The Place of Death in the Korean Psyche

Today is All Souls' Day in the Catholic World. In Korea the praying for the dead is an important part of the culture. It is part of the Confucian, Buddhist, Taoist and Catholic conviction that those who have died are still in some way connected with us. The Protestant Church for the most part does not pray for the dead: seen as not Scriptural by some of the Reformers. This seems to be changing somewhat. It is acknowledged that the Jews at the time of Christ did have temple prayers for the dead. Would Jesus and the disciples have abstained from those prayers?


The Koreans remember their dead on many other occasions but especially on New Years and Harvest Festival Days. They also count 105 days from the winter solstice to Han Sik Day when they go to the grave of their ancestors to eat a cold lunch, refurbish the grave site, pray and have their rites.


The Church like the Koreans has a tradition that keeps the dead in mind and heart. It was a trajedy that when Catholicism was introduced to Korea the missioners did see much superstition tied up with the rites and they were prohibited; however we should remember the respect and praying for the dead was still a very important part of the Church's teaching and liturgy. The early Korean Catholics continued to have great respect for the ancestors but expressed it in a different way.


Living in Korea it was natural to have been changed in many ways, and one way is the feeling for the dead. They are always with me. On a trip to the States, on arrival and leaving, I make it a point to go to the grave site of my parents. Just the other day a family from Incheon came here to pray for their parents who died in Hwanghae-do, North Korea - our island faces N.K.


It seems so natural to want to pray and remember the dead. In the 2nd Book of Maccabees the passage 12:38, even if the book is not considered canonical by the Jews, shows they prayed for the dead and this was carried over by our first Christians. There is something very natural in wanting to remember and pray for those who have died. To be remembered in prayer, after death, is also a wish of many of us.

Training to be Saints in Korea

Today is All Saints' Day, a time to think of all those who have run the race, finished the course with a life well lived. The Catholic Peace Weekly had an interview this week with the president of the Incheon Seminary on the program being followed at the seminary. In my words: he wants to make saints out of the seminarians.


He mentioned that the Holy Father has given us the "Year of the Priest" that started on June 19, of this year to encourage "spiritual perfection" in priests. The priesthood is being threatened by secularism and values that undermine the identity of the priesthood itself, calling for the strengthening of the formation program of the seminarians.


The president feels that theological studies, the requirements of culture in the intellectual pursuit of knowledge are important, but the target of the education is: "maturity in the spiritual life". "We are attempting to help the seminarians cultivate a life of the spirit."


"There is little that we can brag about compared to other seminaries, but we have brought into the seminary the Charismatic Retreat, the Focolare Movement, the retreat of the Heart of Jesus, and other movements, giving the seminarians a varied choice of spiritual possibilities.The seminarians are faced with many temptations and doubts against their vocation which require a strong spiritual foundation."


This is good news and hopefully the expectations of the president will see fruit. Our culture is interested in efficiency, results, competition, appearances, success, money, well being, and health, all very important, but it is not the 'all of life' or the most important part, but the discord
and the pull of the culture continues.


Is it possible to live a life without the attraction of these important values? possibly not; we can sublimate the attraction to a deeper appreciation of why we want those important values and discern what we truly desire and need. The seminarians like all of us will be bombarded with these values and often make them their own but with a good foundation in spirituality these external elements will give way to the inner ones. Heroic virtue is not easily achieved but what the seminary has in mind is to have the seminarians conscious that it is God's work; we can be open to the graces which will work against these attractions to a life of virtue and maturity.


What is necessary to be a Saint? St. Thomas said: "to will it." It is God's work but we have to put ourselves in the position to receive the help. The Seminarians in the Incheon Seminary are shown that this desire for holiness is considered primary in the education of our future priests and asking the seminarians to "will it."

Belated Recognition of a Patriot

Yesterday while teaching our catechumens I was asked how is it that Ahn Jung- geun, patriot, is considered a hero even though he killed the Resident-General of Japan in Harbin station? "The Church teaches that we have to follow the ten commandments and here is a case where Ahn deliberately murdered someone. Isn't that forbidden by the Ten Commandments?" It is an easy question to answer after the fact but those faced with the decision, a person with Ahn's sensitivity, have to be tormented by what they plan to do. The times have changed a great deal from those of Ahn's and I think we would have an easier time of making judgments after the Two World Wars, the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq conflicts and the Rwanda genocide.


This month is the 100 anniversary of the assassination; the Korean society has embraced Patriot Ahn close to their heart. Even though he was a devout Catholic the Church came very late to acknowledge his deed as patriotic and justifiable. The catechumen had a lot of company in thinking the way he did.

The Catholic Church's teaching on this issue is not that clear and there are so many distinctions that are made that it is not easy for the ordinary person to make a quick judgement on what is allowed and not allowed. The Catholic Encyclopedia does have a paragraph which does give one a feeling for what is involved:

While actually attacking the powers that be, a tyrant by usurpation is a traitor acting against the common weal, and, like any other criminal, may be put to death by legitimate authority. If possible, the legitimate authority must use the ordinary forms of law in condemning the tyrant to death, but if this is not possible, it can proceed informally and grant individuals a mandate to inflict the capital punishment St. Thomas (In II Sent., d. XLIV, Q. ii, a. 2), Suarez (Def. fidei, VI, iv, 7), and the majority of authorized theologians say that private individuals have a tacit mandate from legitimate authority to kill the usurper when no other means of ridding the community of the tyrant are available.

Union of Catholic Asian News has a summary of the reasons for the change of course on patriot Ahn. Click here to see the article. Below is a free translation of the letter patriot Ahn wrote to his wife before his death. It appeared in the Catholic Peace Weekly on the front page.

To the mother of Benedict:

Blessed be Jesus!
Both of us in this world filled with tears and vainity have been joined together
as husband and wife by God's providence. And now by God's will, separated, but by God's grace shortly we will meet again in glory in God's eternal heaven.

I pray you are not overcome by emotion, you trust in God's providence
and remain zealous in the faith, give your obedience to mother, live in harmony with the two brothers, work hard at the education of the children , cope with life take care of your spiritual life in peace, having hope for eternal happiness in the next life.

I want you to know that I have decided to strive to have our oldest son Benedict become a priest, please do not forget and offer him to God and prepare him to become a priest when he grows up.

I have many words to say to you they will have to wait until we get to heaven and meet with joy and happiness, at that time I will be speaking very deeply to you, that is my belief and fervent hope.

1910 Feb. 14
Your husband, Thomas

Korea the Beauty Capital of Asia

Korea is the cosmetic capital of Asia: the home of skilled practitioners of the art of beauty making.The Chosun Ilbo in a three part series on this very lucrative and popular new area of competition covered the area rather completely. The competition is not only between the practitioners of the art but those who want to enhance their 'lookism' compared to others

The article mentions in recent years there is no longer any embarrassment in having a beauty job done on one's face. You will find women shopping and going to cafes with their faces still swollen from the surgery. Today it has become common even among the men, it is no longer seen as a flaw , but an act of kindness to others to improve your looks.

The paper mentioned that they had 6 medical specialists go out on the streets of some busy areas in Seoul to make a survey of how many have had these surgeries. They did this on two different occasions and have come up with the figure that 836 of 1800 have had surgery. They also asked those who went to an Internet homepage dealing with marriages and surveyed those who visited. Between the ages of 20 and 30, 4 out of 5 women have thought of having the procedure done. In short, it is part of the culture.

There is little need to go further, the desire to look good is part of our psyche and in Korea they have a very thriving entertainment business : the faces you see are beautiful. Seeing facial beauty daily, does make you reflect on your own face, saddened on what you have to see in the mirror every day.

'Lookism' is part of the society we live in. The way you are seen is going to determine the jobs you get, the money you make and even the person you marry. This is the 'lookism' society that we have made. Those of us with a Christian world view, feel a sadness but the facts are such that many feel little esteem for themselves, they have not been accepted for what they have interiorly made of themselves and are judged on their appearances. They have recourse to those who can help this exterior and it is difficult to say they shouldn't be doing what the culture is requiring. This deep seated 'lookism' is not only located here in Korea but an accepted part of the life we live.

The mass media, the lack of depth in our thinking and spirituality are partially the problem but the facts are the facts and no matter how we try to see things differently ㅡlife is not fair: this we should try to face and teach. There are many other things that are more important than our looks but for success in this world we can't ignore the obvious but only hope for efforts made to see life in its totality. The last years when appearance is not that important should always be part of the picture.

The Korean 'Ki' and Religion

Over the years I have heard the word 'Ki' or 'Chi' used in many different ways and have no intention in trying to explain what the Koreans would understand by the word. I do believe there is a difference in the understanding of this concept by China and Japan distinct in certain aspects from the Korean.

When a person is sick many feel that the 'Ki' is blocked so the attempt is to get it to flow again. You have all kinds of methods to do this: acupuncture , finger pressure, deep breathing, selective eating, the marital arts and other ways. Something is jammed and you try to get it unloosed.

'Ki', is defined as energy, spirit, vigor, vitality, stamina, will-power. Some of the words that begin with 'Ki' would be: back bone, guts, elation, mettle, windpipe, balloon, air, breathtakingly, temper, soul, sentiment, appearance. When someone has a tightness in the chest, feeling of nausea, difficulty in digesting food then the thought comes that the 'Ki' is not flowing correctly and something has to be done. The Chinese Character for 'Ki' has the rice plant covered by the steam that comes from a pot of rice being prepared.


This whole area of 'Ki' can take the aspect of religion and it does so often in Korea. Many years ago one of the bishops sent a memorandum to all the clergy in the diocese warning about the ambiguity and danger of the 'Ki' culture. He mentioned the need for discernment: "When 'Ki' formation touches the religious realm going beyond its dimension which is health promotion, it becomes dangerous." ...If they insist that people can reach salvation by themselves, this is a serious mistake because salvation cannot be obtained by any human efforts or techniques, it (can) only be achieved by God."

"Priests and religious who have contact with 'Ki' culture believing that it helps them for meditation or health, should act with discernment recalling that their attitude can bring confusion to the Christian life."

We have in Korea the 'well being movement' the 'culture of self-cultivation', which at times are part of the 'Ki' culture. In the States we would see much of this as the alternative medicine movement: often a very healthy alternative to the main stream medical approach. In Korea these movements do enter often the domain of religion and nationalism.

The Western concept of religion is much narrower than the Korean and following our criterion the whole area need not be seen as religion but many of those in the Church do see the overlapping and are concerned.

A professor who teaches social sciences at Korea University and is an expert in the area said: "Its members believe that 'Ki' is the ultimate principle and nature of the universe." Explaining why Catholics may be attracted to this 'Ki' culture he said: "As a liturgy-centered religion, the Catholic Church does not satisfy the spiritual desire of the faithful to experience God: this is why many Catholics want to be compensated by 'Ki' culture.

We have no idea how many Catholics are moving over to the 'Ki' culture but it would seem some are dabbling with the movement not realizing that it has anything to do with their religious beliefs. They are searching for something that they have not found in their Catholicism.

The professor concluded that "the Church should listen to what her members say and desire. With its 2,000 years of history and tradition, I believe that Christianity has many means to respond to the spiritual needs of the faithful. For instance the various spiritual programs of contemplation and meditation of religious institutes and contemplative communities can be shared with the lay faithful."

A Help in Sermon Preparation in Korea

Preparing a sermon is a very important part of a priest's work and a very rewarding part, but not infrequently the sermons fail to make contact with the congregation. One of the criticisms is that they are not addressing the problems that the Christians are having at that particular time and place. We are talking to ourselves and of little help to our Catholics.


This is a position that many of us find ourselves in and it is not an easy fix. To ask a representative group of the parish to preview the sermon and give their suggestions is certainly a very beautiful idea but not many of us would have the leisure of mind and humility for such a confrontation every week. It certainly would be a help if one were prepared for such an approach to sermon preparation.


One priest who experienced frustration in preparing sermons that were not speaking to the congregation in their needs decided to do something about it. The Catholic Times has an article on a pastor in Seoul who did select a group to review his sermons. He has two two groups that monitor his sermons and help in their preparation, meeting with them every other week. He has found that it has helped a great deal in getting the attention of his congregation.


They meet on Saturday mornings and discuss the readings for the Mass on Sunday. The pastor started this monitoring two years ago and has found it very helpful. Besides the readings, they discuss the problems in every day living and many other assorted topics that can be fuel for the preparation of the sermon.


The opportunity of getting some interesting incidents from the life of the people that can mirror the difficulties the people are having, and have the readings reflect this, is always of interest to the people. Having a group of people immersed in the life of the society that will be a sounding board will be an important influence on what will be said on Sunday.


I do not think that this will catch on too quickly but it is an example of what can be done to improve the sermons. Priests do not have any great press on giving good sermons and anything that can help improve the efforts should be looked upon favorably.

Are Koreans Stingy in their Greetings?

Often we hear that Koreans are stingy in their greetings to one another, unless they are dealing with persons they know well. They are not as quick with their thanks as we are in the West.
In an article in the Korean newspaper the writer did critique his compatriots as slow in greeting people for the first time, such as taxi drivers, people at toll booths, in department stores and restaurants. He mentioned how free we are in the States to great those we meet, even if we don't know them with the
"Howdy" salutation. Koreans would not be as free and he feels it may be due to the formality of the culture.

Koreans are rather effusive he says to an extreme with those they know or want to please and quite the opposite to those they are not on familiar terms. Many years ago I entered a small store and was never even greeted by the owner, even though I was the only one in the store. Things have changed a great deal, the marketing world has made it clear what is necessary to stay in business. "A man without a smiling face must not open a shop" says an old Chinese proverb, understood by all these days. The customer is king.

Many years ago one of my fellow priests gave his altar boys a jacket for Christmas and not a word of thanks from any of them. He found this very hard to understand and mentioned it to the Korean Sister. She told him, "Father, the boys from the day you gave them the jacket they have been wearing it and if you could have looked into their eyes you would have know how thankful they were." The Koreans are not as quick with the words 'thank you' as we would be but they have their own way of thanking and sometimes we miss it.

Koreans often thank you with a gift; more often in this culture than in our American one. The Korean culture does influence them much more than the American culture does us. Their culture is the same for all, we in America have a multiplicity of cultures that have influenced us, giving us much more freedom than the Koreans have.

The writer mentioned that all those who come to Korea and study the language learn very quickly three Korean words: 'hello', 'thank you' and 'I am sorry'. He would like all his compatriots to learn to use these same words. The more we use them the more those who hear them will give answer and we will see change.

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Just to keep you informed on trips to North Korea.

The North Korea Ministries of Foreign Affaires and Public Health have fixed the dates for the two Humanitarian Aid trips to North Korea.

1. November 11 – 14, 2009

2. November 23 – December 8, 2009

The first trip is a U.S. Aid Project for 3 General Hospitals in South Pyong An Province. The Generator Project is designed to insure local hospitals an adequate supply of electricity for critical care sectors such as surgery, diagnostics and lab work.

The second trip is to bring medical supplies for T.B. drug resistant patients and medical equipment for 20 People’s Hospitals in North and South Pyong An Provinces also Nampo City which is the port city for Pyong Yang. The multi-drug resistant tuberculosis medications have given much hope that even difficult cases of tuberculosis can be cured. As a result, chronic tuberculosis patients are beginning to seek out Care Centers where we collect specimens to test for MDR TB.

Asking for a remembrance in your prayers.

Jerry Hammond