Community as Vehicle for Teaching

Over the years I have attended many workshops and seminars that Maryknoll has sponsored for the energizing and renewal of the men. One seminar that I attended, many years ago, left its mark on me. We were asked to bring what we were using for catechetical instruction in each of the countries in which we work. I did my homework and filled a traveling bag.

The seminar was not more than a few hours old when I realized that my bag would remain closed. They were talking about catechetics but not the kind I had in my bag. They are part of the teaching process but not the one that was being treated in that particular seminar.

Catechetics in the words of those attending the Seminar "was found to embrace the total process of discovering, developing and living Christian values and convictions". The Church, the living Christian Community, is the essential vehicle of catecheses; catechetical programs, with their personnel, aids and facilities are instruments of the Christian Community in this task.

Can we say that community is alive and well in the Church? Community requires cooperation: to have a catechetical meaning it has to be evident and central to the apostolate. We have prayed, played, celebrated and met together but worked together? From my experience it is this working cooperation that becomes a behaviorally induced form of catecheses and the one that makes the the biggest impression on those concerned.

This morning the small community here in the mission station, at the recommendation of the catechist, came to do some weeding and work in the rock garden. They began about 5:30 am before the sun came up and worked to about 8:00 am finishing with breakfast. They returned to their homes by 9:00 am. This working together has a dynamic that is different from the other types of being together. It is not only manual work but any type of working together. It is non- threatening, it gives the Christians time to talk with each other without a need to talk. It has a target they work to accomplish, find satisfaction in doing something that is bigger than their own needs; the by product is that the community becomes stronger, and the Spirit has plenty of time to work with us as a community.

We hear today of behavioral and affective approaches to belief. It has become very obvious that in many of the works of the Church we have limited ourselves to the cognitive so that those who have been exposed to the Christianizing process have everything but the heart for the work. The differences of Catholics to others in behavior is very little. This makes many think long and hard on what we are doing in preparing our Christians. We can not ignore the feelings of people and think we are reaching the whole person. It is in community that we can best reach the whole human person and it is only a community behaving like a community that is a vehicle of catecheses. If we forget this, we will continue to do a good job imparting knowledge, but do little to move the heart.

Does God Love You?

From our fellow Maryknoller in Hong Kong John Cioppa, In His Own Words.

Do you love yourself? You may not, but God does. When you look into the mirror, do you like the person you see? Do you feel that the "You" ...is OK? God thinks so. Do you believe you are a good loveable person? God does!


Recently I have been thinking, we have been teaching doctrine backwards. Even we priests in preaching have often emphasized the wrong thing.We have been telling people they are bad, unworthy, sinners, unloveable, soiled, imperfect, and no good. We have been telling them they have to do lot of things to make God love them. They have to work hard , say a lot of prayers, do a lot of penance, beat their breasts and thenㅡand only thenㅡ, maybe God might like them. We have made life and religion a terrible burden for people, and I think God is unhappy about that. God wants to share His love with people and we have created obstacles instead of helping them come closer to Him.


God doesn't love us because we are good.God loves us and makes us good. I don't know how many times we have heard that God's love is unconditional, unlimited and never changing. I am not sure we believe that. We have created a God that fits our image and have done the same with people.The image we have of ourselves and others may not be what God had in mind.


In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we read that God made us in His image and likenessㅡmale and female. He made each one of us just like Himself. So we are made to look like God, in this image and likeness. Do you believe that? Now what is your image of God? I think most of us believe God is a wonderful, loving, caring merciful, sensitive, compassionate person.We have been taught that and have often experienced God's love and care in our lives.


Now if we are made in the image and likeness of God, we must be like Him. Right? That is, we too must also be wonderful, loving compassionate, caring people.We have been created good, gentle, loveable, people just like God. And that is why God loves us. Not because we have made ourselves good , but because He made us like himself and
therefore loveable, I don't think we believe that.


We keep struggling to do all kinds of things to make ourselves perfect in order that God might like us.May be we are trying too hard. He already likes us. Take a look at Scripture. Who does God love most? Is it the priests of the temple, the doctors of the law, the Scribes or Pharisees who kept the law? These are the people who studied hard, obeyed the law, did all the right things and tried to make themselves good, to make
God like them. But who are the ones that God loves most? Aren't they the poor, the sick, the dumb, those possessed by devils, the prostitutes, the sinners? Aren't these the ones that God loves most?


Incredible? Yes it is, but just believe it. God loves you today just as you are. If you are young or old, a sinner or saint, sick or well. God loves you just the same, just as you are. And you know what? His love doesn't change. It is the same today as it was the day you were born. It is always the most and you cannot do anything to make Him love you more. His love is already the most. How can it be any more!

Points for a Private Retreat

One of our Maryknollers who was interested in getting Catholics to spend time in a private retreat recommended working with a game at the beginning of the retreat.

1) Write in a journal twenty words that I think describe me and my personality.

2) Reflect on each of these terms, I will make any changes that seem needed.

3) Mark each item that I consider to be good with an X.

4) Count the number of Xs and multiply by five.

Example, if the total is 75, this means that about 75% of the time I have a good opinion of myself and that I like myself that much . This is really an exercise which helps me to get some insight into what I think about myself and whether I like myself or not. 75% would actually be higher than a lot of people give themselves.

Another way for me to look at this game is to note that it is like scoring God's work. In the above example I gave God 75% for the job he did in creating me. When I read the first chapter of Genesis, I discover that God looked at what was created and said "this is very good." That means that God gave creation at least a 90% rating. When God created me God said, "this is very good." Am I saying something different from God? Is there something here I need to reflect on and do something about? The first chapter of Genesis says very clearly that God likes me and loves me and thinks of me as good. Do I think differently? Am I calling God wrong?

During the retreat, and later on , It is a good idea for me to reflect on the various words I used to describe myself. This kind of mediation can very often help me to gain a deeper understanding of myself and put me in a better position to improve my relationship with God. It can also give me insights into the kinds of things that I may need to reform my life. Many things are here for which I need to say thanks to God. Most likely there are also things for which I need to say I m sorry, forgive me Lord , and help me to change what needs to be changed.

The Commercialization of Sex in Korea.

This week's cover story in the Catholic Newspaper is about the commercializing of Sex. It is a topic we see frequently; as an American have taken it for granted, as a Catholic do not believe it is for our good. There was a very good interview by a woman professor working for the promotion of equality of the sexes in the pages of the cover story.

She mentions that we have come to a point where it is difficult to tell what is commercializing of sex and what isn't. It has worked itself into all the facets of our life. We see it in the mass media under the guise of news , drama , games and even under the appearance of getting to understand a different culture: the naked sushi of a Japanese program where rice cakes topped with raw fish were being eaten off a woman's naked body.

She makes a very strong point that in the capitalistic system if you can make money selling a commodity then someone will. If there is something that will incite us than there will be people that will be attracted by curiosity. What's the problem?

Sex is the body. We can't separate sex from the personality. A person is the combination of heart mind and body. When we separate sex from the person we divide the person and we bring division into our lives. When this happens our person also becomes commercialized, we are a commodity. Sexual violence follows etc. We break the genuineness of our sexuality and do harm to our personality.

When society makes personalities into a commodity we become a shell. We have to prevent our bodies from being sold as a commodity. People who have a concern for what is happening to the sacredness of sex should bind together to change the thinking of our society. Those who are making money with the selling of sex, hopefully, will be sensitized to what is happening in their treatment of sex.

When our bodies can be sold as a tool for making money than there is no limit to what can be done. We have seen it with woman and we are seeing it appearing with men and there is nothing to stop it from going to children. This destroys the intimacy, the joy and happiness that belongs to sex.

When sex has become a tool for making money a commodity, there is no limit to where this attachment to money will take us.

Direction of Catholic Church of Korea

It is not easy to distinguish between the different committees of Justice and Peace in the Catholic Church of Korea: the Committee for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops' Conference, the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice, CPAJ , started on their own initiative and there are some 13 different diocesan Justice and Peace Committees. At the present there is some unity in the way they see our society.

Many within the Catholic Church feel the direction of the present government lacks concern for the weaker members. Political authority must be exercised within the limits of morality. The Government should listen to the voice of the people. There is a feeling that the government is curtailing freedom of speech and using force to a degree that is not necessary. Are these objective judgement of those who know the situation? Maybe not, but many have a gut feeling that does not go away.

The Pope mentions in the Encyclical God is Love three areas in which the Church must be active: (1) prayer and teaching, (2) work for the poor, (3) work for justice.
In this week's Incheon bulletin one of the older priests Fr. O Kyeong hwan, knowledgeable about our society mentions these three areas of Catholic concern, quoting from the Encyclical. He was a participant in the recent seminar in Seoul sponsored by the Bishops' Justice and Peace Committee. Below is a quote from the encyclical of Pope Benedict: #28-29 "The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper. A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church. Yet the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church deeply."

Bishop Choi of Incheon the Committee Chairman introduced the seminar by stating sovereignty starts with the people. All the power comes from the people . We can not disregard the prescriptions of the Constitution and must always have the the good of the people and their solidarity in mind.

Alcoholism and the Catholic Church of Korea

On the Hic and Nunc website there was an interesting poll that was taken at the end of last year and on which they recently commented. It was a survey of 700 people that drank more than a bottle of Soju (cheap Korean liquor) a day. The Catholics registered the highest with 39.3% , those without religion 36.1 % , Buddhists were 25.6% and Protestants was 17.5%.

The reason the Catholics were the highest was the way they see drinking. They are warned against the hedonist life style but no interference in what to eat or drink. In the 2nd chapter of John's Gospel Jesus, after the wine ran out, made another batch for the wedding guests.. We also have St. Paul telling us the problem is not what we eat but our attitude . I would like to add that St.Paul also advised Timothy, to use wine in moderation for health reasons.

The Buddhist monks and nuns are not to drink but it is permissible for the Buddhist faithful to drink in moderation.

The Protestants are the strictest. The first missioners that came to Korea were from the States; they were strict in their teaching on alcohol: no alcohol or cigarette smoking.

There are many in the Church who have a problem with drink. Drinking can be something positive but can also turn into a harmful habit that destroys not only the person who drinks but all who are in some way connected with him or her, especially the family. Fr. Heo runs the Alcohol Pastoral Center in Seoul. A good explanation of his work can be found here.

The "bomb shot," or "poktanju" in Korean, is a favorite among many. A shot glass filled with soju is poured into a larger glass filled with beer. The mix is then consumed in one or two gulps. Those in the world of business have this as one of their occupational hazards. It is part of the world in which they live and it is little wonder that it does havoc to many.

Below are the words of a Columban priest who worked with those addicted in Korea before returning to Australia. This is taken from the blog of the Missionary Society of St. Columban.

12 Steps Come To Korea
In recovery from alcohol addiction, the first step often starts not with the alcoholic, but with family members and friends of the alcoholic. At about this same time, other Columban priests started education centers for alcohol and gambling problems. Twelve-step programs were started because of our concerns.

Two priests who had pioneered 12-step programs in Korea had died, so I was asked to take over an addiction recovery program in Seoul, South Korea's capital city. I had no trouble attracting people who wanted to attend the program at the center; it was the only such place in Korea, and we got calls from all over the country.

I also traveled to hospitals and visited with groups to teach family members and those working with addicts how to make life better. I learned that much damage is done by people with good intentions to help the alcoholic or compulsive gambler who, in fact, prolong or aggravate the problem because of their lack of knowledge or denial.

I have experienced much pain and heartbreak when listening to the stories of addicts over the years. I still get so angry when I come across people who have suffered for many more years than necessary, especially when they got wrong advice from someone like a priest, minister or medical professional.

After my work in Seoul, I moved on to Sydney, Australia, and continued my 12-step program work with both Koreans and those from other nations. As I completed studies in addiction counseling to be better prepared for my work, I was amazed at how often I met those who spoke with authority on the subject but who failed to inform themselves about counseling to become more effective.

Working with Koreans in Sydney has taught me some new things about addiction. Often, the addict had moved to Sydney to avoid temptation or to run from their problems and debts only to find that Sydney has more gambling machines and more clubs and pubs than Korea.

Combine this with the added stress of settling into a new language and culture, and family problems would often be brought to the surface. Children in the family must face alcohol and drug problems in their family.

As a result, a whole family becomes engaged in addictive and co-dependent behavior. The stress and tension often result in family violence and psychiatric illnesses, such as depression, paranoia and other disorders. The family in denial means that no one gets help, and the price is paid in mental and emotional problems.

"Comfort Women" Visited Again

More on "Comfort Women" from the Korea Herald, Friday July 17. This article was sent to me my Fr. Bob Lilly to add to what was said in a previous blog. This broadens the topic to sites of Japan's atrocities in other parts of Asia. The tour group visited "The House of Sharing" as part of the Korea study from July 2nd to 18th. You can view the article by clicking here.