Suicides in Korea

One of the Korean government ministers in an interview with the Catholic Peace Weekly gives the readers of the paper his ideas on suicide. In one year, 13 thousand commit suicide. This is about 36 a day and the highest of the OECD countries. For the last 13 years, Korea has not been able to rid itself of this disgrace. The government is taking steps to change this. Government, religions and civic organizations are working together to lower the numbers. 

Unemployment and the inequality of income in society has a big influence on the numbers. Compared to other countries the inequality of income is large and affects the situation greatly. Structures of society are another aspect. Culture has changed: family bonds are weak, mental problems are hidden, and the embarrassment in asking for help are all reasons for the numbers.

Plans are to educate a million of the citizens to become Gatekeepers within society. They will be on the lookout for citizens who are having difficulty in life. Communication and presence with those in difficulty will help to make sense of their situation. Also with those who have attempted suicide efforts in accompaniment will be present. Celebrities who commit suicide have copy cat followers; efforts to give psychological help to those in high-stress occupations will be initiated.

Gatekeeper programs refer to programs that sensitize people to the warning signs of those contemplating suicide. Gatekeepers will be given tools on how to listen, be empathetic and know how to refer them to others if necessary.

The government is not able to do it alone and needs the help of all society. Religious elements in society are an important part of this effort. Catholics, Protestants, and Buddhists have been involved in the movement for some time. Plans are being made to set up a policy council that will help coordinate the work and determine the strategy.

The government has set a goal of reducing the numbers of suicides by 30 percent by 2022. Criticism is heard for desiring to attempt such a large reduction, says the minister, but after examining the situation, he feels it's an obtainable goal. The government needs the help of society, if this is to be achieved. This is not only the ministry of Health and Welfare but the other branches of society working together that  will bring about change.

Korea is a country with a great deal of stress. Many vividly remember the financial crisis of 1997 where many were hurt deeply: lost their jobs, their business and lived with great stress. The IMF and other institutions helped in the recovery but the memory and fear of it happening again is present. The North-South division, competition, stress of society, found also in the years of schooling are all areas that need to change. Hesitation to ask for help when overcome with problems is present in many other societies but  thoughts of dishonor to the family may be greater in Korea.

Why Take Issue With the Tears of Others?

In the Catholic Peace Weekly, one of the journalists writes about crying and its place in life.

He begins by mentioning how he is easily brought to tears and that was always the case. As a child he was scolded for crying: a man shouldn't cry, and unconsciously this feeling of uneasiness remains with him whenever he is moved to tears.

He went to see the movie '1987: When the Day Comes' sat in the back of the theater and was prepared with his handkerchief. Anger, sadness, joy, sympathy all kinds of emotions moved him deeply and the tears came. "Crying puts me in touch with myself, we came into the world with a cry. Crying  expresses our innocence, our gratitude for life and our desire to share and to sympathize."

President Moon saw the movie with the actors and cried and was written up in the daily press. One of the daily papers referred to the crying and wrote that he cried again: after seeing  the film A Taxi Driver a few months earlier, the president giving some political comments cried. 

In the article on the president watching "1987", the journalist mentions that during this movie he cried again which our writer found hard to swallow. He read the article over slowly and calmly a number of times. It was like a fish bone caught in his  throat. "The president shouldn't cry so often. Or is it that he shouldn't show his weakness to the people?"

"1987" is a movie dealing with the torture and death of a university student Park Jong-chul who was actively fighting for democracy against Chun Doo-hwan the military dictator. This started the June movement for Democracy of 1987.

The other Movie A Taxi Driver is the story of a foreign correspondent who covered the story of the uprising in Gwangju, Korea. A Korean taxi driver was the hero of the film. He takes the German foreign correspondent to Gwangju and the uprising became world news: also called the 'May 18 Democratic Uprising'. Estimates suggest that over 600 people died during the uprising which ending on May 27, 1980.

Both of these movies were popular in Korea. Going back into history and seeing the suffering of those who wanted a better way of life and their suffering moved many. Many incidents have recently brought tears to the eyes of the citizens.The recent hospital fire, the Sewol ferry disaster that killed 304, mostly young people. 

President Park Geun-hye who was then president,  cried when giving her message to the nation on the tragedy. Some found fault and considered the tears filled with hypocrisy and without authenticity. Tears are not from the head but from the heart.

How can any politician or president wipe the tears of those weeping if their own tear ducts have dried up?  The writer ends the article by asking all our politicians to get rid of their crocodile tears and become human and able to cry with those who are hurting and crying. "Rejoice with those who rejoice and be sad with those in sorrow" (Rom 12:15).  He asks for the gift of tears and hopes all will be gifted with tears in seeing the suffering of others.                                                                                  

Minimal Life and Spirituality

Tomorrow we begin the Season of Lent and begin living the Paschal Mystery so that it will become second nature to us: we die so we can live. At the liturgy we receive ashes on the forehead and hear that we came from dust and will return to dust. Sad as it may sound, it's the journey to happiness in this life and the one to come.
 
A seminary professor of spiritually writes in the Kyeongyang magazine about the minimal life. We empty ourselves so God can fill us with himself. He quotes a well know Buddhist monk who was well known for his 'lack of possessions' which to the monk was the way of having the whole world open to him. A different religion but makes sense to all of us. It's not the possessions but our attachment that is the problem. It takes our attention and freedom away from the important things in life.

Minimal life is a world-wide topic of discussion in recent times and can be compared to our evangelical counsel of poverty. Is this truly the fact that poverty is a means toward happiness? The Scriptures also tell us that God is the one who gives wealth. Why does Jesus say the poor will find happiness? Those who choose to live the life of poverty are not the same as those who without choice have to live in poverty.

It's not that poverty in itself is a good but a condition in which we can find joy in life. The poor need to rely on God more than those with wealth. The life of the counsels is to imitate and be united with Jesus. Poverty, chastity and obedience are a means of being united with Jesus. Not the acts themselves but what they enable us to do is important. If riches allowed us to be one with Jesus that should be our choice.

St. Ignatius of Loyola expressed this with the word 'indifference'. We choose the way that will enable us to attain the object for which we were created. Wealth or poverty is not what is important but our relationship with God.

Why then does the Church put so much emphases on poverty instead of wealth? The reason is that wealth has a stronger pull on our actions and a greater temptation to pull us way from God. When God is the center of our lives than whether its wealth or poverty, health or sickness, slight or honor is not important, but the freedom we enjoy.

When we say God is the center of our lives we are at the same time saying that we are open to the love of our neighbor. We are open to others and willingly giving ourselves to others. This is living the life of love and the virtues. It's then we enjoy the peace that Jesus gives and not the world's peace.

If the minimal life is only a way to manage our material things and to feel unburdened with the material it's good, but only another way to be centered on ourselves. Here again we take center stage and not God. This, as we have learned, does not last long. We want to fill our lives with what will not disappear. When we gaze on ourselves this is extremely narrow. We want to bring into view our neighbor and beyond to God. It's then that our life becomes filled beyond imagination.

Victimless Offenses are not Crimes

Same-sex sexual relationships have always been legal in Korea but not  socially approved. This is true today and possibly more so because of a large number of Christians in society. Our president is also Catholic.  An article in the Catholic Times is the explanation of a priest to a  young man Peter, on what we mean by victimless offenses. 

"When we talk about a sexual minority one idea that must be remembered is the 'victimless offense' category. After the French Revolution in 1791 in the Constitution victimless acts were no longer considered crimes. This included all acts of heresy, magic, witches, and same-sex sexual acts. They were  victimless and no longer concern of the law.

Just because these minority sexual groups think differently than I do is no reason to punish them.  This is a big step in understanding. Whether I like it or not is not the issue and can't be a  reason for the punishment of these acts between consenting adults.

In Europe gradually these victimless offenses were accepted by society and homosexuality was no longer considered a crime. Peter, when I was a child in the 1970s  I  can remember when victimless acts were considered a crime and punished. Do you know this?  I remember seeing this." Peter did not know how to answer.
  
"Long hair and miniskirts were not allowed. Police would measure the length of the hair and shortness of the skirts. (The priest saw the expression on the face of Peter  and decided to discontinue these examples) 

In Europe, there is no problem with homosexual acts between consenting adults. The number of marriages of same-sex couples also continues to grow. However, in many areas of the Middle East and Africa, it is illegal and in certain areas of the world, punishment is the  death penalty. There is a difference in the way people in different cultures see human acts.

In Korea, same-sex marriage is not allowed. In  Korean law  any discrimination against those who are homosexual or lesbians is forbidden. Two celebrities who are gay and living together wanted to get married but they were refused. They filed a case against the ruling but the court has refused to hear it. This is still a cause for talk. No way to know how this will work out but the way society sees the gay life is changing greatly.

Twenty years ago you would never hear the issue discussed but now very much in public discussion.
If one thinks this is a development it's a development, on the other hand if one thinks it is the downfall of society that's what's thought. Peter, what do you think? Is this  a development or a foreboding of ruin?"

"Um.... Father, isn't the forcing of an answer from me on sexual  orientation a failure to respect my human rights?"

In Search of the Sacred

We live in a secularist world environment. In the last house census over half of the Koreans  reported they have no religion. Those of us with a religion do not come across as being much different from anybody else. Sacredness is not something that is easily discovered in the life of religious people. A Jesuit priest on the opinion page of the Catholic Times introduces us to his thoughts on the sacred.

In our society, we see a great deal of uncertainty: unemployment, North Korea and the nuclear issue, the direction of society towards artificial intelligence. Everybody is intent on making a living: interested in going in search of what each considers their ultimate goal of life. How many are interested in the sacred and to experience the sacred in their lives?

From the beginning, the boundary between the holy and the secular was not present. All that God made was holy. The whole world is to be a temple of the sacred. Our journey to God is a journey to find the sacred, a fuller life, a spiritual life.

Zen Buddhism and Catholic Monasticism say that everything in daily life is sacred. Catholicism says that human life and the foundation of our moral vision for society is sacred. The writer points out that housewives are living this life in their daily work and living a form of priesthood and participating in the work of creation in a great degree.

When we are concerned with the preciousness of life at our work site we are dealing with the sacred. This is something that doctors will not experience when they are only working for a livelihood and do not meet the patients as persons when making a diagnosis. He as a priest when he doesn't do all he can to help a person grow spiritually he is only a person with a job and not witnessing to the sacredness of life.

In the midst of social conflicts pursuing the common good, we find the sacredness of life. God wants to elevate the dignity of the poor and wants us to help share more of the world's goods and services with them. "In their proper spheres, the political community and the Church are mutually independent and self-governing. Yet, by a different title, each serves the personal and social vocation of the same human beings." (#76 The Church Today: Vat. II) The Church respects the inherent characteristics of religion and politics but calls for ethical judgments of political power in order to promote the common good.

Church desires  through the political system not only the happiness of a few privileged people but the happiness of all: a fuller life and happiness working always for the common good. We witness to the sacred in seeking a new order, reconciliation and co-existence without trapping ourselves with self-imposed fences.

In the many conflicts of our society:  North and South tensions, labor problems, political party conflicts, youth and the aged, God doesn't just choose between alternatives but as a parent caring for all the children shows greater concern for the weakest child. 

He finishes the article with a quote from Father Peter Arrupe 28th Superior General of the  Jesuits: 
"Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in Love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything."

The Educated, the New Nobility?

Looking back on life, we hear of persons who have done much good and yet in retrospect with great humility, considered it vanity. St. Thomas Aquinas was one of these who at the end of life considered every thing he had written as so much straw, after the things he had seen in a revelation while saying Mass. He wrote no more and left his Summa Theologiae unfinished. He died shortly after.

An article in the Catholic Peace Weekly by a university professor of art asks the readers what human desire is the most difficult to abandon? Is it money or honor? She tells us about a famous Buddhist monk who prohibited the publishing of his books after his death. Did he understand at the end of life that his fame was vanity? Was this similar to the thinking of St. Thomas Aquinas at the end of life?

The article is about the great Renaissance painter and sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti who lived most of his life with the nobility of that time. He died at 88 years old and during that time saw the change of 7 popes. Even if the heavens should divide he was honest and rational in everything he did. He was thrifty in the clothes he wore. He worked hard to support his family, a humorous person, good to those who worked for him.

"He was an extraordinary painter and sculptor. He was from the family of Count Canosa,who came from the region of Reso, he inherited the blood of the illustrious emperors of Rome."

He had one of his students write the above lines in his biography, the first paragraph of the book. The professor says there is virtually no evidence that the Buonarroti family is descended from Count Canosa. Why was Michelangelo obsessed with the fame of his family? He told his nephew when scolding him: "We are a family that is noble."  

The writer wanted to find the reason for Michelangelo's obsession with nobility and she feels it was the social status of the artist of that time.  Artists were craftsmen but they became a social elite and this is partially with the help of Michelangelo. He is quoted as saying: "Art is what nobles do not common people."

She wrote a book about Michelangelo and a few years ago visited his home. The town Caprese  was 700 meters above sea level, a mountainous village.  His father was a magistrate in the village. She believes that in the town, they lived the life of the nobility and later dealing with kings, popes and cardinals he felt something missing in that rarefied society. May this not be the reason, she asks, for his obsession?

She concludes the article by wondering if the search for an education at the best of schools is not a sign of this looking for honors that has taken the place of the noble life of the past.

Women and the Church

A woman theologian wrote an article for a diocesan bulletin on how she sees women within the church community.  She begins her article by introducing us to a bestselling book (2016) Kim Ji Young born 1982. It's a feminist novel. Ji Young is an ordinary woman in her 30s. She goes to school, gets a job, gets married, quits her job, has a child. Portrayed are the ways a woman has to maneuver within a patriarchal and sexist society. She considers it a good picture of the way women face present-day reality.
 
In recent years not only this book but many others have the feminist understanding of present-day society. This feeling has especially spread after a young woman in her twenties was brutally stabbed in a busy Seoul neighborhood for no other reason than she was a woman. She was unknown to the murderer and it touched off a strong response, for it was seen as a hate crime against not only one woman but all woman. Many women felt the violence towards themselves.
 
She reminds the readers the need to change the culture and structures that permit the discrimination against women. We need a movement to work to change what has been our way of dealing with the problems relating to a misogyny experienced by many women. This is not only something in our society but recently in other countries we see the '#Me To Movement' is in full swing. Women who have experienced in their lives: sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual violence are expressing this vocally.
 
With modernization in Korea even though it is a rather short history, many things have changed in the equality of the sexes. 30 years ago a woman who wanted to go on to college often encountered awkward  talk about  women wishing to go on to college.Today those who would attempt such talk would be considered barbarians.
 
It's true that in the  past the desire for the male was a reason for the abortion of female fetuses but that has changed for today we have a preference for girls over boys. During the years of schooling, most of the discrimination has disappeared it is after schooling has finished we see it appear. Women find it more difficult for they are considered commodities that need to beautify themselves for their work.
 
When they marry there is a demand for a wise mother and good wife still the remains of the patriarchal order. When pregnant they are forced to retire or to  be a superwoman both in the home and the workplace. The sexual abuse and sexual violence still remains and a reason for the feminism we see.
 
She would like to see the enthusiasm for feminism in society be a topic of study in theology. In the past, it has been a man's way of understanding the Scripture she wants to see the women's viewpoint considered. Not only in the world but also in the church a woman's vision of what we need to do should be present.