Another Catholic Conscientious Objector

South Korea does not recognise the right to conscientious objection. Objectors to military service are sentenced to 18 months in prison. Korea has the largest number of conscientious objectors serving in prison, and most of them are Jehovah's Witnesses. Click here for a previous blog on the subject.

The situation in Korea is different from many other countries and the conscientious objection movement has a hard road ahead to find approval. The Catholics for the most part are opposed to alternative service for those with problems of conscience. The Catholic Bishops do not have any formal statement on the issue.

The previous South Korean government announced preparations for a law recognizing conscientious objection, but the new government has abandoned these plans. Amnesty International, War Resisters' International and other human rights and peace organizations are campaigning for South Korea to recognize the right to conscientious objection.

A Nahnews report mentioned a Catholic who made a telephone call to the Military
Manpower Administration a few days ago, refusing to serve in the military. He was a member of the college student group in the Seoul Archdiocese. The chaplain of the group made clear the Church's teaching on conscientious objection and supports the young man in his decision.

In January 2007, the United Nations Human Rights Committee recognised the right to conscientious objection as a legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion,

There has been some improvement in the understanding of what conscientious objection entails and the reason for accepting it as a viable response for those who do not in conscience want to serve in the military. One of our Korean Maryknollers, Fr. Russ Feldmeier back in 1968 refused to serve in the Vietnam War and joined the Peace Corps as his alternative service. He came to Korea, served as a Peace Corps member and after his term of duty was over, returned to the States to join Maryknoll. Ordained to the priesthood in 1980 he returned to Korea as a missioner, and is presently working with a team on partnership issues and interested in human rights. He feels strongly that we should have an alternative response for those who do not want to serve in the military and shows strong support for those who are now making a stand for conscientious objection status in Korea.

Cardinal Cheong's Influencial Role in Korea

A news weekly has selected Cardinal Cheong Jin-Suk, the archbishop of Seoul, as the most influential Religious leader in Korea. The weekly had a well know public opinion polling organization make the study and the Cardinal came in first in the religious category. There were 10 different categories in the study. He received 38.8% of the vote to best the second who received 29.3% and the third received 18%. The deceased Cardinal Kim came in fourth with 12.9% of the vote.

The Catholic Times had a interesting comment on this recent poll. The second place was a Buddhist leader and the third was a Protestant . The editorial was quick to comment that the general public is 'fickle" . They can support you today and turn on you tomorrow. Consequently it should be taken in stride and not taken too seriously. The Catholic Church is young in Korea while Buddhism has a long history and has a valued place in the Korean heart. Buddhism has had some internal difficulties and some of the leaders have not lived up to their calling but the Koreans have been tolerant. This can be compared to the place of Catholicism in Europe.

Korean Society looks upon the clergy, religious and the organization of the Catholic Church with a rather strict yardstick . Korean Society is such that even a small fault when found within the Church can cause despair and turn society against the Church. This is a sign that the The Catholic Church has not found a place in the hearts of the Koreans.

The acknowledgement of the Cardinal's influence is a sign of the efforts of the Church. We should not overly rejoice or simply find satisfaction in seeing the positive place the Cardinal has in Korean Society but should accept this as a prod to do better.

Catholic Women's Religious Vocations

In recent years there has been a large decrease in the number of young people who are interested in a religious vocation. This was not always the case. Some 5o years ago Maryknoll had so many applicants there was a problem with space. They had to build to accommodate those who were entering. This we all know has changed drastically.There are many in Korea seeing this happening for men in the near future.


The Nahnews had a provoking article on the problems with women vocations in Korea. The priestly vocations are staying pretty much the same, the men religious are similar to the diocesan numbers but the women religious have decreased. There are 103 different groups in the country. In 34 communities there is no one in training, only one in not a small number of communities. Compared to the past this is only about 1/3 of the numbers they had. This is not something which came on suddenly but was statistically
foreseen during the last 15 years.


The author thinks that the reason for this are plentiful in our culture. The improvement of the condition of women in Korea is one of them. "Have only two and educate them well" was the motto under which many were born; this enabled the girls to flourish. They received the love of the parents and they were not exposed to the discrimination of the past. Although it is still a man's society, in certain areas of the society they were given equal opportunities.
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With the women's entrance into society the idea of man's partner is not readily acknowledged. Rather we have an increase of weaker men and those who are afraid of women. With the ability of woman to make money there is no need to depend on men. Many women instead of trying to accommodate to the patriarchal society have opted to remain single.

Since we do have a large number who remain single in Korean Society this should be a large pool from which to expect vocations but most are not interested. Since we have so few being born it was reasonable to accept the decrease of vocations but this way of thinking no longer has reason on its side.

Many of the young women feel that the restrictions in the Patriarchal society are similar to the restrictions of the religious life; they enjoy the freedom of living the single life in society. With this in mind the author concludes that it doesn't seem things will change in the near future. He compares this to what happened in the States in recent years with vocations to the religious life.

The Conqueror of Leukemia in Korea

One of the professors who was instrumental in bringing blood forming bone marrow stem cell research to a point that it could be used in the treatment of Leukemia in Korea has retired from his position at the Catholic University Medical School.


The Catholic Peace newspaper had an article on Professor Kim Chun Chu who worked for 40 years at the university medical school and will go to Cheju -do to continue his work at a hospital on the island. His work enabled the University Medical Team to become the hub in Asia with bone marrow transplants for the treatment of leukemia.


Leukemia is the excess of white blood cells in the blood stream. In Korea before 1983 there was little that could be done. He felt that there was a way and went on to experiment by selling his apartment and putting the money into the experiments: there was no hope in getting financial help. He did succeed and the transplants were highly successful.


There was much speculation on why he chose to got to Cheju-do when he could have gone to many hospitals nearby. He feels a loyalty to the Medical school that gave him his start and did not want to bring any harm to his alma mater in the Seoul area. The necessary infrastructure in Cheju-do has been put in place to perform the operations. One of the junior doctors from Cheju-do was at his side at the medical school for 6 months to accustom him to what will be done in Cheju-do. Professor Kim hopes to be of help to the many who will find it difficult to make the trip to Seoul.


Although he is an authority in his field of medicine he prefers to be called a poet. With his retirement he will have his seventh book of poetry published. His own description of himself is a "life the interior of which was full of cabbage". The needs of time require that he change his place of work . He will have much to do and wants to continue his study and be of service to those who need treatment for blood diseases.

The Catholic Church in Korea has little historical material on the part the Catholics played in the Independence movement . They do have the example of Ahn jung-geun (Thomas) who assassinated the first Prime Minister of Japan in 1909. This year is the 100th anniversary of the incident in the Harbin railroad station.

Just recently they have found some material in old Manchuria which has been great news for the Church . The Church in Korea during colonial times was administered by foreign missionaries who were not too keen in getting involved in what they thought were politics. They wanted a strong separation of Church and State. "Breaking off dialogue with traditional religions and the Protestant Church was an aspect of the Korean Catholic Church's history during the colonial period. At that time it was only through religion that one could organize or form solidarity with others. It was the most convenient way for Koreans to get together because the colonial officials banned Koreans from forming civil associations. Religious leaders, speaking out in solidarity with the people, influenced public opinion."

"The Catholic Church, isolating itself from other religions and refusing relations with them, even further restricted Catholic influence in Korean society. For example, the Catholic Church was the only major religion not represented in the March 1st Independence Movement leadership which was the most important Korean independence movement against Japanese rule, initially organized and run by religious leaders." This has been an area that the Church reflects on with some sadness. Check the Bishop's website for information on the The Nationalism of the Korean Catholic Church during colonial rule.

The historical material that was found showed that the Catholics did get behind the independence movement. They raised funds, bought munitions, bore arms and fought against the Japanese and went to prison. There is enough information to counter the prevalent idea that the Catholics were indifferent to the occupation of the Japanese. This is more meaningful when one remembers that the official Church was against getting involved in the independence movement.

The Difficult Road to a Career in Music

Koreans have a gift for music: they do extremely well in musical competitions throughout the world. The Catholic Times tells us how a high school student Gwak Ki-ae (Theresa) won the pipe organ competition for high school students this past month. She started playing the piano at the age of 7 in the neighborhood church. After three years with no formal lessons, she took first prize in the national competition for elementary school children.

Because of her families difficult financial situation she wasn't able to take any serious piano lessons. But the remarkable ability that she showed at the piano caused the people in the neighborhood to see her as a child prodigy. She was asked to play the accompaniment for the Masses in her parish with an old organ that they received. She fell in love with the organ and went to bigger churches to use their organs. Playing the organ which required her feet along with her hands and hearing the majestic sound of the music was enough for her to turn her attention to the pipe organ. The Cathedral Parish in Chongju had an academy for organ and she decided to attend; returning home she would go to the church and push on to late hours practicing the organ. Her father found himself out of work when she was going into high school so Theresa felt that music would require too much money and decided to go into nursing.

In preparation for college she discontinued the study of organ for two years to give herself to her studies full time. However she could not extinguish the desire she had for the organ and she again went back during her third year of high school thanks to a teacher at the school. Just a few months after returning to the organ she took first place in the Taegu competition and 3rd place in the Seoul College competition for students.

She has wondered why she has had to face these difficulties in her desire to learn the organ. Her answer is that God wants to prepare her with more passion and zest in her desire to become an accomplished organist.

She is now dreaming of entering the School for Fine Arts for organ. Through the auspices of her high school teacher she has been given the opportunity to take individual lessons from a college teacher. She thanks all who have helped her and have encouraged her. She is grateful to the teacher who is giving her lessons and the family that is taking care of her in Seoul.

There are many who are in the same position as Theresa and some are not as fortunate. Theresa is getting the help necessary to follow her dream of a musical career and is very grateful to all who have made it possible.

Retired Korean Catholic Priests

The clergy in Korea for the most part are young but the old timers are having their Masses of retirement rather frequently these days. We see this at the time when new assignments are being made and in many dioceses this was recent. The age of retirement for most dioceses is 70 and for many it is still too early to rest. In Korea, society does retire their workers rather early but the Church is still one that keeps them on the rolls until they are 70.

Even though they are retired there are still many who are very active in many different works. We have men who have volunteered for the foreign missions, those who are still teaching and have there own web sites, many have just changed their place of residence.

There is one priest from Taegu who from the time he was a pastor was interested in Street Evangelizing. He started this in his parish in 1990 and has spread it to many other parishes and even to the Korean Communities overseas. At the start he had 100 or so Catholics with the same mind and trained them for two months. He printed 5000 pamphlets introducing the Church and sent the team out. They started at 12 o'clock noon and ran out of pamphlets within an hour. It gave them a strong desire to make the movement part of the way we evangelize. Let us gather to pray and go out to evangelize, was the motto of the movement.The priest is now retired but feels that he now has more time to give to street evangelizing.

This year starting from June 19th to next year June 19th is the Year for Priests. The Holy Father has hopes to see a revitalization of the priesthood and a desire for a spiritually intense new life on the part of priests throughout the world. It is the “150th anniversary of the death of the saintly 'Cure of Ars', Jean Marie Vianney". Some of the Korean retired priests are giving an example of how to be apostolic even in retirement.