A Korean Mother's Love

I received the book “Herb Gathering Grandmother’s Single Eyed Love” in the mail recently from a priest in the diocese. I have no way of judging if that is a good translation of 나물 할머니의 외눈박이 사랑, a book of meditations on a mother’s love. On Parents Day May 8 it is a good time to reflect on a mother’s love.

The priest is one who has had many big positions in the diocese. He was the rector of the seminary and the head of the marriage tribunal and now a pastor of a big city parish. His mother died two years ago at the age of 92 and this book is his meditative reflections on the past 40 years of his mother's life. He has written many books but this is his first one with a strong emotional content. The reason for the title is that his mother when he was rector of the seminary would in the spring gather herbs from the nearby hills and acorns in the fall to make acorn jelly to give to the seminarians. She was called 'herb gathering grandmother' by the seminarians.

He writes: “I learned to pray in my mother’s womb, I learned about love at her knees, at her breast I received my Faith. When there were difficulties she would pray before the cross. That prayer has been the support of my life. My mother has been my breath, my love, and my respected teacher.”

The priest was very honest in the portrayal of the difficulties of his mother and one of them was a husband who was not always there when she needed him. She had to feed the family with her selling different commodities, and take care of her 6 children. He has seen the problems that married couples have had and hopes that his transparency in some way will help those families.

On Parent’s Day it is a good time to reflect on our parents love and in this case the sacrifice and service of the Korean Mothers.

Suicides in Korea

It is not always wise to take statistics at face value but it seems that the number of suicides in Korea is such that it is causing a great deal of concern in our society. A report from the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD) said that Korea had the highest number of deaths from suicide. The recent Catholic newspaper had an editorial that said that last year we had 35 people each day that ended their lives with suicide. It mentioned that those in there twenties the cause for death from suicide leads the list.

Suicide has become an 'epidemic' disease. Just recently there was a number of suicides in Gang won Do where 11 plotted their suicides together with the help of the internet. In recent months we had some very visible members of our society who had everything, ending their lives by suicide.

The editorial went on to say that the reasons are many .The students have stress that comes with examinations. The young people who see no future for themselves become depressed. The middle aged see the struggle to make a living for the family too much and the older people with infirmities and alienation see no reason to continue.

The culture of Death is spreading throughout the world. The media is telling us that we have the right over life and can end it when we choose. Life does become unbearable for many ,should they not have the freedom to end it when they want?

Our society does a good job in giving our young people very high expectations but there is a dark side to this. Life is not always fair and we do not always get what we want but that does not mean that life is not beautiful and a gift. One of our older priests was quoted as saying: “show me a person who has high expectations and I will fall asleep at his side.” Another came back with: "Keep your expectations low and be an overachiever." There was a tongue in cheek with this but something is being said which is not all that bizarre.

We know that God can write straight with crooked lines and we should not forget the wisdom of the ages both in the East and West. ‘새옹지마’ (an evil may sometimes turn out to be a blessing in disguise) ‘전화위복’ (misfortune turns into a blessing) and in our Easter Liturgy we have ‘Felix Culpa’ (happy fault).

For those of us in pastoral care we have known for some time now that most of the cases of suicide has little to do with sin and a great deal to do with sickness. We have no difficulty in giving those who are Catholic a Church Funeral but we have to make an effort to change the way we educate our children. Life is much more than what we do or what we have. It is all about who we are. Our very being is what is precious. The preciousness of life is always there no matter what we do or fail to do.

The Life on a Korean Farm

It has been obvious for many years that we in the country are losing many people to the city. I am a resident of a mission station that is on an island. There were more Catholics here 40 years ago than there are today. We have few young people and consequently the difficulty of finding farm workers.

The import of foreign farm goods makes the income of the farmers very unpredictable. The government does subsidize the rice farmers; I can’t imagine what would be the situation if they did not. One of the blessings of this island is no water problems and no natural disasters that have afflicted other areas of the country.

There is the problem with the schools for many choose to send their children to the city for an education. That means that it is not easy to keep the school morale strong.

Since the farmers are getting old they do not seem to have the desire to change the ways of their fathers. They are still working with plastic greenhouses and you find few who want to change to more creative ways of farming and the planting of different crops. There is one man who is coming out to the Church at present who has started planting blueberry plants. He gave us 4 to plant on our Church property and it was something to see. He brought his own peat moss that he imported from Canada and fertilizer. He is one that is trying something new. Hopefully it will work out.

I have not been able to figure out if the farmers are in a profitable business. The money they have to spend on equipment is extremely large. One farmer that I was talking to mentioned that in the beginning he was able to make money by using his equipment on the other farm plots and being remunerated but everybody wants their own equipment. This income has mostly disappeared. He told me the price of some of the equipment, and if true, I do not see how they can make any money farming. I do feel there is something important that I do not know about their life. The price of the land is going up all the time and probably the assets that they have is what keeps them going. Many of them are rich farmers but I wonder if it is the farming that has made them rich. It is fact that the governments of all the countries of the world want to see this life continue. They are willing to subsidize it, for the benefits are just too great to enumerate, even if it is not making a profit.

Our Korean Saints 25 Anniversary

This coming Wednesday May 6th will be the 25th anniversary of the canonization of the 103 Korean Martyrs. They were raised to sainthood on the Church's 200 anniversary of its introduction to Korea. John Paul the II had a Mass in 1984 for the canonization ,which was the first time we had such a ceremony outside of Rome.

In declaring someone to be a Saint it is always for our benefit and not for those who are being declared Saints. We are the ones who are to profit from their example of obedience to the will of God ,conquering all worldly desires that would be militating against that will. It is not something easily done and for us an example of the correct priorities that we should have in life. There are 124 more who are being proposed for sainthood by the Korean Church and the research is still going on for these.

The editorial in the Catholic Papers had some misgivings in the way the church here in Korea has taken to the 103 that have been elevated to sainthood. The opinion was expressed that the interest is not very great. The example they have shown in their lives is mostly absent from our lives. The speed of our secularization is making this harder all the time. The ability to appreciate what martyrdom means seems to get weaker with the passage of time. The editorial mentioned individualism, relativism, the worship of money, and economic nationalism. These are making it difficult for us to take what the martyrs have taught us and make it a part of our life.

Formation of Foreign Seminarians in Korea

The Church in Korea has now 20 foreign seminarians studying in a number of different seminaries. This was reported in an article in the recent Catholic newspaper. This could be the start of having Korea be the hub for foreign seminarians from Asia and Africa. Some would say that it is too early to say that Korea has that position but it is headed in that direction.

In 1996 they had two Chinese seminarians studying in Korea. From that time there has been a steady increase.

There are 7 Seminaries in Korea. Daejeon has the most with 8 studying in the theology department. Seoul has 2 each from China and Bangladesh and one from Vietnam for five. Incheon has 3 from China and one from Zambia. for a total of 4. Kwangju, Suwon and Daegu have 1 each.

The biggest problem for the Seminary and the students is the language. The difficulties of culture and styles of living are a problem but not as much as the problem of language. Some have even suggested the teaching of the subjects in English. They have many problems to face but it is great to see the interest that the Korean Church has in the formation of seminarians from outside the country. Hopefully they will be helped with the formation of a society of support for these seminarians both from the Korean Church and the Churches of these other foreign countries.

There is an article from Western Confucian which I found interesting.

"a Christianized retelling of the story of Prince Siddhartha Gautama" led to "one of the more interesting dates ever to have been on the Catholic calender of saints" — The Feast of Saint Bodhisattva.

The Changes in Vocation Recruitment

Today is Vocation Sunday. We are all called for mission but today we are thinking of those who make this a full time decision. The Korean Church for many years has been blessed with many vocations but a change is coming.


The editorial in the Catholic paper mentioned how today all the seminaries will be open for visitors and all kinds of programs and events to commemorate this day will be operating . This year, however, they mentioned that it is not with a happy heart but with concern for the future. In Seoul at the last meeting of the priests’ senate they spent most of their time taking about the future of vocations. They recalled the times when they looked at the Church in Europe and foresaw that the time would also come to Korea and it seems that it has arrived.

The thought that things would continue indefinitely with an abundance of vocations was an illusion. The big changes that came with the Korean prosperity have brought a change in our thinking. The editorial went on to say there is a drop in interest in religion, the influence of religion on society has diminished, a loss of respect for authority, the openness of sex, the drop in births, all have been signs of this change in our vocation picture.

The time has come to make different efforts to continue the blessings that we have received over the years but now seem to be threatened by the change in our culture.

We as Maryknollers have been faced with this change over some years now. When I was ordained we had so many that we were faced with problems of where to put the seminarians. We had to build seminaries and were very particular in who to accept. This has changed and we pray that things will get better but there is no sign that this will come anytime soon.

This Korean Bishop not too Busy for a Friendly Visit

On April 25th, I was suddenly surprised by a telephone call from Bishop Yoo Heung Sik , the very busy director of the diocese of Daejeon S. Korea. “Hey, I’m coming down to visit you today,” he chuckled. I thought he was joking because I live in Busan several hours away by train, and he is a busy man.

My friendship with the bishop began when I was the pastor of a Busan City Parish. He came as a young seminarian for pastoral training during the summer and winter. Later he was sent to Rome for a doctoral degree in theology-and often wrote to say how things were going-often difficult as he had to tackle four new languages all at once: Italian, Greek, Hebrew and English. But he did just fine- came back to Korea to be head of the Catholic College and Seminary- and 15 years later was chosen the new bishop of Daejeon. Well, some how he got word that I had just returned to Korea after working 16 year in China.

So at 11am he knocked at my door along with 7 former “mutual friends"-bearing gifts of spirit and cakes- “Where shall we go for lunch” he said with a big embrace. Wow!