Lay People's Sunday In Korea

In 1784 , a Korean with his scholarly friends , through reading, became acquainted with Catholicism. This Korean Yi Seung-hun (Peter) was sent to Beijing China to be baptized, and on his return with his compatriots started the first community. Today's Catholics are very proud that their start was not by foreign missioners but by their own lay people. This means a great deal; an image they remember in their life of faith.

Yesterday was Lay People's Sunday in Korea, a day given to reflect on how faithful they have been to the example they have been given by their fore bearers in the faith.In our small community the catechist gave the sermon which is the one day of the year that they are expected to be in the pulpit.

The Lay Apostolic Council of Korea sent sermon material to all the parishes, addressing the 5 million Catholics in the country. A point that is being made, editorialized in both Catholic papers, is that the Korean lay people are very generous and active in their prayer life and service to others, admired for this by other countries but one of the weak points is that there is a spilt in their religious life and daily life. They may have concluded that it is sufficient to be doing works of charity and forgetting that they have a responsibility for the life of the society in which they live. In the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul he expressed it very clearly: "A new state of affairs today both in the church and in social, economic, political and cultural life, calls with a particular urgency for the action of the lay faithful. If lack of commitment is always unacceptable, the present time render it even more so. It is not permissible for anyone to remain idle."

It is easy for one to think that he enters the community of faith to pray and to have fellowship but this is not all that we are called to do and most of the blame has to reside with the pastors of the communities for not making this clear. The Peace Weekly ended the editorial on this note.

The Catholic Times in a similar vain emphasized lay people should be on the front lines. They hold the key to the Church's life and strength: a bulkhead against the excessively materialistic world, rampant individualism... the break down of the family, contempt for life, this can't be stressed enough. In a word lay people are to enable all of us to live a fully human life- this is the main responsibility of the laity.

I have found that in Korea a great number of priests are very active on the front lines trying to improve the life of our citizenry and part of the reason for their activist role is that our Catholics may be too interested in the workings of the Church and not taking their part in the battles in our society.

A Man in Love with the Poor R.I.P.

This past Saturday our small community was represented at the 20th anniversary of a Maryknoller who died, while working in Korea. The bishop of the diocese celebrated the Mass with over a hundred Catholics. Even though most of the Koreans are busy making their kimchi this time of the year, the effort was made to be present at the grave site.

The Maryknoller was born in affluent circumstances; probably the reason for his single-mindedness when it came to helping the poor and alienated. The quote on the head stone was very apropos of who he was: "What you have done to the least of these you have done to me."

He was in his approach to the problems that Korea faced not very Korean. He wanted to shock and felt that was the only way one takes notice. He wrote a book that was confiscated by the government during the days of dictatorship; Cardinal Kim of Seoul recommended the book only for the non-faint hearted. His work for the laborers and alienated is still remembered and has left footprints in the Church's memory and in the hearts of many.

A problem one always has in following our Lord and Church teaching is how much can and should you say when you know it will turn off others who feel strongly on the issues and belong to the same community? Sometimes it is not content but the means used to express the position. And sad to say sometimes it is the very content that upsets. At least in theory it should be less of a problem the closer we are to Jesus. Below are a few paragraphs from the preamble of the book that was confiscated.

We are conscious Lord , the centuries of "progress and development" are like spiritual cataracts blinding our inner eyes so that we no longer see your image and likeness in the person of the poor.

The children cry for bread and we give them pious words; they plead for justice and we urge resignation.

Our wealth and industrial power, our weapons and high standards of living are like spiritual barnacles on our souls. We no longer feel the presence of our brother Jesus behind the dirt, hunger and ignorance of a Third World child. Why do we insist on crucifying Christ time and time again?

Why is Good Friday a 1900 year long day with you, Jesus, nailed to a cross of poverty, prejudice and neglect?

You still cry out, "Why oh why hast Thou forsaken me?" Yes, we-not God- have forsaken you. Pleasure and wealth have closed our ears to your plea. Forgive us, God, for we know not what we do.

We drown your gentle whispers to our hearts with barrels of liquor, tons of chemicals, nights of vice , and days of avarice and greed.

Do not abandon us, even though we have abandoned you. Prod us, reprove us, punish us, enlighten us, flood our soul and eyes with your light and vision, that we may awaken from our sleep of centuries, and look out upon the world with truly Christian values, Christian eyes, and Christian hearts....

May he rest in peace, and may we also like him, have a greater love and desire to help those who do not have the blessings of a normal human life.

A New type of Pilgrimage

We live in a very fragmented world and few seem to want to put the pieces together. Religions are not known to help and often are given much of the blame for the walls and divisiveness. When it comes to religions, many go back into the past to haul out some of the horrific stories and those they see in our present times, and do little to situate the events in the history of the times; it is what they are doing today to unify human kind that should be of as much interest.

A diocese in the southern part of Korea is involved in an experiment which in the words of the bishop is unique. The Buddhist, Won Buddhists and Catholics with the different civilian magistrates of the areas have staked out a pilgrimage route of 180 kilometers ( 112miles), that walking for 8 hours a day would take 5 nights and 6 days to walk. They stop at the Catholic sites, Buddhist temples and the cultural land marks along the way.

This was highlighted by the Peace Weekly in the recent edition. The bishop of the diocese joined 1200 pilgrims on their inaugural pilgrimage; the sponsoring group has been incorporated and these three entities will work to develop the route: the religions, the civilian magistrates and the cooperation.

The bishop gave the talk at the Buddhist temple and the Buddhist monks gave the talk at the Catholic shrine. Because of rain on the second day only 200 continued. The bishop stayed with the group for 2 days and finished before he left with a Mass two days from the start. How this will develop, no one knows, but it is a dream of becoming closer to nature, becoming more of what they would like to be , and respecting each other in the process.

Pope John Paul did give us an example of breaking down walls and the Diocese of Jeonju is showing that it can be done in Korea. It is showing respect for other religions in a very religious way: to maintain your convictions and respecting the convictions of others, should not interfere in being brother and sister to the other.

The Korean Civilian Magistrates are not opposed to helping other faith groups if the citizens are helped which is a different way of looking at the relationship of State and Religion. There will be many praying for their success and looking to see how this can be spread to other areas of life.

Our Option for the Poor, a Work of Justice

Many of our parishes in Korea have programs that serve the larger community in an area that there is a felt need. This is often determined by surveys and questionnaires. There are kindergartens, school programs for those who have to work during the day, study rooms, teaching of English, the parish close to us has a dry cleaning service for the poor and the truck makes the rounds of the area. The St. Vincent de Paul Society is very active in many parishes.

A pastor wrote up the work he did to help travelers and street people in a parish he was at some years ago. They had a place to wash their clothes and take a bath. He remembers a street person who in May took off 16 pieces of clothing to ready himself for a bath. There was so much dirt that the priest said the drain was actually clogged. After finishing his bath he took out 10 dollars and gave it to the priest. He was told there is no charge for the use of the facilities but he insisted, and told the priest to use it to do some good. The priest thought he was so thankful because some one had accepted him and treated him kindly and showed this by his offering.

There was another street person, a young man, that came to the bath facility who finally did get a job delivering newspapers, and slept at the agency. Sometime later he again appeared at the bath room. The priest asked why he again went back to the street life. He said he was lonely sleeping and eating by himself. He missed the companionship of the street....

This service to the poor was not seen by all the members of the community in a positive way. "What is the need to help these people?" " They have not earned the right to be helped." Those who needed to be helped are those that are useful to society, apparently, was the criterion for helping.

It is sometimes difficult to ascertain how others look upon what is being done for the poor. Many have the very common idea that we bring upon ourselves the problems that befall us. This may be true in many cases and for many this is sufficient reason to refuse help and give the help to those who are more worthy. These people are just lazy and need to be treated in a way that will get them to snap out of this dependence on others.

There are so many variables that have to be considered and we just don't have the competence to judge who is worthy or not worthy of our help. Our Lord was very persistent in telling us not to judge. A person that needs help is needy and we should do all we can to relieve his or her need. We are told that we can not understand another person until we have walked in their shoes. This is a good advice and should makes us less judgmental and more merciful of the alienated in society.

Filial Piety and Family Life in Korea

One sees in recent years, many grandmothers and grandfathers living alone in Korea. That was a rare sight before the industrialization. In the little mission station were I am stationed we have a surprising large number living alone. Poverty is part of the problem for many do have families but the elders do feel freer and less of a burden on the family, living alone.

One pastor, writing about visiting an area of his parish met a grandmother on the the ridge of a rice paddy and began a conversation. She mentioned that a son had returned to the village and was now busy repairing the homestead in which his mother was living. He was hearing the sound of the hammer driving the nails in the repair of the old house.

He told the grandmother that must be very happy news for the mother to have her son back and living with her. The grandmother agreed and said she was living alone and hates it, would love to be with the family of her son and daughter-in-law.

Some time later he met the grandmother working in the same area and asked how the son and grandmother were doing: "She must be very happy person now that she is with the family?"

"Well I am not quite sure that all is well. Her son doesn't listen to her and does what ever he pleases, and it is more difficult now than it was when she was living alone."

Living alone has problems but also living with their sons and daughter-in-laws is not always peaceful. There are some elders living alone that have family, if this shows in the family register, the person living alone is not entitled to help from the government.

In teaching of catechism one of the unfair questions that I have asked Korean men is what would you do if there was a difficulty in the family between your wife and mother? They will try to resolve it, but if not possible what then? The son has a difficulty in having to choose between mother and wife. This would be true in all cultures but the Christian understanding that they leave their parents and become one with the wife is not an idea which fits easily into their understanding of filial piety.

There are 7 reasons in Confucian thinking that allows a son to get a divorce and the first is a daughter-in-law not obeying the parents. Filial piety in Christianity is a strong precept but the Korean society probably sees it on a level even beyond that of the Christian. Korean society is not helping to strengthen family life; poverty and the expectations that society has required of families I would see as part of the reason.

The Life of a Missioner in Korea

After ordination, for one year, I work on development work for the society and did a lot of visiting of parishes in an effort to introduce Maryknoll . I was not a very successful promoter but by far most of the encounters with pastors were very pleasant and helpful.

In order to help me get acquainted and to break the awkwardness of doing something with which I was not familiar I would usually start by asking questions. One of the questions to a pastor was: "Father what have you learned over the years that would help a newly ordained priest?"
One priest very quickly told me: "Father buy a chair and sit in it and when your ass gets bigger buy another, and sit." I was certainly stupefied by the answer. I can still remember the parish in which this happened, and have thought of the occasion many times. It was the response of one who must have been hurt much during his years . It has remained with me and has proved that this attitude towards life is possible.

Cyncism is a very unattractive flaw and the older we get a possible response to what we hear and see. Living in Korea and being in pastoral work for many years this response would be rather forced and not natural. The Korean Christians are very respectful of authority, do we have the Confucian culture to thank for this? There is a great deal of formality but this also oils the wheels of relationships.

We know how to react to others. Koreans who are members of a community are extremely respectful of those who are leading the community. There is always a gift when some one comes to visit. I just heard today that those who wear black even during a famine never go hungry and never pay the bill when invited out, there is also a third. I suppose that we have those who can become cynical even in this society but I do not think that it is an easy step for a missioner. The Korean Catholics do have a tendency to spoil their priests, not very helpful for a follower of Jesus. Our Maryknoll Bishop here in Inchon for many years use to remind us that "we came to Korea to do good and we did very well. "

Korean Basic Christian Communities

The Catholic Church in Korea for many years has been working to energize the small group movement (Basic Christian Communities) within the church but according to the recent editorial in the Catholic Times it faces many problems. The apathy of the priests and the lay people was given as a reason for the difficulty.

Probably the Church has trusted too much on the passive knowledge that the Catholics have received at the liturgy, from the readings and the sermons. The Catholic have to meet together in small groups to discuss and carry over to their daily lives what they have learned. In the country, dealing with country matters in the city with the city matters, those with little education with little education. What is important is that they read the Scripture and see their life in the light of the Scriptures. This requires them getting together in small groups and trying to see, judge and act in company with those they are meeting with.


The 5th General Meeting of AsIPA ended on the 28th of October. There was a delegation that attended from Korea and the program was written up in this weeks Catholic paper. "By AsIPA the initials for Asian, Integral, Pastoral, Approach. Asian, for being part of the local culture, and rooted in the daily lives of the people. Integral, to bring all the various aspects of parish life into the community and mission with Christ. Pastoral, caring for all that live around us by all of God's people, regardless of their race or religion. Approach, the tools must build community, enable participation, and build confidence, using Scripture and acknowledging the presence of Christ in our midst." The AsIPA is an Asian adaptation of a program developed in South Africa for Bible-centered small Christian communities. A desk within the Federation of Asian Bishop's Conferences (FABC) Office of Laity and Family oversees its development.

Korea for many years has tried to develop these small group meeting. They have many different names but they all come down to talking with those they know in the Lord to see if they can come to a way of acting on what they have learned from Jesus. Our Bishop representative from Korea commented that : "We in Korea have remained in the area of sharing our thoughts on the Scripture but we have to go beyond this and tie what we have learned from the Scripture to our daily life. If we are going to have a new vision of Church we have to learn what the success of the Philippine Church is able to teach us. "

The Korean Church has the example of small group meetings in the larger society. The Protestants have their weekly gatherings in the homes which does serve as a stimulus and a prod but society has also in the meantime become more complicated. People have less time and more woman are now working outside the home. It is getting more difficult to find time to meet. There will be attempts to adapt to the situation and if the priests and the laypeople do see a need for it, we will be seeing change in the near future.