Korea needs Fathers and Mothers

In continuation from yesterday's blog, Korea has been fighting the low birth rate and has taken steps to bring about a change. Yesterday's Chosun Ilbo had an article with the headline: monthly birth of new born babies on average dropped 1800-from last year. The number of marriages also dropped 7% from last last year. This means this year, Korea could see a birth rate of about 1.1, France (2) Sweden (1.37). The average of the economically developed countries would be 1.73. Korea's rate is the lowest in the world.

The government is seeing things getting worse. The economic conditions of society play a part, fewer marriages of the young, the difficulty of getting a job will affect the number of marriages. A sharp increase in the percentage of unmarried women in Korea is a factor behind the country's low birth rate. The article mentioned the spread of the "swine flu" is also responsible for a decrease.

Following Korean Astrology those born next year will be under the zodiac sign of the tiger and this is a concern for some government officials. The sign of the horse and tiger in Korean astrology are not good signs for girls: Korean folklore is still influencing the society even despite the role of Christianity.

The government has taken steps but have not proven helpful.
"Our efforts will focus on raising social awareness of falling birthrate and encouraging couples to have babies,'' said a spokesperson from the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs. "We will launch drives to prevent abortions, protect maternity in workplaces and encourage marriages.''

The article ends with the note that the birth rate could fall to the lowest in Korean history, with a rate of 1.o in 2011. There is sadness that our Christian families are not influenced more by their faith than things we would consider extraneous to a truly Catholic view of life.

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Reducing the Number of Abortions in Korea

In the Chosun Ilbo,yesterday, there was a good and frank article on abortion in Korea. The tone of the article very sympathetic, came shortly after the New York Times featured photos of aborted babies on front page with a fair story of the pro life movement in the U.S. This was a surprise to many. The Korean article mentions that about 680 gynecologists from the 4000, have bonded together to do something about the number of abortions in Korea.

In Korea abortion is illegal. The Mother and Child Health Care Law gives a number of exceptions permitting abortion: if the spouses suffer from a hereditary physical or mental disease, cases where the mother's health is at risk, the baby to be born has severe birth defects or the pregnancy was caused by a sexual crime. This makes it rather easy to have an abortion fit the law.

The group of about 680 young gynaecologist have set a goal to lower the number of abortions in Korea by eliminating illegal abortions. This is a very noble and courageous move on the part of these doctors knowing the difficulty they will have from other doctors and the pro choice movement in Korea. This is the first time that anything of this type has been done in Korea.

This is an area of silence in Korea. Everybody knows that it is being done but little concern. The culture knows it is wrong but "times have changed". It is an uncomfortable subject to talk about. Nobody wants to see what is going on. The article mentioned that in a recent year, for the 450,000 births there were 350,000 abortions. It is with this background that the young doctors have begun the fight against illegal abortions. One can easily see how this is going to cause a problem with the many other doctors who consider this one of their lucrative specialties. The doctors' campaign is to clean up the area of OB/GYN. Those who continue to perform illegal abortions they will denounce in the court of law.

You have those in society who want to change the law to allow abortions, you have those who feel that it is women's right to do what they want with their bodies and you have the unconcern of the public which the doctors will have to contend with. More power to them and thanks to the Chosun Ilbo for the very happy piece of news.

Catholic Church Use of Temporary Workers

The growth in the number of temporary workers in Korea is a serious social issue. It is presumed that about 1/3 of the work force is temporary. The bishops of Korea have in their recent Justice and Peace Committee decided to deal with the problem since the Church has many who are temporary workers.



The temporary workers are not protected by law and are contracted for a period of time at the end of which they can be fired if they do not become regular workers. The Korean law mandated that after two years the temporary worker should be considered a regular worker; this was drawn up to help the temporary worker but has rather caused many to be fired.



Research has shown that temporary workers are paid less than regular workers, face poor working conditions and are denied various social insurance benefits. It was also found that most temporary jobs called for female workers and the number of female temporary workers was increasing sharply.



The bishops have acknowledged that the Church itself has hired many temporary workers and has benefited from the low wages and easy control and not following the Church's teaching on these issues. The bishops' committee have made it clear that if what the Church says in this area the Church itself is not an example, then we are speaking empty words and we will not be listened to.



Since the Church is faced with the same problems that the larger society has,the Church will have to marshal the cooperate wisdom of those involved and become an example of what can be done. This will be happy news to those who are poor and to the larger community.

The Plight of the Handicapped in Society

The Journalist Notebook of the Korean Times has an incident of a deaf and dumb grandfather leaving the Seoul Catholic Mission for the Deaf and Dumb after drinking with a friend. He tried to take a taxi but could not make himself understood , went to the nearest police station for help. The police officer in charge thought he was a drunk homeless person and since he couldn't understood what he was saying acted violently towards him. The grandfather is now in an unconscious state.

This is hard to believe, he goes on to say of the action of one who is to protect and serve the citizens. Even the family was deceived by the police station's efforts to hide what happened.

Because of the families continual entreaties and demands, the truth gradually came out. They had the CCTV tape which they finally made known which showed the deaf man giving the police officer his memo and being pushed. The police have made know that they will review the case.

There is a fear the journalist says that many will say 'those things do happen" and just ignore the lack of sensitivity to the plight of our handicapped people . It can be written off as just a case of a police officer having to deal with a drunk and losing his cool.

The conclusion is that our society according to the journalist, still has some way to go in our treatment of the handicapped. The way we treat the handicapped is a sign of the maturity of our culture; it is the responsibility of all to be concerned for the alienated.

Korea has come a long way in the treatment of the handicapped. The continual efforts of the mass media and members of society in exposing some of the affronts to those with disabilities will help us all to be more sensitive to their difficulties in being accepted as brothers and sisters.

An Award For Protesting Trappist Nuns

Trappist Nuns are a cloistered community living a life of pray and work according to Benedictine Rule. It is not easy to imagine them doing anything that would merit an award given unanimously by the subcommittee on Environment of the Bishops' Justice and Peace Committee, but that is just what happened.



On Oct, 7th the head of the Committee, Bishop of Incheon, presented them with the award. The committee in giving the award said that the sisters in opposition to environmental destruction were following the lead of the Church and the teaching of their religious community. They were not only able to read the signs of the times but gave a prophetic voice to the concerns of the Church and were an example to the citizens and the Catholics.



The city originally planned to build apartments for the residents who live around the reclaimed site in the Sujeong-ri section of Masan, a city in the south bottom tip of the peninsula. The City changed the plans being strapped by finances to allow a ship building company to build a shipyard on the land.



The superior of the Cistercian Order of the Strict of Observance had to receive permission from the Trappist Central Administration to be part of the opposition and depart from their rule of cloister for the time necessary to be in solidarity with the villagers. It is very possible that without the help of the sisters the city and the shipyard company would have had an easy time of getting their way.



In receiving the award the superior of the sisters said in the two years of opposition to the city of Masan and the ship building company she saw greed and tyranny of the administration, and the shamelessness of the shipbuilding company: it's always the poor and the weak that have to suffer. She mentioned win or lose they will continue to fight with the villagers to the end.



On another occasion she said, "Our charism is prayer, of course, but living the spirit of the Gospel, which is love for neighbor, is our priority." She explained her nuns are concerned about the plight of the local community and the area's natural environment.



This must be the first time a cloistered community has even received an award from a Justice and Peace Committee for efforts in ecological environmental involvement.

A Korean Priest's Reflection On A Bus

A priest in our diocese writing for the Pastoral Newsletter recounted his experience riding on a city bus some years ago. It was late morning, the bus had plenty of empty seats, at the next bus stop a woman with two bundles got on . She put one of the bundles on the bus and went outside again for the second one. The bus driver with an irritated tone "is this a freight car!" he yelled.

The woman very sorry for the delay tried to get everything in order, pay her fare and get to a seat. Since she had two bundles unless someone helped her it was going to be a problem. A woman advanced in years sitting behind the priest quickly came up front to help with one of the bundles.

Since the the priest was the closest to the front of the bus he said that the thought never entered his mind to help. His only thought was one critical of the woman for carrying more bundles than she could handle. It was only after some thought that he realized the woman was poor, not able to travel by taxi, and forced by circumstances to travel with her bundles.

It is true that a man of advanced years in Korea is not expected to help a woman in such need; although it is not considered a fault he had misgivings. He considered that the main reason was his living as a priest and being the object of other peoples services that kept him at his seat.

He says Mass everyday, prays, reads the Scriptures and this in order to love more. He gives many talks on love and realized that when it came to acting in a loving way he was not ready.

The woman behind him did not read as many books on love or give talks on what it means to love but acted in a loving way when the occasion was presented. Her life was one of receiving and giving and when the occasion came she knew what to do.

We can fool ourselves he thought into thinking that because we have read many good books and have a theoretical knowledge of what is required that we are just wonderful. No matter how much theory we have in our heads that is not going to help us acting in a loving way.

Having high ideals is good and many are the people who act on these ideals. But if we do not live with others; do not make the effort to act on what we believe then just reading good books and praying will do little, he concluded, to enable us to be concerned for others.