your interest so early in the morning?" The priest:
"Looking
over the news I saw today's fortune column, and spent time reading
it. What is your birth year,month and day? Let us see what they say?--
Be careful today to avoid a big disagreement."
The columnist
knew the priest would not be in the least interested in fortunes, and here he was reading the horoscopes. It didn't make sense."Father
when did you start becoming interested in horoscopes?"
"Heavens,
I am just playing around, just curious to see what people are reading
and believing. I looked to see what my horoscope was and I am to leave by the North, and will meet a noble person. Aren't we all noble
persons? What are your plans? "
"I am on my way to the
research center and just dropped in to say hello. Have a good day." The
columnist took leave of his fellow priest. He was to meet three of his
classmates from the diocese. They were going to donate a gift to the
research center. Three of the classmates met him at the center and they
went to the market to see what was available. One of the classmates
asked him:
"Father, pick the color and the design that you want."
The
columnist suddenly remembered what his priest friend told him to
beware of disagreements, and answered: "They're all fine, no
problem."
The classmate was surprised at his response.This was not the person he knew."Hey, you will be using it at the center, pick what you want."
The columnist continued to tell his friend it didn't matter what he
bought they were all good. "You are giving it to me as a gift so it is proper
for you to make the choice." That day he was getting into a fight with his classmate over what to buy. It was crazy, he was fulfilling what the
horoscope had predicted could happen.
This prompted the
columnist to give the whole thing some thought. The words of his
brother priest at the monastery indirectly influenced
him that day. If he was moved by a positive mind in the way he was
living, and was not tied and bound by the here and now, but had his
eyes on what was eternal he would be more authentic, and know himself better.
Memory is selective and partial. No one remembers everything.The
Exodus from Egypt is the memory of Moses, and not of the Pharaoh. The
memory of those oppressed is not the memory of those oppressing. People
remember what they want to remember, consequently, oppressed and the
oppressing will have completely different memories of what happened.
Many
are the psychologists who say the doers of harm have reason for their
actions, and others faced with the same circumstances would do the same.
If one apologizes for the act, we need to forget, and consign it to
the past. The one who suffered wants to remember, and wants the wrong
doer to remember it too.
These words introduce
the tragedy of the Sewol; April 16th was the first anniversary of the
sinking of the ferry. Writing in the Peace Weekly, the columnist wants us to see the problems we have in society surrounding this issue. We have those who want to consider it an accident and to
forget it, and get to work on the problems in our society. This would be
the typical viewpoint of the wrong-doer. However, the victims don't
want to forget.
The incident is such a large one that you
have people taking sides. You have those who want to forget and those
who don't. Many who have no sympathy for those involved as perpetrators in the tragedy, are moved
by others, the press, and the groups to which they belong. In Korea
the writer explains that society is often divided into two groups
and these groups are influenced by the smaller groups to which citizens belong.
The
columnist mentions how one needs to be accepted by their group and feels it is because of the difficulties of our history. He compares it to the feeling one has to buy something everybody
else has. The best way is to study the situation
in depth and to decide, but this is not easy for most to do, and he recommends going to a person you respect for an opinion.
However
for a Christian we are helped by the teachings we have received. We are
to be on the side of the poor, suffering, weak and those hurting.
Pope Francis has also expressed this with his words: in the face of
suffering we can't be neutral. The columnist uses the often heard words
of Dante: the hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in
time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.
On the anniversary of the tragedy all the dioceses had Masses to remember the
dead and their families. There is no reason for politics, right or
left but to show mercy to those hurting; to remember and be with them.
Both editorials in the Catholic papers bring to the attention of the
readers the difficulties of the migrants in Korea. Today Korean Catholics remember the
101st World Day of Migrants and Refugees along with Vocations on Good Shepherd Sunday.
The
world village in which we live brings the reality of different people
and cultures living together. Korea has ethnic Koreans from China,
Russia and North Korea and many other migrants with different facial
features who have come from poor countries and are here to do the
difficult, dirty and dangerous work of the society, often discriminated
and shunned. There is also a large number who have married Koreans and are living in the country.
They are often treated worse than those in the
lowest stratum of society: they are the invisible persons in society.Very basic human rights are not respected, health care, educational aid,
and when sick hospital care is not easily found, and in school ignored by classmates. Even in the Church we see this happening. We have separate Masses for them and they are not relating with the parishioners. When we don't accept a foreigner
we are refusing something basic of a person's humanity. We are treating
another as a commodity and fitting them into the
structures of the society we have made.
In our elementary, middle and high schools one out of a hundred are children from another culture. This shows that we are becoming a multicultural country. This requires we change the way we think and act.
Many
in society do not hear the cry of the weak, and fail to see their
pain and the need to find solutions. A survey made recently found that those married to Koreans, in 2009, 36.4 % felt discrimination and in 2012 it increased to
41.9 %. Three years ago 3.% of the migrants said prejudice and
discrimination made life difficult, this has now gone up to 7%. A sign
that we are not doing well in our efforts.
Pope
Francis in his message for the 101st World Day of Migrants: "The
Church without frontiers Mother to all, spreads throughout the
world a culture of acceptance and solidarity, in which no one is seen as
useless, out of place or disposable. When living out this motherhood
effectively, the Christian community nourishes, guides and indicates the
way, accompanying all with patience, and drawing close to them through
prayer and works of mercy."
In April, for the last two years, we had issues which caused a
great deal of public anguish. Last year, the sinking of the Sewol Ferry,
and this year the news of large scale corruption in government, but it
is also the month of flowers and weddings.
Many are
renewed by the attendance at a wedding with the newly weds expressing
their joy in a new life that begins. Peace Weekly, Peace Columnist,
recounts the joy of attending a Wedding Mass and all that is associated
with a wedding. He laments, however, this is not something that all
can enjoy and precedes to tell us why.
He introduces
us to a book by two professors Cabone and Cahn who have written Marriage
Markets, which describes how income of the couples influences the markets for
marriage: less marriage when the income is lower and more when higher.
This
is also our reality. A marriage business enterprise, working in the
field is quoted as saying, the average money spent on a marriage
including the home would be over 200,000 dollars. Without this kind of
money available one can't contemplate marriage.
In
Korea those who are not married by 50 are consider unmarried for life. In 1980
only 0.4% were in this category, in 2010 this has increased to 5%.
Japan is in a more difficult situation, in 1980 only 2.6% were
unmarried, in 2010 it rose to 20.1 %.
This year we will
have the population house census made every 5 years. Since Korea, in
respect to population transitions, has many similarities with Japan,
the writer surmises that there will be big surprises in the
numbers who remain single for life--those who have given up on romance
and marriage because of money and emotional reasons.
Last
year we had the extraordinary synod on the family and Cardinal Yeom of
Seoul was quoted as saying that with the solving of the problems in the
family all will be solved. The first barrier for this is marriage
itself and a need for the Church to get involved. The family is what supports the country, society and the church, We don't want to go in the direction of the United States, where marriage becomes the choice of the
elite and middle class.
The Church needs to open the doors
of its 1,682 churches to those who are dreaming of marriage. The church
needs to lower expenses and start spreading news to make a new culture for marriage.
A survey made by the Catholic Times in 1988 showed how the
Church had become middle class. In the 90s the word 'middle-class' was used by religious sociologists, and appeared in many articles
written about the church.
A professor and deputy
director of the Catholic Cultural Research Center has an essay in the
Catholic Times about the weakening of the Church's prophetic role in society and the reasons. Scholars see this as a
change in the Catholic situation in society.
By using
these words we are saying the majority of the Catholics belong to the
middle class. The professor believes we may think the number of
Catholics in the middle class would be about 70% but it is closer to 45~55%, 5% of this number would be the
upper class. With this being the fact is it possible that we are making
too much fuss about this? But the reality is that Catholics before
1980 were poor, the results of the religious persecution that lasted
for over one hundred years.
In the 1980s the young,
highly educated, and economically well-off began to enter the church.
Those entering were imbued with the dynamism from the church they entered which lasted up to the end of the 90s. Numbers
entering began to increase greatly.
Those entering were changing the make-up of the Church, both
within and without: numbers of church buildings and their sizes increased, the quality of the material improved, the
number of welfare programs improved, shrines for the martyrs were developed, and the exterior of Catholicism was changed.
Catholics with
money and time were only half of the numbers registered in the Church,
but they were the ones attending the Masses and involved in church activities, however, the
prophetic role of the church decreased greatly. The symbolism of
the old time Catholicism and its culture grew weak.
Catholics increased, but the quality did not keep pace and we hear the continual voice for renewal.This, in the words of the professor, explains the present
Catholicism with which we are faced.
