Searching for Reasons

 

In the Let's Us All Be One column of the Catholic Times a university professor in the social welfare department, reflects on our need to reveal the evils of the disaster-stricken society.

The news we hear these days is shocking in itself. In a situation where we are already exposed to politicians' deception, hypocrisy, incompetence, and defeat daily, the addition of these shocking incidents further brings great sadness to those who hear about them.

 

Just thinking about some of the recent events, such as the Itaewon disaster, the deaths of field workers (including suicides), the suicides of victims of rental fraud, the successive deaths of newborns, the Osong underpass disaster, the suicide of an elementary school teacher, and the recent repeated murders gives us sorrow and questions.

The trauma caused by the shock of a disaster causes problems in the way we think, preventing victims from escaping the painful time and space where the incident occurred, and preventing them from returning to the healthy emotional state present before the injury. 

  

Moreover, the more complex the nature of the disaster, the more difficult the trauma can be for victims to understand and recover from what has happened to them. For example, if it appears to be a natural disaster on the surface but is in fact a man-made disaster, or if it is clearly a social crime (physical, sexual abuse, and violence) but the perpetrator is a family member, the victim may suffer greater emotional pain.

 

The role of the state in the face of unexpected disasters is truly important. It is necessary, but it is also the reason for the existence of the country. First of all, it is important to clarify responsibility for disaster occurrences and reveal why they occurred. And what has been revealed must be reported to the victim or bereaved family as is. And we must properly reorganize the social system to prevent this from happening again. This is the way for victims and their families to recover.

 

In addition, the full support and accommodating attitude shown by the state to the victims and their bereaved families gives ordinary citizens who observe this the belief that they can be protected by the state under any circumstances.

 

Regarding suicide and murder cases, we should not limit ourselves to the individual offender's problem, dismiss it as the individual's mental illness or criminal tendencies, and only strengthen punishment. Suicide is a suicide, and a murder is a murder. Individual incidents must be deeply analyzed to find commonalities between seemingly separate incidents and to understand the essential meaning of the social structural context in which such incidents occurred.

 

James Gilligan, a psychiatrist who studied the social context of suicide and murder, also said that the state's attitude in responding to the problem of suicide and murder is not to focus only on individual treatment and punishment, but on the 'lethal violence' in suicide and murder. The goal is to improve the political and economic systems that promote inequality, shame, and despair in society.

 

In fact, the majority of suicide deaths and murders are caused by family and social environmental problems such as family discord, absence of care, violence and abuse, sexual violence, school maladjustment, long-term social isolation, unemployment, a sense of unreality, and severe financial pressure since childhood. 

The ancient Chinese philosopher Xunzi said: "A good farmer does not stop farming just because there is a drought." In this dizzying time of disaster, The columnist misses the image of a benevolent farmer.

A Community Approach to Public Education

The cover story of the Catholic Times this past week were some problems with public education that have recently appeared  with the death of an elementary school teacher.

A young female teacher at the school where she taught students she loved took her own life. For the deceased, who became an educator to ensure a happy life for the  children and seeking happiness herself, school was a place where she could no longer find happiness. The teachers and students mourned her passing: "We are sorry we couldn't protect you." The teacher left a note: "I hope the school will be a happy place for the teachers and students..."

The sad death of a teacher reminded us of what values families, schools, and the educational community need to regain. Comforting the teachers who cried out: "We must become a school of communication, not abuse of power and complaints," the church presented an alternative called ‘Restoration of an educational community that walks together.’

On August 12, on the road of one of the subway stations in Seoul teachers dressed in black gathered together to demand an investigation into the truth and guarantee the right to education. They called for "normalization of public education that restores trust between teachers and students." Teachers took to the streets every week, and designated September 4th, the 49th anniversary of the deceased’s death, as ‘Public Education Stop Day’ to commemorate the deceased and appeal for the restoration of public education.

The teacher's death was a protest against the collapsed teaching authority. The reality of teachers who have become ‘emotional workers’, some students  have become outlaws, parents who blindly protect their children, and the complacency of schools and education authorities who ignore the reality that education has disappeared – all of this is a tragedy. This is why community efforts for true education are desperately needed.

According to the 'Emergency Teacher Survey to Recognize Teaching Rights Violations and Prepare Countermeasures' published by the Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations on July 27, 99% of the 32,951 teachers in kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide said that 'teachers are emotional workers.' Parents ranked first with 66.1% of those causing stress. As reasons for the increase in parents' violations of educational rights, current teachers cited the neglect of public education due to entrance-oriented education and the social situation in which parents' failure to learn consideration and cooperation in a competitive society is reflected on their children, leading to a child-centered educational system.

 A teacher at an elementary school in Seoul, said: "There are many parents who are more angry at their child for feeling shame or negative emotions due to it than for the child’s mistake." He added, "Because of such complaints, they are unable to provide proper discipline or education. Therefore, many teachers complain of feelings of self-destruction and helplessness," he explained.

The irresponsible attitude of schools and education authorities, which transfers the response to malicious complaints solely to individual teachers, is a factor that greatly worsens the situation. Therefore, teachers point out, if the school system that does not protect teachers is not improved, restoration of teaching rights is far from possible no matter what laws are enacted.

In the educational field, students, teachers, and parents coexist. If power is concentrated on one side and the balance is lost, it is natural for education to collapse. The Church early on emphasized the importance of the educational community.

The article ends with a quote from a Catholic High School principal: "The solution to solving problems occurring in the educational field is ultimately to find the value of love within the community.Teachers, parents, and school authorities, as members of the educational community, must work together for true education. We must make a concerted effort," he emphasized.

Sister Jean Marie Maloney Maryknoll Sister

On the Catholic Korean website Here/Now there is an article on an interview with Maryknoll Sister Jean Marie Maloney who has returned to the United States after 70 years in Korea.
 
Sister Moon Ae-hyeon (Joanna) is her Korean name. When she left to enter the convent her father told her heartbroken mother she was such a tomboy that she would not stay in the convent long and would be back with us soon. She was the first daughter and just over 20 when she entered the convent. She made her first vows and entered Korea as a missionary and lived here for 70 years.
 
She is a native of Syracuse, USA. She entered nursing school after graduating from high school. The three years of school life were very enjoyable, and she met a Maryknoll nun at school that motivated her to enter the Maryknoll Sisters Convent. Because she entered the convent right after the Korean War, Korea was a place where nurses were desperately needed.
 
From New York via California and then by sea, she and four colleagues arrived in Korea on October 1, 1953, and immediately began working at Maryknoll Hospital in Pusan. She had no time to learn Korean properly. In the mornings she studied Korean with private tutors, and in the afternoons worked at the hospital.  
 
About 2,000 patients came in every day. There were about 20 religious and 200 staff who took care of the patients. There were 1 million refugees alone in Pusan at that time. She worked at the Maryknoll Hospital in Pusan for three years. They had no medicines, not enough beds, and they couldn’t take care of all that came. She was to send patients home except for those who were in critical condition. It still hurts that people who could have been cured with medication were not treated and that the patients had to be sent home.
 
Curious and positive by nature, she found joy in the midst of such difficulties. It was good that she had friends by her side, and it is a happy memory that she went out to play in the sea wearing a swimsuit made by someone on a day off. The ruins of war, sick patients, and difficult situations for a 23-year-old woman who can't speak properly in a foreign country, but Sister Jean still recalls the difficulties and joys with a smile on her face, which shows why her 70 years were possible.
 
After working at Maryknoll Hospital in Pusan for three years, she moved to another hospital in Jeungpyeong, North Chungcheong Province, and in 1963, to Ganghwa Island, Incheon, where she faced a different situation. The Maryknoll Society was committed to social welfare, labor, and education in Incheon, where textile factories were concentrated. Sister Maloney began to understand the labor issues while watching the activities of the Catholic Labor Youth Association and influenced by studying the documents of the 2nd Vatican Council and seeking practical methods in her own studies of the situation. She also participated in the labor movement as a member of the Catholic Labor Youth Association.

In 1985, she came to know the Yongsan prostitution women's community, 'Magdalena's House,' in a field experience program of the Asian Mother Superiors Association. She wanted to live there. Someone asked, "What are you going to do there?". And so began her new life living with them.
 

A foreign nun among prostitutes that even Koreans ignore. There were also times of boundaries and distancing, she said. One day, after helping a woman who came to her crying in pain, Sister Jean became a 'good person'.
 
Sister Jean said that the time she spent at Magdalena's house was also "a very interesting time". She says refugee patients, workers in the 1970s, prostitutes… none of them had an easy time living in Korea but her time with them was interesting and satisfying. Looking at Sister Moon’s eyes as she said those words the interviewer realized that Sister Moon’s word 'interesting' was a time to laugh because we were together in pain and hardship, the joy of growing up by helping and encouraging each other’s lives, tears would never wash this away.
 
Looking over her 70 years of living as a religious and missionary she said: "It is very important to trust and love each other. I worked in many places, but I forgot what I did. But my attitude, being with people, respecting, trusting, and loving each other remains. I think Jesus wants to teach that. Of course, there are a lot of fights and difficult things. But God forgives."
 
The question that Sister Jean still has while remembering many things is: "Why do so many people have to suffer?" At the same time, another thing she saw was scenes where people who struggled and lacked so much shared more, cared for others and understood.
 
"Believe in yourself and do what you want to do. If it goes well, we give thanks, if it doesn't, we learn. Also, God sees things differently than I do. Please forgive us for our mistakes and let us go on. Don't make it work right away, help us until it works. But before that, I have to become someone I can trust."
 
When asked what kind of missionary experience she has experienced in Korea, she immediately answered: "Love."  It was the process and result of overcoming the barriers without attaching any meaning to them in Korean society where there were so many barriers to overcome. The happy smile that was not lost throughout the interview also gave meaning to the history of that "love".
 
The day of her interview was two days before Sister Jean Maloney left for a visit to her hometown in the United States. Fortunately, she is not sick but lacks energy and is getting weak and she wants to go back to her hometown. Saying goodbye after her interview, she said: "I will be back soon." She will be returning to the States with Fr. Russell J Feldmeier MM. who is also returning to the States after his visit in Korea. Sister will be leaving the place where she spent most of her long and interesting life.

Universal Ethic Seen by an Atheist and Catholic

 

The Catholic Times the Light of the World column gives us the difference between the Catholic Teaching  on the universal ethic to help a neighbor in need as seen by the Atheist and Catholic.

We all need to help someone in need. Are we not  all familiar with the  Good Samaritan? Priests and Levites  of that time simply pass by ignoring the man on the side of the road. But then a Samaritan comes by and helps him return to health. What's the point of this story? If you have a neighbor in need, don't argue, try to save face, but help the person in need.

 

However, there is a hidden secondary theme that comes from the social teaching and it is to prevent the recurrence. Catch the robber, hold him accountable, and work so that it will not happens again. So the social doctrine mentions the need for a corrective process. The purpose is not only to punish and discipline but to help the one convicted to return to the community and bring about reconciliation in social relations that have been disrupted by crime.

 

But there is also a final third theme. What is it? It is the proclamation of the gospel. It is to preach the word of God to those who have suffered injustice or to those who have done wrong. This does not appear explicitly in the Good Samaritan passage, but is emphasized throughout the Bible. 

 

Why is it important to preach the gospel? Is it because being merciful to your neighbor isn't enough? The answer is this. Because the gospel is the way to heal society and the world and solve our problems. Conflicts in the world and society, human existence, evil and suffering — the answers to these questions are found in the Gospels, they are given through Christ, the Son of God. This is the difference from atheism.

 

There are many solutions to social problems. But like the Cold War lessons between capitalism and communism, all social institutions have limits. However, it is the gospel of Christ that ultimately solves the problems of mankind and society. This is because it fundamentally heals, transforms, and gives life to humans. Social doctrine is like the gospel. Catholic social doctrine is not an ideological or practical system for solving problems. Social doctrine without the Gospel is nothing more than an ideology. As history has proven, human and social problems cannot be solved with abstract ideologies.

 

Therefore, the church seeks to help people on the path to salvation through social teaching but at the same time, it must teach the truth of the gospel and faith. And the fundamental foundation of the church's social doctrine is the revelation of the Bible and the church Tradition. Here is the need for an accurate knowledge of God's revelation and teaching.

 

"By means of her social doctrine, the Church takes on the task of proclaiming what the Lord has entrusted to her. She makes the message of the freedom and redemption wrought by Christ, the Gospel of the Kingdom, present in human history. In proclaiming the Gospel, the Church bears witness to man, in the name of Christ, to his dignity and his vocation to the communion of persons. She teaches the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom" (#63 Social Doctrine in Brief).

The Charm of Religion

 

In his column, a priest university professor reminds the readers of the Catholic Peace Weekly that our faith life is a life of charm and fascination. This is not the way  religious life is described but we are followers of Jesus— is there anyone in the history of the world who had a more fascinating and attractive life?

It's been quite some time since the crisis of COVID-19 has passed but the columnist still feels we have a long way to go to return to pre-Covid days. One is accustomed to not going to church or no longer having the opportunity to go. However, it seems to him that more people are skeptical of their faith than before. This may be due to the negative perception of religion in the social and cultural atmosphere of the 'postmodern' era, although the COVID-19 crisis also helped.

In fact, people leave the church because they are not attracted to it. If you ask teenagers why they stopped going to church they answer: "Because it's not fun." They did not feel joy or attractiveness in faith. For them, the church did not have the values of freedom, equality, dialogue, and communication, which are the values of this era, it is often seen as stuffy,  boring, and forced on us by duty.

But is faith really as stuffy and old-fashioned, as many believe? When you look at the life that Jesus lived you can see that it was never like that. It was not Jesus who imposed commands and forced faith like a heavy burden, but the Pharisees and the scribes of that time.

Jesus invited us to a life of joy living as a child of God, free from the heavy burden of detailed law provisions of that era. Those who met him experienced life as a festival and felt the joy of living as a child of God. Perhaps the negative preconceived notions of faith are often created by ourselves. Have we insisted on our own religious life that has nothing to do with Jesus' life and lived our faith life as a burden, and not joy, and taught it to our children and others in this manner?
 
We need to remember the words of Archbishop Joseph Doré of France: "We must now break with the notion that believing in God is an obligation imposed and the acceptance of abandonment of all. For those who believe in God whom Jesus revealed and gave flesh, faith is not a senseless act or concern added to life, but light, strength, happiness, and grace" ("Jesus for All").

Pope Francis also emphasizes the "charm" of faith. ("Joy of the Gospel", paragraph 14) "All of them have a right to receive the Gospel. Christians have the duty to proclaim the Gospel without excluding anyone. Instead of seeming to impose new obligations, they should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who point to a horizon of beauty, and who invite others to a delicious banquet."

Faith, as some people believe, is never a belief in heavy, old-fashioned, outdated superstitions and teachings. Rather, faith is full of charm, joy, and a source of new life for those who follow Christ. They live in the world with the people of the world, but they live a different life. We are children of God, not bound by the world, and live freely dreaming of heaven. You can live richly even if you don't have anything, and you can live with ease of mind even with concern for those whose life is more difficult than our own.
 
Jesus was a charming man. Our religious ancestors were also fascinated by Jesus and his gospel, they wanted to protect their faith even by giving up their lives despite the threat of persecution. Shouldn't we also accept this faith that they have cherished and inherited as valuable and live a life of faith that exudes its charm to the people of the world?

Recovering from Addiction

 

The Catholic Peace  Weekly in the Diagnosis of the Times column by a university professor in the  addiction department of a Catholic University gives us some important thoughts on the problem faced with addiction.

Today, addiction is recognized as a chronic disease that requires long-term steady management, similar to hypertension and diabetes. Just as exercise and diet management are necessary in addition to professional treatment to manage blood pressure and diabetes, various methods are required to prevent and to recover from addiction.

 

Addiction problems also require specialized treatment, but the percentage of addicts using specialized treatment services is very low. For example, only 2.6% of people diagnosed with alcoholism use mental health services, and only 2-3 out of 100 see a mental health professional. This is a very low level compared to other countries. In the case of drug addiction, which has recently become a social issue, it is estimated that the use of mental health services by drug addicts is much lower due to the absolute lack of treatment and rehabilitation infrastructure, legal problems related to drug use, and negative perceptions of drug addicts.

 

Recently, the domestic drug user population is on the rise, and the increase in the alcohol and drug population inevitably leads to a shortage of professional help necessary for treatment and rehabilitation of addiction. This means that there is a limit to treatment of addicts and helping them recover their social functioning.

 

We need resources to consistently manage and support addicts, and one of them is the help of those who have recovered from addiction. They are called a peer recovery support specialist. People tend to associate with and are more strongly influenced by those who have characteristics similar to themselves. If this is applied to addicts, it can be interpreted that the support provided by fellow workers who have experienced addiction and the recovery process can exert a strong influence on the addict's recovery.  

 

The use of peers recovered from addiction has several advantages. First, they may excel in understanding and acceptance of the sick  more so than experts because they have experienced addiction and the recovery process. They are also better at giving addicts hope for recovery, accompanying them through the recovery process, and removing the label of an addict.

 

Second, the services provided by those who have recovered from addiction are known to have a positive effect not only on the addicts but also on themselves.

 

Third, in Korea, a policy focusing on punishment rather than treatment and rehabilitation is being implemented for drug addicts, and there is a strong social atmosphere that recognizes drug addicts as ex-convicts. This acts as a factor that weakens drug addicts' access to treatment and rehabilitation services. However, recovery support services provided by peers with the same experience will lower drug addicts' resistance to treatment and ultimately increase their access to treatment and rehabilitation services. In the United States, recognizing the advantages of peer recovery support, a number of addiction rehabilitation facilities are using peer recovery support, and 38 states accept fees for peer recovery support services.

 

It is time to begin using those who have recovered from addiction in helping addicts where the treatment and rehabilitation infrastructure for addicts is insufficient and the service utilization rate is very low. It is hoped that this atmosphere of recognizing the help of those who have overcome addiction can have on the recovery process will spread in Korea.

 

How Do we Build a Community of Kindness?

In the Theological Lecture Hall column of the Catholic Times a priest director of a Catholic Culture and Theology Institute gives the readers some thoughts on community.

 

The disappearance of a sense of community makes the world dizzy. Self-reliance has become the core way of life, and many individuals see  egoism as the new name of freedom. Freedom without responsibility confuses the world. Communal values disappear and interest in social things remains only as past memories. In fact, the emergence of modern subjects along with the establishment of democracy seemed to make a new world possible. However, after the establishment of the neoliberal system, today's situation is gradually becoming a world that has lost hope. In the huge capitalist system, the individual was fragmented and lost the power for change.

Even while realizing the climate crisis in everyday life and witnessing extreme polarization in the neoliberal economic system, people focus only on the material pleasures in front of them and express only selfish desires. It is easy to witness the absence of deep thinking and the failure to form social consensus. Is it no longer possible for individuals, influenced in the neoliberal system, to pursue communal wisdom toward the future and to act and practice as a community? It is difficult to escape from the overwhelming neo-liberal ruling order. It is full of lethargy and resignation.

The Church is the community of the People of God. The church is a kind of alternative community that sometimes adapts to the world, sometimes against the world, and sometimes transforms the world. The church is a community that participates in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The church is a holy community that follows the values and order of the kingdom of God, a community of hope, the reign and consummation of God. The church community does not give up hope even in the face of many challenges and difficulties in the world. 

 

In today's world where community is disappearing, the church must become the sacrament of community. "Christians should show the world that a completely different type of society is possible based on God. This, of course, becomes persuasive only through practice, not through teaching." (Gerhard Lohfink) What kind of community did Jesus want? Can people look at today's church and imagine community? The church has lost its community. A community can only start when you and I are equally acknowledged and differences are respected. If the sense of community is lost, the church also returns to an understanding of its physicality only, and becomes an object of growth and prosperity. By its very nature, the church is a community to serve the world, a community that proclaims the joy of the gospel, not the joy of the world. What kind of sacramental witness does the church community, as a society of antithesis give in today's world? 

 

External growth implies the risk of losing the sense of community. Community does not depend on externals but on internal communion. However, the expansion of the external weakens the inner intimacy. The external expansion of the church with the official recognition of the Roman Empire weakened the church's community. The monastic movement started from the personal dimension of spiritual training and concentration toward perfection, and the communal dimension of trying to preserve the identity of the church against the secular flow. At the bottom of the monastic movement is a spirit of resistance to the world, which seeks to find the source of faith and daily life not in worldly values but in the teachings of the Gospel. The spirit of the movement is not to escape from the world, but to choose a religious way of life for the transformation of the world. 

 

There are movements within the church in response to the neoliberal material civilization. American conservative Rod Dreher argues in his book 「The Benedict Option」 that the church must exist as an advance guard against counterculture in order to maintain Christian identity in the age of secularization. Dreher suggests that we should "return to the roots of our faith in thought and practice", change our habits of heart and way of life according to the rules of Saint Benedict, and "become the Church without compromise". "We work, we pray, we confess our sins, we show mercy, we welcome the stranger, we keep the commandments." It is a beautiful declaration. But there is a huge gap between declaring a principle and realizing it in reality. You cannot overcome and transform the world by creating a kind of ghetto and waging a culture war. Rod Dreher's conception only shows "the misfortune of traditionalism that ignores changes in the historical context" (Thomas Halick).

 

A new monastic movement is emerging from both Catholics and Protestants, centering on the laity. If the traditional monastic movement was a way of living together wearing a habit in a monastery, the new monastic movement is a way of practicing Christian values and practicing discipleship while living in the home and the world.

 

Efforts and attempts to live and practice the spirit of Jesus Christ as a community in the era of neoliberal material civilization are obviously important. However, there are many principles and must-have statements for community formation, but there are not so many community movements that have actually achieved what they wanted. Space-oriented community movements are still failing. In the beginning, it is maintained by founders with strong charisma, but it is easy to witness that it weakens and disappears after one generation.   

 

We live in an era where networks through the Internet overwhelm communities in the analog era. In the era of digital civilization, people's relationships are changing. The very way we feel intimacy and belonging has changed. The community of this era may depend on how to harmoniously coexist within this network of networks.

 

Where in our time can we find ways in which people can relate and form communities. "Things that didn't exist, when we are friendly for no reason, changes the plot of our lives" (Kim Yeon-soo's novel Too Many Summers) "Kindness recognizes the bonds that connect us and makes us realize similarity and homogeneity with others. It makes us recognize that the world is alive, tightly connected, cooperating and relying on each other." Olga Tokarczuk book of essays, Tender Narrator: Unprovoked kindness toward others resembles God's unconditional love. Friendliness is hospitality. But where does kindness come from and how can it be raised? Is today's church a friendly community?