Pastoral Care Giving

 

In the Eyes of the Believer column of the Catholic Times, a pastor gives us some help in understanding what is happening in the Care World of society.

In the past, care work such as childcare and elderly care was considered a personal and private responsibility of women, leading to the stereotype of "burdensome childcare" and "burdensome caregiving" that women had to endure. However, with changes in society, childcare has gradually shifted to grandparents, daycare centers, and academies, while elderly care has moved to nursing homes. 

Despite care work becoming part of the social system, its role has continued to be regarded as women's work, and femininity has been undervalued and exploited due to the outdated notion that it is "unproductive." Care work has remained tied to low wages and low social status.

Nowadays, care work needs to be given priority and placed at the center of all areas, including the home, family, community, country, and the world. The reason for this is that globalization led by transnational corporations, known as the "shadow state," has generalized the absence of care, a situation in which structural indifference dominates, and the poor and socially vulnerable are ignored.

Pope Francis, who foresaw this situation early on, mentioned "the globalization of indifference" in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium and pointed out the "throwaway culture" that uses people as long as they are useful and discards them when they are no longer needed— the poor, the unborn, the elderly, and the youth who are forced into unemployment and irregular jobs. The pope also emphasized the need to promote a "culture of care" in all areas, to confront the pervasive culture of indifference.

As the need for the systematization and institutionalization of care work is emerging, there is an urgent need for a "care ministry" within the church to promote a culture of care. According to the "2022 Poverty Statistics Yearbook" published by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs this year, the poverty rate for single-person households in 2020 reached 47.2%. If we look closer, the poverty rate for single-person households of people aged 65 and over was as high as 72.1%. The care crisis has become a serious social issue, and it is time to address it by recognizing care work as an essential and valuable part of our lives, society, and economy.

The increase in poverty leads to 'dying alone' and "increased suicide rates." During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Catholic Church was recognized in Seoul with its "Myeongdong Soup Kitchen" for homeless people and serving in shelters. However, the church cannot be satisfied with that alone. Various forms of care ministry must be implemented in various fields, such as childcare and youth care, care for single-person households of young and old-aged people, and psychological counseling and spiritual care. This is because the church's practice of love ultimately manifests itself in care.

The parable of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel of Luke presents a model for true care. The Samaritan approached a dying man and healed his wounds, but he did not stop there. He took him to an innkeeper and asked for him to be cared for until he recovered.
 

In this age of caregiving, the traditional role of approaching the suffering and healing their wounds is still important, but it is also necessary to build a caregiving infrastructure that allows for collective care through solidarity with one another. If we shift our thinking, we can see that local churches can serve as a caregiving infrastructure for collective care. We hope that the church community can become a platform for the caregiving mission, rather than simply remaining in the traditional role of caregiving.

Synodalitas and The Korean Church

 

The Catholic Times in its recent issue has an article by a priest director of the Korea Institute of Christian Thought. The Catholic Times, in collaboration with the Institute, explores the theological meaning of Synodality in the context of the Korean Church, and how its values ​​can be meaningfully embodied in the actual church setting and to unearth church practices and models that can provide inspiration and insights towards Synodal renewal for the Church.

The COVID-19 pandemic briefly halted or slowed down our society. From this, we have had the opportunity to reflect on our problems. In the Church, we also had the opportunity to reduce activities and look back at ourselves to explore our mission anew. The increasing interest in Synodality in the Church can also be understood in this context.

Synodality is a movement of ecclesial renewal. It calls for reflecting on the reality of the faithful and the community, and the ways of adapting to the changing environment of the world with a new mission and methods.

As the paradigm of thinking about the world changes with each era, the Church also needs to communicate on this basis and proclaim the Gospel. This does not mean changing doctrine and tradition. It means that the form of living and expressing it is changing. To create a "Synodal Church" in the future, the author intends to share some of his feelings of regret.

From October 2021 to October 2024, the 16th World Synod of Bishops, with the theme "Walking Together," proceeds from the local diocese to the nation, continent, and universal Church. The Church in Korea has already gone through the Synod process at the diocesan level in 2022 and shared its contents with the global Church. The application of the principle of Synodality was an important point in diagnosing the realities and difficulties of each local Church and finding the Church's mission. Since all members of the Church are equal in the eyes of the Lord, it is crucial to listen, respect each other, actively participate in the Church's work with a sense of faith, and work together in the Lord's mission.

However, there are negative views in the Korean Church that the momentum of the Synodality movement will soon wither away. Unlike the Roman and Western churches, which are currently experiencing a church crisis, many people in the Korean Church do not sense the great danger of the situation. When talking with the parishioners and priests one can feel that there is a significant lack of understanding and necessity regarding the Synod and Synodality.

Unlike the Korean Church, the German Church has been losing about 200,000 believers annually in recent years. To overcome this crisis, the German Catholic Church has been holding a regional church synod since 2019, separate from the 16th World Bishop Synod. At this synod, which consists of 230 members representing various levels of believers and priests, controversial issues within the Catholic Church, such as same-sex unions, priest celibacy, and women priests, were discussed and resolutions were passed through one vote per person. Of course, implementing this is the responsibility of the bishops of the respective dioceses, but the German Bishops' Conference also expressed its respect for the German Synod's resolutions.

Of course, creating a Synodal Church is not a measure for crisis management but rather a necessity for performing the Church's mission within the expressions and methods of the times. However, the danger is we may become a church that is more concerned about preventing a crisis than sincerely fulfilling its essential mission.

We need to pay attention to the clericalism or priestly authoritarianism of the clergy that is a problem in the Korean Church. Such criticism is also related to the impact of social culture based on the increase in values of democracy and individual freedom. The consciousness of equality and individual freedom and decision-making is becoming more important in our society. Priests are required to serve with a more humble attitude for the sake of the flock.

Of course, since it is the spirit of the gospel, priests should seriously consider the incorrect authoritarian priestly attitudes and the decentralized role-sharing of the Church's mission. Conversely, we also need to think about Korean believers' passivity. Believers themselves must take responsibility for their faith, and the Church should foster an environment where they can participate actively.

Our Brothers Of The Coptic Orthodox Church

A professor at a Catholic University writes in a featured column of the Catholic Peace Weekly about one of the issues that continue to embarrass the unity of Christianity.

The Coptic Orthodox Church is said to have been founded by Saint Mark the Evangelist in Alexandria, Egypt. In Greek, Egypt is Aigyptos, and in Arabic, it is Qubt. Qubt entered Latin as Coptus and was called Copt in English. We use this word in English to refer to the Coptic Orthodox Church, but the correct term is the Egyptian Orthodox Church.

Christianity split into different paths once it gained freedom of religion after the persecution in Rome ended. In the 4th to 5th centuries, Christians debated whether Christ was divine or human. They eventually reached a consensus that Christ was fully divine and fully human. However, they later divided again over the question of how the one Christ could exist in two natures, divine and human. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 was where they argued and separated.

According to the Coptic Orthodox Church's monophysitism: A Christological teaching that the person of Christ consisted of single divine nature or divine-human nature in which the human was absorbed by the divine.

The Catholic Church (Western Latin Catholic) and the Eastern Orthodox Church, uphold Dyophysitism: The Christological position that two natures, divine and human, coexist in the unique person of Jesus Christ God.

They fought with each other over secondary doctrines instead of focusing on Jesus Christ's teachings and spent time on doctrinal disputes instead of loving one another.

It took them 1,522 years to realize their shame. On May 10, 1973, Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church visited the Vatican and met with Pope Paul VI. They signed an agreement stating that despite unnecessary increases in their theological differences over centuries due to non-theological factors, they could acknowledge Christ together, saying, "Christ is perfect God and perfect man."

On May 10, 2013, Pope Francis met with the Coptic Orthodox Church's Pope Tawadros II in Rome and reaffirmed that they are united in Christ as one Church. From May 9 to 14, Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church will visit the Vatican. He is expected to speak at a general audience with Pope Francis on May 10, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the joint declaration of the Catholic and Coptic Orthodox Churches and the 10th anniversary of Friendship Day, and hold a liturgy at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

"Werther Effect" and the Media

A professor writes about the "Werther effect" in the Catholic Times column — Let us Become One. 

 

The Werther Effect refers to the identified rise in suicide rates following well-publicized reports of deaths by suicide of celebrities or other well-known figures in society.

 

It happened shortly after the death of a well-known comedian. The professor talked to a celebrity by chance. After a long conversation, he asked whether there were special reasons for suicide that only celebrities have. He also asked whether there are special difficulties unique to ordinary people and celebrities. The celebrity looked puzzled at his question and said: "Celebrities are just like ordinary people. They are not suicide because they are celebrities, they are dealing with difficulties like everyone else." His question was poorly formulated and he was embarrassed.

 

After that, he thought celebrities, like all of us, could only be healthy if they had support around them. To do that, he thought celebrities should be able to balance their activities with normal lives. This includes frequent meetings with family and friends.  It also includes time to relax, learn, and prepare for the unexpected non-celebrity period along with celebrity activities. 

 

These are also the contents that entertainment agencies should support by signing reasonable contracts with their celebrities. The public also needs to understand entertainers as professional artists and show restrained interest rather than calling them public figures and demanding excessive responsibility.

 

Celebrities themselves need to realize that 'celebrity's life' or 'celebrity role performance' is not everything in their lives. If one's life is completely devoted to being a celebrity, and the dreamy 'celebrity life' isn't possible, a real-life or alternative life isn't considered, a severe identity crisis may arise. Celebrity is a highly variable job, one should be prepared to switch and move freely at any time.

Regarding celebrity suicide, we talk about the Werther effect. Strictly speaking, there is no clear causal relationship between celebrity suicides and imitation suicides.

Media coverage (including Internet sites and social media) of celebrity suicide rather than celebrity suicide itself affects the public more and plays a role in potential suicide imitation.

 

The media frequently reports the death of a celebrity and the shock it arouses around them. They seem to promote the Werther effect or even confirm the Werther effect, saying: "Since Mr. OOO’s death, suicide continues."

In fact, people at risk of suicide tend to sympathize more than the general public when hearing reports of celebrity suicide. However, they are reluctant to be recognized as someone who would commit suicide under the influence or after someone else. Rather, media reports can be a very serious problem in that they have a suggestive effect that causes suicidal thoughts in people who have not usually had suicidal thoughts.

The media must not use celebrity death for its own commercial gain. The original role of the media is to refrain from detailed and stimulating suicide reports and to provide information and introduce  those at risk of suicide to abandon their own thoughts and look at the situation from a different perspective.

Finding Again 'Our Modus Vivendi et Operandi'

 

In the recent bulletin for priests, we had an article by a member of the Justice and Peace Committee of a Korean Diocese with his understanding of the Catholic Church's present situation in society.

According to a survey on "Religious Favorability and Efficacy" conducted by Korea Research in November three years ago, the favorability of Catholicism has decreased significantly compared to other religions. As favorability towards other religions has also decreased, it can be said that favorability towards religion has decreased overall as science and technology continue to develop and society becomes more secularized.
However, it is difficult to say that religion is losing its power due to the secularization of our society, as we can see tens of thousands of people flocking to new emerging religions like Shincheonji.

In a survey conducted last year, over 70% of respondents said they obtain positive effects from life through religion. At least 7 out of 10 people in Korea believe in the positive role of religious teachings in our secularized society. On the other hand, the proportion of the population who believe in Catholicism has remained around 11% of the total population in Korea since 2018.

While there has been little variation in the number of Catholics, favorability towards Catholicism has decreased, and the number of those leaving the church has increased. Moreover, the number of young people frequenting vocation gatherings both for the clergy and religious have decreased. Can we understand this contradictory phenomenon simply as a result of the secularization of our society, or as a natural process of change like that of the European Church? There is evidence to refute the claim that it is a result of secularization, as mentioned earlier.

On the other hand, it is too irresponsible to consider it a natural change like that of the European Church. One religious leader said: "If people feel that way, it is the result of our failure to live well." I believe that this statement is an accurate reflection of the phenomenon.

If I were to explore the causes of this phenomenon as a layperson, the label of "anti-church layperson" is often heard. However, the problem is not that we deny the teachings of the church. Simply put, the Korean Church has been indifferent to the practical lives of its community members. By focusing only on the quantitative growth of the church, it has failed to fully implement the "way of life and activity" (modus vivendi et operandi) of faith that Christians should clearly demonstrate as members of a church community.

The priests and religious who fought against the harsh military dictatorship in the 1980s were a good example of this struggle, but even they became trapped in the ways of the 1980s. While fighting against the dictatorship is important, it is also important to prevent the continuous deaths of workers.

As for the church's approach to urban slums, sexual minorities, and migrant workers caught between the church and society, I'm not sure if the church has researched and shown what the "way of life and operation" of faith, according to Jesus' teachings, should be. There are members of church communities who work with them, but they are still a minority in the church community and, unfortunately, their voices are weak. So people become greatly disappointed with the church's indifferent attitude, and the church finds itself in a contradictory situation.

I believe that it is time for us to reflect on how we have been living and to have a serious moment of contemplation about the problems we are facing. We need to think not only about the justice that we are shouting for but also about what kind of peace we can build together in our daily lives. Let's think together about what this peaceful coexistence could look like. 

 

 

Vocation Sunday in Korea

 

Last Sunday was Vocation Sunday the fourth Sunday of Easter also called Good Shepard Sunday. In the Diagnosis of the Times column of the Catholic Peace Weekly, the columnist gives the readers some words to ponder. At present, there are very few who want to become priests or religious. It is even difficult to find teenagers coming to Sunday school.

Although the birth rate has decreased and the school-age population has decreased, the number of believers has decreased even more sharply. The situation in seminaries is critical. Six Catholic seminaries across the country, are not even able to fill their quotas. Across the country, only 93 persons have enrolled in seminaries. Considering the number of people who drop out, the future of the Korean Catholic Church looks bleak.

Until the 1970s, the Korean church was dynamic. People gathered, and the church expanded. Young people lined up to go to seminaries. The decisive reason was that the Korean Catholic Church seemed to be thriving. As emphasized by Pope Francis, the church played the role of a "field hospital." Bishops and priests had to listen to all kinds of complaints and try to find solutions.

 

At Cardinal Kim Su-hwan's desk, there were piles of petitions and letters of request. Kim not only cared for people whose lives were in danger, like Pakistani death-row inmates but also fought for the release of unknown student activists. He did his best to become everything to everyone. The fact that the Myeong-dong Cathedral became a regular protest site was the result of the church members' desire to do something. For a while, the church was the Body of Christ.

Nowadays, there are many regrets. Most bishops tend to be faithful to their managerial roles. Some bishops' abilities are even evaluated like business managers. The apostolic groups that illuminated the church's identity have become sluggish and have been pushed to the periphery. The Catholic Labor Youth Association, the Catholic Farmers' Association, and the Catholic Urban Poor Association are examples. 

 

Even though poor people are being pushed to the sidelines due to the polarization of wealth, the gathering of people who hold good jobs or have a lot of property has been revitalized. The roles of doctors, lawyers, university professors, and unemployed people have increased. The ratio of Christians among members of the National Assembly is several times higher than that of the general population.

Is that why the lives of bishops and priests are also not the same as before? More and more people enjoy delicious food and play golf. For bishops and priests playing golf has become a common hobby.
 
Many problems can be solved if bishops and priests change their attitude toward life. Rather than eating and drinking good food and playing golf,  being zealous and putting your energy into truly carrying out the Lord's word and putting it into practice is necessary. If you live like that, no one won't follow you. The situation in which the Catholic Church in Korea has to worry about is the  sharp decline in the number of vocations which calls for our repentance.
 
Just like the song the  columnist sang when he was 20 years old, he has to confess and repent not lived up to his resolutions of the past. If we don't change now, we may face a more serious crisis in the future. Even today, believers will continue to pray for Vocations. Let us remember how the prayer ends: "Let us serve the church, the body of the Lord, and devote ourselves to our neighbors who desperately needs help and love."

Happiness And Its Connection With Forests

 

The Catholic Peace Weekly column on Trees and Forests by a professor in the department of Forestry introduces the readers to some health benefits that come from forests.

Thomas Jefferson of the United States insisted that "every human being has the right to pursue happiness" and that this should be specified in the Constitution. Even though ‘happiness’ is an abstract concept, the state must create the conditions to pursue it. Thomas Jefferson specifically declared: "I will make this country a better and safer place for our children to live in."  

Korea is a country that achieved economic development in a short period of time and is praised as the ‘Miracle on the Han River’. However, ‘in the end, did this kind of economic development bring us happiness?’  Rather, the gap between the rich and the poor and the resulting social conflict are increasing, and people suffer from a sense of relative deprivation. The suicide rate fluctuates between 1st and 2nd in the world, and the happiness index stays at the bottom among OECD countries.

The professor thinks the forests are an alternative solution to many of our country's problems. Korea's forests are a source of pride to the world. Over the past half century, Korea has become a country that has succeeded in restoring forests that the world envies thanks to the people who have planted and cared for trees on bare mountains. Currently, the lushness of forests in Korea exceeds the average of OECD countries, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recognizes and praises our efforts as 'the only country that has succeeded in land reclamation since World War II'.

He has been studying for the past 40 years with an interest in how to use forests so that we can live happily. "Why are forests related to happiness?"  "How are other countries industrializing their forests?" Forests produce material forest products such as timber to make us live the good life in abundance, but also provide a pleasant environment. And that's not all. The forest is not only a place of leisure and rest for us, but also a welfare resource that protects our health. Recent studies have revealed that the quality and quantity of forests have a close correlation with the longevity and health of residents. In addition, it is revealed that it is related to the birth of healthy children. It is said that the more you come into contact with the forest, the higher your immunity, and efficacy in solving mental and psychological problems such as depression and anxiety.

Now, we need to make good use of the health and happiness functions of forests and use them as resources to fundamentally solve our social problems. Korea has prepared a ‘healing forest’ for public health and created a ‘forest healing instructor’ system to carry out national happiness projects for each life cycle. (The Korea Forest Service has been creating and operating therapeutic forests in Korea since opening the first therapeutic forest in 2009) 

It is a desirable forest use policy, and he  thinks it is truly a forest policy for the people. If forests have contributed as a resource for national happiness and welfare, it is now necessary to develop these new values of forests so that they can be linked to new jobs and income for mountain owners and people who have contributed to creating dense forests. Only then will the welfare value of forests be widely spread among the people and people will be able to live a lively and happy life.

If we make good use of the health and happiness functions of the forest and prepare an efficient delivery system so that the whole people can use it well, it will be a fundamental solution to the problem of high suicide and low birth rate and medical financial burdens that inevitably arises in an aging society. Looking at various indicators, he thinks that forests are now positioned as a hope of the people. For example, more and more people want to work and live in the mountains. Apartments close to the forest are popular, and unlike before, young and competent workers use the forest as their workplace. Now, they want to develop the forest into an industry and a driving force that brings happiness to the people