Closing Out One's Eighth Decade

The Reminiscences of one of us reaching his Eightieth Year

Must we give up everything,
Is there nothing we can take with us?
Chianti? Aristotle? Arcadia?
Memories of phosphorous laden waves
crashing on a moonlit ocean beach,
Jane Dintzel July reciting
Her John C. Siboney routine,
The green of lilac leaves in a bowl
an the white enameled kitchen table?

Sailing in a 16 foot long wooden boat
Made in Skaneateles New York,
Red comet logo on the white mainsail
Above the number 374,
Three brass letters and a number
From a draw in Duryea's hardware store
Nailed on the transom named the craft LCU2.
The boat was Austin Barrets'
He sold it when he went to war in 1943
I sold it to The Hoogh Kirk kids in 1952
When drafted into another war;
You,Frank, already off to sea in a Merchant ship.

More than fifty years gone by since Then,
The end of twenty summers
Of watching moonrise over Robins Island,
Tides rise and fall along the shore
Of Great Peconic Bay
The old song says "They can't take that away for me".
Kitty Carlisle died this year at 96,
She sang "I'll Remember April",
The song The Wasson's porch crowd can't forget.
That was 1944-adolescent heaven,
All the world but us engulfed in war.
Were we blessed or merely over privileged?
None of our class mates at St. Malachy's fared so well.

The Fitzgeralds spent the summer at Centereach.
There wasn't even any water There;
Ralph Salerno got as far as Commack
To help out at his parents' hot dog stand.
Others spent two weeks or a month
In a Catholic camp, 'Molloy' for boys,
'Immaculata' for the girls.
Those years we heard of camps in Europe, too.

Going back to Brooklyn in September
was the price we paid. Wearing shoes
Sitting in a classroom, no longer waking up
To seagulls, waves slapping on the shore.
Not sand and cedar trees but sidewalks,
curbs and streets outside the bedroom window.
I'll remember April. "They can't take that way from me".

The Catholic Church worldwide is working hard for the repeal of the death penalty. This is a topic that even within the Church and within Christianity itself we have a difference of opinion. It is not a position that the Church calls intrinsically evil. The Church had no difficulty with the death penalty for centuries but there has been a change. She is trying to convince us that we should see the life in prison without parole as a sufficient penalty for even the most heinous of crimes.

Cardinal Stephen Kim had a intense opposition to the death penalty. Part of the reason was that he knew many of those who were sentenced from his visits to the prisons. He got to know them personally and suffered when they were killed. He knew that many who were sentenced to death where from the underprivileged social class and background.

Here in Korea the opinion is very much for the death penalty so the movement to change the sentiment on this subject will not be easy. I can recall stories of children and families being killed for the simple reason that the fathers of the family went to the North at the start of the Korean War. The wounds that were inflicted at that time were such that they are still too raw to even attempt to make amends, even after the passage of so much time. No one even wants to bring it up in conversation.

A great deal of this is retribution: the eye for eye approach to justice. The vast majority of democratic countries in Europe and Latin America have abolished capital punishment over the last fifty years, but the United States, and most democracies in Asia, and almost all totalitarian governments retain it.

There is no scientific proof that nations with capital punishment have a lower rate of crime; the risk of the death penalty does not seem to deter crime. Many feel that the capital punishment brutalizes us, makes us insensitive to the precious nature of every single human life."

John L. Allen in one of his blogs mentioned, “The Church now has two categories of moral teachings: what we might call "ontic" or "inherent" absolutes, such as abortion, euthanasia, and the destruction of embryos in stem cell research, which are considered always and everywhere immoral because of the nature of the act, and "practical" absolutes, i.e., acts which might be justified in theory, but which under present conditions cannot be accepted.” This is a very succinct way of putting it and helps us understand why we have so much difficulty in coming to some sort of consensus on this issue. For some the distinction does not mean much.

The Catechumenate in Korea

Back in 2006 the Korean Government published the report on the 2005 census. The religious statistics were interesting for the government figures of Catholics were larger than the Catholic Church’s own figures by many hundreds of thousands. It was assumed that the difference in the figures was that those who were attracted to Catholicism would consider themselves such for the census. In a report on these statistics in the Independent News Service Here and Now (www.nahnews.net) they mentioned that this is not all an unmitigated blessing.

The reason for those coming out to the Church can me extremely varied and not always for religious reasons. This is not surprising but the catechetical period should be one in which these motives are changed or sublimated to a different level. This means that the catechetical period is extremely important.

In recent months the reason for the interest shown in the Church has a great deal to do with our first Cardinal who died on Feb. 16th at 86 years old. He was a defender of human rights against the dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s. He was respected by many in our society more than 400,000 people paid their respects at his wake and funeral on Feb.20th. Just to day we had a visit from another parish and they mentioned that there were a large number of people who came out to the Church without anyone inviting them. This they attribute to the publicity that surrounded the death of Cardinal Kim.

The Church, as with all of us, the difference of what is said and what is done is not always the same and this does pose many problems. Many of those who enter the community are disappointed in what they see and drop out; others fail to be attracted because of what they see. We are not always the positive advertising for Christianity that we were meant to be. Hopefully we will be more demanding on what we expect of those entering the Community during the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (the period of the catechumenate).

Blessing of Holy Father on Catholic Bloggers

The use of the computer among the young people here in Korea is
almost 99 percent. The overall percent is 77.1% according to a study
made in 2008. The Holy Father in his address for Ascension Sunday
is urging the young Catholics to get involved and use the new medium
to evangelize. Our fellow blogger from Western Confucian
has the Holy Father giving a blessing to all
of us who are blogging:

Pope Benedict XVI's Message to Catholic Bloggers

I am inviting all those who make use of the new technologies of
communication, especially the young, to utilize them in a positive way
and to realize the great potential of these means to build up bonds of
friendship and solidarity that can contribute to a better world.
Young people in particular, I appeal to you: bear witness to your
faith through the digital world! Employ these new technologies to
make the Gospel known, so that the Good News of God’s infinite
love for all people, will resound in new ways across our increasingly
technological world!

The Catholic paper this week had an editorial about the digital evangelization and its urgency. The bishop's Mass Com committee feels that the Church is not
doing well in this area. Part of the reason is the lack of understanding
of the digital age, the absence of a vision for evangelization and
the inability of us to keep up with the changes that are taking place
in this digital world.

I would like to think that those of us who have a Catholic blog are doing
something to build up the Kingdom. The editorial ends by saying that if we
are at peace with things as they are than the territory in which the Lord
will have an influence will decrease. Amen

Sorok Do and Hansen's Disease

Sorok Do is a little island off the South West coast of Korea. Beginning from 1916, it had been a gruesome island of suffering-where people, as soon as it was known they had Hansen's Disease (Leprosy) their lives were uprooted, and forced to live like animals. As Adults they were sterilized under government law, subject to cruel privations, often sexually abused, even exposed to “experimental” operations.

Now much of this has changed! On May 16th,2009, with the members of our Busan H.D. Community, we traveled four hours by super bus, to Sorok Island, to attend the Annual Government Sponsored Hansen Disease “Recognition” Day. Formerly, access to this island was by ferry, but now we enter by an impressive bridge and new roads.

Although it was pouring rain throughout the day, about 3000 H.D. folk from all over Korea attended- this included the Korean Prime Minister, Me Han Seung Soo, the governor, mayor and many other high officials, many of whom were given ”thank you scrolls and plaques.

Perhaps it' s my nearsightedness, but it now looks like it is politically advantageous to help and be associated with the H.D. work-judging by the smiling officials making themselves visible before the K.B.S. TV cameras, the glad handshaking, name-card giving, and ready apologies.

As we turned away from all the politicians together with the now pretty wet H.D. on lookers, I asked my H.D. companion, “So what do you think of all this?” Smiling faintly he replied, “ A nice show!”

Mr. Yong Mo recounted how 40 years ago he escaped from Sorok Do at midnight, was pursued by police and hunted for 20 years before his human dignity and right to family were finally recognized!

Singing and Dancing out the Stress

In Korea, taking group trips are a year round cause for joy- although perhaps spring and fall are the most popular times. The cost to rent buses is a little steep, but divided among those in the group it is reasonable once or twice a year.

We just made such a trip, 2 nights 3 days to North East Korea- gorgeous blossoms, foliage and local delicacies. To prepare, all we had to do is pack lots of stuff to eat and drink- and we were off- Oh, some said you have to be careful of too much watermelon- it can make you sick!

Korean people at home and at jobs generally can't avoid stress build-up, so they look forward to “getting away” from it all on a nice trip.

But, you know, on our own trip, we found ourselves caught up again in a semi-rigid routine. Almost from the moment we departed, the leader had the bus driver put on the Boom-Boom Rock music and all were called to take their turn in the bus aisle and Cha –Cha. Not to get up was to be party pooper. Then came the singing. We all have to sing a song- which is o.k. until some one grabs and holds the mike and won’t let go- until they are exhausted. All the while the soju (rice wine) flows, enlivening the hearts and voices; a few get really soused for a few hours- sometimes sleeping, sometimes getting loud and raucous, and sometimes a little nasty.

There is a pleasant break when all go off to climb, view the scenery close up, or buy souvenirs. But then back to the bus, for more wild singing and dancing in the aisle.

All of this is a good thing because it allows for safe diffusion of potentially volcanic stress (which most people have). Yes, the noise often reaches a sustained high-pitch level for hours-for 2 or 3 days and nights- as all the frustrations seem to belch forth- but again I think it is good therapy- it may even save a few from serious future problems.

Usually, the conclusion to our travel is: “Thank you everyone, it was great! Now we can go back to work!”

Conscientious Objection in Korea

This past week we had the Conscientious Objection movement meeting and demonstrating here in Korea. This movement here is still very weak and does not get the press that you would need to change minds. This year the International Conference on Conscientious Objection had as its focus the South Korean conscientious objectors' (CO) poor human rights situation.

The Catholic Church is very much on the side of conscientious objectors for those whose consciences have difficulty serving in the military. Here in Korea the movement for Conscientious Objection Status has been active for a number of years but is still very much muted in our Korean Society. This is easy to understand, the situation being what it is in Korea. You have young men putting in time serving their country at great sacrifice and the populace does not look at those who choose not to serve with favor- the North is not an easy problem to understand. The Church here in Korea has made it clear where she stands but she is also very circumspect in what she says in this area.

The secretary of the Catholic bishops' Committee for Justice and Peace, pointed out that the "The Church, in its social teachings and documents, fully supports alternative service for those who oppose military service because of their beliefs."

Gaudium et Spes, the Second Vatican Council's "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World," states, "It seems right that laws make humane provisions for the case of those who for reasons of conscience refuse to bear arms, provided however, that they agree to serve the human community in some other way."

An Austrian farmer, husband, and father summoned to duty in the Nazi army, Franz Jägerstätter refused to serve on the principle that it would violate his Catholic conscience. After a short trial, Franz was beheaded by the Nazis in Berlin on August 9, 1943. To learn more about Blessed Franz go to:

The example of Franz will bring the subject more prominence and hopefully Korea will join the many other countries that acknowledge the right of those whose consciences do not allow them to serve in the military.