A series of three articles in Catholic Digest by a seminary professor treats the topic of Witch Hunts in Europe. Those opposed to religion and atheists during the 19 century inflate the figures of those killed. Most historians would accept a number of around 60,000.
Christianity has always been interested in making sense of religion with our intellectual faculties. Catholicism had no trouble in accepting Greek philosophy while the reformers wanted to remain with the scriptures. Monotheism had only one God and consequently, was made responsible for evil in the world: a reason theologians wanted to understand the issue surrounding witches.
Consequently, the devil was the instigator of evil. Those who were using sorcery, and incantations had sold themselves to the devil so it was thought, and were called witches.
Different from religion was incantation. The practitioners were not interested in thinking about God but used brief magic words, amulets, to influence weather, health, wealth, romance. It is no surprise to have this kind of thinking wide spread when we remember that medicine, and sciences were in their infant stages. Incantations were not considered in themselves anything serious except for the kind that wanted to bring harm to another.
Sorcery was an elaboration of incantations, a development, but here again; it was the wish to bring harm to another that was the problem. Those who worked in harmony with the devil, were considered devil worshipers.
The Church saw many of the incantations as superstitious and tried to Christianize them. Gradually, mementos of the dead martyrs and saints were used to pray for health and blessings. Shrines and places of pilgrimage were selected, and Christians would flock there for blessings. Here the Church made clear that it wasn't the incantations or the mementos but God who was giving the gifts of grace. Those who refused to accept this distinction separated themselves from the Church practice, and were the so-called witches.
During the Middles Ages, the Cathars and the Waldensian Church were the two sects that caused the Church anguish. The Cathari (believed the physical world was evil, which conflicted with the doctrines of the Catholic Church. The physical world and the human body were the creation of the evil spirit).
Catholicism was more interested at this time in eradicating the heresies than dealing with sorcery. Christians continued using incantation; non-believers would be using incantation along with medically popular practices with some positive results. Catholic priests would also be using these incantations and healing procedures. Most were not interested in the reasons but only in results.
The Church was not opposed because they were superstitions, a waste of money, and energy, but because they were successful. Why were they successful?
When Christians used the incantations with invocation of the Saints and their relics and had a positive response they knew why, but when those who were not part of the Church, opposed, and using incantations and received positive results this was attributed to the devil.
Theology professors at Paris University were examining this phenomenon, and it was in the university where study of the worship of the devil began. University of Cologne was the university where Jacob Springer wrote the well-known book Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches) published in 1486, which taught how to know, find, and question those suspected of witchery.
There are those that believe that if this book was not published the problem would not have been as serious as it was. Islam was not caught up in the witch hunt because they were not interested in the reasons for what was happening in society.
The professor mentions that with light, there is also darkness and one of the darkest medieval periods was also the beginning of science. The irony is that the universities were the reason for the spread of the witch hunts but also the beginning of interest in science and its progress within a Christian setting.
Reporters
Without Borders has again this year determined the freedom of the
press index for 180 countries and Korea ranks 70th. The RSF (Reporters
Without Borders) has criticized the Government for interference in the
independence of the press. Freedom House also criticized the government
for censorship.
A
column in the Catholic Times brings this news to the readers, and
mentions that even if the report of press subordination and control is
exaggerated, when mass media is looking to see what the authorities
will say the results on a free press is crippling. In a country like
Korea a free press is a requirement for a democratic society.
When
the press becomes a big business and is tied too closely to the
financial interests of the country, freedom is sacrificed;
advertising income becomes an important issue and democratic maturity suffers.
The
aim of a democracy is to enable a pluralism to exist. Authoritarianism and totalitarianism don't allow for this and tries to gain a
cohesion of the political, finances, military, culture, while democracy
is willing to work with pluralism. Free press is a help in attaining
this goal and helping to bring about dialogue between the different
segments in society.
Once this is lost big business begins to dictate the direction of society and justify the status quo.
"Participation without an understanding of the situation of the political
community, the facts and the proposed solutions to problems is unthinkable. It
is necessary to guarantee a real pluralism in this delicate area of social life,
ensuring that there are many forms and instruments of information and
communications. It is likewise necessary to facilitate conditions of equality in
the possession and use of these instruments by means of appropriate laws. Among
the obstacles that hinder the full exercise of the right to objectivity in
information, special attention must be given to the phenomenon of
the news media being controlled by just a few people or groups. This has
dangerous effects for the entire democratic system when this phenomenon is
accompanied by ever closer ties between governmental activity and the financial
and information establishments" (Compendium of the Social Gospel #414)
"In
the world of the media the intrinsic difficulties of communications are
often exacerbated by ideology, the desire for profit and political
control. rivalry and conflicts between groups, and other social evils.
Moral
values and principles apply also to the media. The ethical dimension relates
not just to the content of communication (the message) and the process of
communication (how the communicating is done) but to fundamental structural and
systemic issues, often involving large questions of policy bearing upon the
distribution of sophisticated technology and product (who shall be information
rich and who shall be information poor?)” (Compendium # 416).
A medical school professor, finished forty years as a teacher and retired; he writes a column in the Peace Weekly on Hansen's Disease, his field as a researcher and medical practitioner.
His life has been his work, and apologizes to those who have worked with him for being stubborn and slow to listen. He, unconsciously, both in word and action has hurt the feelings of many and asks for forgiveness.
In his plea for forgiveness he uses a phrase from Confucius εθδΈε, which translated freely: being at peace with others does not mean that we think the same. This is a sign of a wise person while the small-minded person wants the other person to be of the same mind if there is to be peace and harmony between oneself and another. The doctor admits that he was slow in understanding this and is sorry.
For the doctor one of the hardest situations to deal with was the way leprosy is used in the Scriptures as a punishment from God. Every time he hears these words it hurts him greatly. The word leprosy appears 83 times in the Bible. It appears both in the Old and New Testaments. When Moses received the mission to liberate the Jews in Egypt, he was given leprosy and cured by God to rid himself of his doubts.
In the English Bible in Leviticus, the word leprosy is used but in the Korean Bible, it is malignant skin disease. In Leviticus chapter 14, we have the purification rite for leprosy. Since 1943, we have the discovery of medicine that cures the disease. In a period of one to two years, the disease is cured. In one year in Korea, there are less than ten with the main symptoms, and they are of an ordinary infectious disease.
St. Luke who was a doctor mentions in chapter five verses 12-16 the cure of a person with leprosy. In the Old Testament, it was a sign of uncleanness and ungodliness, and here we have a cure. The doctor remarks that the understanding of punishment that was present is no longer true in the New Testament because of Jesus.
We are in New Testament times and hope that the readers will never use the word leprosy as referring to sin and punishment. Hansen's disease used in place of leprosy is an effort of many to disassociate it from the term leper.
Writing
in the opinion page of the Catholic Times a professor in the humanities
department of a Catholic University leads us on a journey of thought
that she had in reading the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari.
She begins the article talking about her walks with her sister-in-law along the river bank of the Han River. In the evening, she sees many walking at sunset with their dogs, and she wonders at times who is leading whom. You have Chihuahuas, Finish Spitz, Poodles walking with their owners, and she was struck with how the dogs have no problem in being attracted to other dogs of different breeds, much larger or smaller than themselves and enjoying each others' company. However, she doesn't recall in the same house where a dog has fallen in love with a cat or vice versa.
The
book she is reading on Sapiens (homo sapiens) is one that a Christian
may have much to criticize but she found something that she has
overlooked in the past that was brought to her attention by the book.
We have the cognitive, agricultural and scientific revolutions Sapiens has encountered, and Harari wonders whether our ancestors, the hunters and gathers, were happier than our own modern Sapiens. We have had more people who have died from suicide than all the deaths that we have had in wars from the beginning of history. What is the reason that we are now working more hours than the hunters and gathers in our ancestral line? Will our world of cyberspace and genetic engineering bring us more happiness or grief?
What she liked about the book was the reason Sapiens could overcome all the other hominids. It was because of Sapiens cognitive powers. In this section, he explains the difference between mating theory and replacement theory.
Sapiens did not live in harmony with the other hominids but in time showed antagonism and competed with Neanderthals and Erectus (although there may have been interbreeding), they did not settle down with them but even were responsible for their reduced numbers and eventually extinction. We have no place in the planet today where we can find any remnant of where Sapiens and the hominids interbred and remained as a distinct tribe, or species. We have overcome our different facial appearances, colors, cultures and religions, but we were not attracted to the non-Sapiens.
We are drawn to God, we can't see, understanding our history as made in the image of God, and the attraction that he has put in us for himself is what keeps much of human kind looking for ways to fill our desire for him, by the way we live. St. Augustine expressed this feeling very succinctly and beautifully: our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
After the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, the war between Protestantism and Catholicism continued with a fight on reason and religion.
Humanity was seen negatively by Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). Our condition: "was a war of every man against every man." A philosophy professor in the theology department of a Catholic University, in his column in the Catholic Times, believes most of his readers would have difficulty understanding Hobbes.
He mentions the humidifier sterilizer problem Korea experienced that included fatal chemicals, the cause of death and disease, and took many years to come to the attention of the public: an example of money coming before justice and public good. A society where money is necessary for certain jobs, a society where a small mistake made while driving is returned with revengeful acts; a person's feelings slightly hurt by another's action, will respond with violence; a society where the poor in the educational system end up dropping out and becoming losers, and we blame it on them; a society where we don't work for the common good but for the few. Hobbes' understanding of society is not without reason.
According to Hobbes, our natural desires are not decisions on good and evil, or concern for the virtuous life but maintaining personal security. This kind of situation makes for a very unstable society. For Hobbes the human condition of mankind was: "a state of violence, insecurity and constant threat." Is this not part of the feeling that many have in our society?
When our desires control us, and without any examination of our situation, we go in chase of our desires are we not falling prey to the thinking of Hobbes and being controlled by it?
Meaning of our daily life is not success and great deeds but little acts of concern for others and a virtuous life, which begins by looking into ourselves. Examining ourselves, we listen to the small voice that is always speaking in us. It is then we recall our vocation.
We need the belief that we are called to heal the sickness of society. It is not the picture given to us by the mass media, but the reality that we experience daily: facing it positively and objectively.
Trust in our working for the healing of society is not something that comes without a price. We are faced with these many varied desires that come to us daily, and we examine them for their meaning, and continue working for the common good. This requires effort and a fighting spirit.
In the Peace Weekly the head of a spirituality counseling service deals with a question received in his column in which a writer asks: is religion just a question of experience? Every time the questioner brings in theology he is made to feel his faith life is misunderstood and considered infantile. Faith needs experience he acknowledges but is faith only a matter of experience?
Priest Columnist answered his question, and calls these experiences a strong feeling of being one with a transcendent being. A person's very self is seen at the center of their being, and gives a person a vision of what life should mean. "The man who learns in solitude and recollection, to be at peace with his own loneliness, and to prefer its reality to the illusion of merely natural companionship, come to know the invisible companionship of God." Thomas Merton is quoted as saying we are spiritual beings and not material existences. A person with this kind of thinking can expect to have an experience of oneness with God.
He mentions St. Thomas Aquinas, who is considered one of the greatest theologians of the Catholic Church, who had an experience of God while at prayer. After that experience, he gave up writing and devoted himself to prayer: Scripture and the cross were all he needed.
Care must be taken, he says, with these experiences. They are not to change us completely but change the direction of one's life. However, we have those who think that what they experienced has changed them into another person, and gathers others to follow them. They expand the way they see themselves, and are under the illusion of being God like. They often leave the church they belonged, and start their own movement. This divine experience becomes the beginning of a personal quest for marketing their own religion.
Second problem is addiction. They become so overcome by the experience it's like an alcoholic who feels he is living only when he is drinking and continues, for everything else seems futile. Often they leave family, and work in search of this addiction.
Our hearts are like a rubber band. We expand and return to normal. No matter how large the experience we will return to normal. It is at that time that our response is important. When thanks are expressed to God for the experience, all is well, but with those who do not want to return to their daily life. we see many aberrations.
He concludes the column with the example of Peter, who experienced the transfiguration of Jesus and wanted to build three tents; he wants us to reflect on Jesus' response.
What we hear often bothers our consciences. A religious sister adds to the burden with her words on the opinion page of the Catholic Times. She recounts her encounter with a homeless woman who she helped. She fed her and gave her a place to stay on church property without notifying anybody, and sent her off with bus fare.
Results were that she returned repeatedly, strongly asked for food, a place to stay, and a job. When the sister told her she would find her a place to stay, she said no; she didn't want anyone to notify her family. She refused to leave, which put the sister in a difficult situation. The church grounds had many different rooms, classrooms and facilities, but it was difficult to find a place for a homeless woman.
Church property is not a public welfare facility. It is not a place where persons can stay for any long period of time. This fact she knows well but whenever we are required to turn our backs on those looking for help, she finds it difficult.
Churches are not used during the week as they are on Sundays, and she who gives many talks finds it awkward using Jesus' words about what we do to the least we do to him, and when she finds herself saying no to those in need: homeless, the elderly, children, these words come to mind. All could be welcomed to use church property.
She mentions how Pope Francis has asked that they open the religious houses in Europe to the migrants and refugees which gave her great joy. How would Jesus look upon the way we use our facilities in Korea? In this year of mercy are we using our facilities to express this mercy?
Many are those who remember using the church's buildings and playgrounds as children. Neighborhood children can use the parking lots of the churches as playgrounds. Young people can come to use the basket ball courts and ping pong tables. Migrants and foreign workers can use the rooms for meetings and celebrations. Those who have for one reason or another not had a marriage ceremony can use the churches for these activities. The homeless can find rest from the rain and a place to rest in rooms set aside for this purpose.
She concludes her article wondering if this is only a dream. Is this kind of thinking unrealistic, impossible?
