Talking About God

"Talking About God," a column in the Peace Weekly by one of our Korean bishops, begins with  a reflection on the creation of the world and its completion--this, he says, is the foundational declaration of a Christian. For a Catholic, God also makes known to us who we truly are and the reason for our happiness.The bishop, in his first article of the series, presents a number of thoughts that are worth pondering.

In today's world,  he says, it is becoming difficult to speak about God. In past ages God was center stage but with the entrance of science and technology, God was pushed off stage. Science, it is now believed, will bring us happiness.

With genetic engineering, the dream of a disease-free life ushers in the new God of science. A good example of the science/religious conflict can be seen, the bishops says, by noting the different responses of the first Russian cosmonaut who returned back to earth with the news that there was no God to be seen, and the American who returned from the moon and mentioned how  beautiful space was--and that he couldn't help but praise God for the beauty he saw.

The bishop, quoting from the writings of Cardinal Ratzinger before he became Pope, uses an anecdote from the Jewish tradition showing the difference between a believer and a non-believer. An atheist approached a Rabbi with his argument against God. The Rabbi tells the atheist there are many who would agree with his argument, and many others who would argue for the existence of God. There is little that he could add, said the rabbi. except to say:  "What if?" The Pope states that the believer and non-believer both live with temptation and belief. The atheist also has doubts about his position. Both, he says, are talking about the same reality with different subjective experiences of the reality. It is  seeing the water in a cup  according to the contours.

Truth is not changed by the seeing or the relative experience of the beholder. We don't make the truth by our machinations, as if only what we can verify is reality.

Another anecdote from the Pope's writing mentions the clown who during a circus performance tries to alert those in attendance when a fire breaks out, only to find out that it was not possible; the audience thought it was just part of the show and continued to laugh as they all became  engulfed by the fire.

The bishop believes the Christian's position is like that of the clown's. We have to get rid of the make up and the clothes and get in with the people. That was what Vatican II Council attempted  but few listened.

He ends the article with the story of a Russian woman who returned to her Orthodox faith during the Communist years, and after much difficulty took refuge in the West but  condemned it for forgetting God. She said the large billboard advertisements for perfumes showed the interest of the people and their silence about God and the things of God.

Today is the Feast of Pentecost. The Feast that makes clear that God does not rest and is always leading us to a different level of understanding. We don't know how or when we are led but we pray that we will be open to his movements in our life.

True Meaning of Life

The death and destruction of life entailed in our modern culture, along with the efforts to counter this by fostering a culture of life, brings to the fore the crisis we are facing today. It is being addressed in philosophical critiques from thoughtful observers from around the world. A professor in the philosophy department of the Catholic University adds his reflections on this issue in the culture of life column of the Catholic Weekly. 

Beginning in the 18th century, the pervasive moral standards of the modern world, he says, have been principles derived from the philosophy and culture of  the West. In contrast to this so-called modernity, these standards are being critiqued  by a philosophy and principles of culture that understand life differently, that respects life and wants to do something about changing the standards of most societies today.

He mentions the Gospel of Life encyclical, which makes very clear the principles that are involved. The professor feels that to bring about a culture of life it is necessary to acknowledge the acquisitiveness and excessive consumption that characterize our modern culture and determine to do something about it.

During most of the last 150 years, Korea had to contend with violence, exploitation, and  barbarity. From 1970 onward we have seen many  achievements in  our culture, and society  paid for with a great price. It is a fact that much has been accomplished and brought to the attention of a  portion  of the world.

However, Scripture makes clear that our first duty is to live fully the life given at creation, and to embody its meaning  and goal. The Old Testament is asking us to do away with immorality  and search for justice. The New Testament asks us to go beyond this to empty ourselves (kenosis) so we can love, living like we were made to live at creation. Modern culture is ignorant of what is meant to live humanly and what it means to live life fully. There are many today who feel that the reason for this is the search for excess, for more wanting in all areas of life. We have objectified what we are searching for, and measure our individual life by how much we have accumulated, and in the process losing the meaning of life itself.
 
When doing this, the dignity of life itself is weakened; the reality of life becomes merely what each one determines to be real, according to one's personal likes and dislikes. If we are to search for life in its fullness, we must cease making everything  an object. By making possessions and our accomplishments the goals of life, we are missing the true meaning of life and its transcendence.


                                         

Paris Foreign Mission Society's Example

"That the Church of  Korea developed with the help of the Paris Foreign Missionary Society is a joy. Along with this help, the zealousness of the Korean Church enabled them to quickly grow to maturity."

These are the words of Fr. George Colomb, Superior General of the Paris Foreign Missionary Society, quoted in an article in the Catholic Weekly. Referring to his visit to Korea for the 100th anniversary of the Taegu diocese, he said that Korean Catholicism impressed him for its youthfulness and vitality and the desire of many to live the Christ-like life.

He was presented with a plaque of thanksgiving to the Society for providing the foundation that allowed the Church here to prosper. The first bishops of Taegu were members of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, and still today in Taegu there is a strong bond with the French missioners. And this relationship continues with many of the Korean priests who are studying in Europe, staying  with the French missioners at their Society House. Recently, a priest from the Suwon Diocese, wanting to become an associate priest of the Society, is now in France to fulfill that intention.

The Society, established toward the end of the 17th century, was given instructions for its founding by Rome's Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.  It is not a religious order but a society of secular priests, which was the model for the founding, more than two centuries later, of the Maryknoll Society.

In 1831 there were only 30 Paris Foreign Missioners but when the Korean Church, needing priests, asked for help from Rome the French missioners were sent. In all, 170 French missioners were sent to Korea; 25 were martyred and 10 of them are listed    with the 103 Korean saints. The French missioners during the difficult years of persecution built seminaries and prepared the programs to educate the Korean clergy.

Fr. Colombo, seeing the trials of the Vietnam refugees because of their religion, was shocked and, putting aside his aspiration for a legal career, decided then to become a priest and entered the seminary. He was elected last year to be the superior of the Society. 

Maryknoll has  been indebted to the Paris Foreign Missioners for  help in starting the work in Korea. This year we celebrate the  100th anniversary of  founding;  a time  for looking back in gratefulness to the French missioners for their help in making this celebration possible.

Fr. Edward Whelan-- Half Century of Mission

On the 28th of May one of our Maryknoll priests celebrated his 50th anniversary of priesthood in the Cheongju Diocese. He concelebrated Mass with the bishop, diocesan priests, and fellow Maryknollers.

Fr. Edward Whelan was ordained in 1961. He went  on for a doctorate in English and spent his first years in the States teaching Maryknoll  seminarians. When interviewed by the Peace Weekly, he mentioned that he had been deeply moved while in the seminary when hearing Monsignor George Carroll talk of his experiences in North Korea. As the vicar apostolic of Pyongyang before the Korea War, Monsignor Carroll, remembering the tragedy of the war, broke down during the talk; this poignant display of compassion still remains in Fr. Ed's memory. His desire to emulate Carrol's deeply felt experience in Korea bore fruit when the seminary was closed soon after for lack of vocations and he was allowed to go to Korea. After learning the language and serving as an assistant in Cheongju, he became the pastor of the Naisu parish. 

During his time in parish work, he realized the difficulty mentally handicapped children were having living normal lives and the trial it was for their parents. He decided to do something about it, making a study of the situation and what others were doing, even spending time in Canada with Jean Vanier, the founder of the L'Arche Movement.

In 1982 he founded and was the director of Galilee House in Cheongju for the mentally disabled. Turning the work over to Korean Sisters, he moved on to China in 1992 to continue working for the mentally disabled, as well as teaching English in several colleges. 

He returned  to Korea in 2002 and worked with the  foreign workers residing in Korea, before retiring. However, he continued working in the field, and in 2008 started the Peace Hope Center for the mentally disabled where he now works as  director.

Looking back on his priestly life of fifty years, many may be tempted to say that the life of a missioner is difficult. But for Fr. Ed the joys of such a life were all the more gratifying. He thanks God for the many blessings received, and as long as he remains in good health, he says he hopes to continue living in Korea.

He is now back in the States where he will be celebrating the 50th anniversary with his classmates and with others ordained 25 and 40 years ago at the Center in Ossining, New York.

A New Beginning In the Taegu Diocese

As we know, because of circumstances, environment, education and personality and other factors,everyone tends to see the world differently. Members of the Catholic Church are no different. There is the dream that with our common Scriptures and Tradition we will have unity in essentials, freedom in accidentals, and charity in all things. But what is essential seems to elude us.

 For  many years, the issues of justice and peace have been put on the back burner by some; others want you to see little else. While the teachings of the Social Gospel are not in doubt--they are an integral part of the message we have been given--there have been disagreements over the place and importance of justice and peace issues in our teaching.

To celebrate its 100 anniversary, the diocese of Taegu inaugurated a Justice and Peace Committee for the diocese All the other dioceses have in some form a Justice and Peace Committee. Taegu was the last to join, celebrating  with a Mass and  by reading a letter of congratulations from the head of the Bishops Justice and  Peace Committee. Below is a summary of the letter.

Congratulations on the beginning of the Justice and Peace committee in Taegu, and thanking God.  He thanks the ordinary of the diocese and all those connected in some way to  the committee. The Church with the  Gospel message  and mission to spread this message does so in a variety of ways but the justice and peace committee is an official structure for working  in the light of the Gospel.  Taegu in many ways has  promoted the Social Gospel but now with the new structure they will be more active in this area.

This new structure began under the prophetic leadership of  Pope Paul VI in 1967. It was during his visit to South America and seeing the poverty and injustices there that he  decided to begin  a Justice and Peace Committee  at the Vatican, and have it spread  throughout the Catholic World.

The Catholic Church in Korea, under the leadership of the Pope, began in 1970  its own Justice and Peace Committee. Gradually this spread to the different dioceses and during the  totalitarian rule of the army  these committees worked for human rights and democracy. These committees also worked in  areas of labor, finance,  politics, community, environment, life issues and international issues. They also taught the Social Gospel and gave them a means to judge the morality of what they saw in society. In 2004 the Church published, in Korean,  its Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.

The bishop goes on to say in his letter that he  hopes that with this new start there will be more study of the Social Gospel and implementation of its teachings, helping our Christians not only to rest in their individual  piety but to  consider the common good, justice, and our solidarity in life as Christians.To be the salt and light of the world, he said, much is being asked of us.  And he again congratulates the diocese of Taegu, and prays that their efforts will be blessed by God.                                                                                         

Chong Yak-yong

"Your good points can be listed on a few pages. If we listed your hidden faults it would require  too many books to count. You know the four books of ancient China and the works of Confucius, but can you be shamed by the virtuous deeds that  are contained therein?"

The desk columnist of the Catholic Times begins his column with this epitaph that Chong Yak-yong (his popular pen name was Dasan, 1762-1836) prepared for himself on returning to his hometown after 18 years of exile. His life as a scholar and writer was coming to an end  and he was preparing for death.

The columnist doesn't tell us much about Dasan since most Catholics would be familiar with him. He is one of the outstanding scholars in  Korean history and a leader in the "Practical Learning" school of philosophy. A man whose vast learning has helped Korea develop as it has. And a man who spread the Social Gospel in his books without knowing it.  Because of his Catholic faith he was ostracized by other scholars and almost killed a number of times. He did apostatize but  returned to the faith in his later years. His older brother is Saint Chong Yak-jong, and he was the brother-in-law of the first Korean Catholic  Yi Sung-hun and the uncle of Saint Chong Ha-sang Paul.

He was a great scholar but embarrassed at not living what he believed. He confessed on his 60th birthday that all his life was one of sin and regret. The columnist wonders, when we talk about Dasan, whether this admission of moral  weakness and regret for how he lived his life are the qualities that attract us?

His contemporaries  have given us little information but it is not difficult to surmise that he was a person with great introspection and repentance. He did  not hesitate to blame himself in order to prevent himself from repeating his faults and finding true repentance. A saint for him was not one who never did anything  wrong but a person who repented and reformed. The columnist brings to mind Peter, the head of the apostles, who teaches us a great deal with the humiliation that followed his betrayal.

All of us often do what is wrong, and  repentance should be the inevitable result. Without this repentance, a repentance like Peter's, our community will not have the sustenance to grow; we will be building on sand.

We often see this within and outside  the Church, when the only thing considered expedient to avoid the crisis one has to face is to resort to excuses and rampant regrets. Usually the higher the position and greater the reputation the less the embarrassment for the mistakes being made. However, Scripture tells us that without  sincere regret and sorrow for what was done, new life is not possible.

Survey of the Parish Council Leaders in Seoul Diocese

The role of lay people in the the Korean Catholic Church has been extremely important and is now acknowledged as constituting one of the  most active laity within the world wide Church.  This was the way an  article on a survey with the parish council presidents and vice presidents began its report. The Church of Korea took form without the help of the clergy and continues this responsibility by raising up lay people as leaders in the Church.

The survey was taken among the heads of the parish councils in the Seoul Diocese and the pastoral head of the diocese comments on its importance.

31.7 percent of the parish heads  consider the  approach to the tepid as the number one concern of the parish councils. Catholics come in one door and go out the back door was how the situation was described. This is like greeting foreign guests and is a serious problem that the Church faces.The second important issue was recovering a Catholic sense of identity (27.6 percent). 20.3 percent desired  unity among the different lay groups in the church.

To the questions about the relationship to the North, the work in society, and welfare work, there were few responses. For the parish heads the focus was less on the problems in society and more within the parishes.       

To the question on what they thought about the small Christian communities, 52.6 percent thought it was a good way for fellowship to grow. This was  more so for men than for women.

68 percent of the men attend the small group meetings; 26 percent  attend when something important comes up; and  6 percent rarely attend, though they attend  more so than the average Catholic but it is still less than ideal.

Those who have read the Old Testament completely was 2.4 percent; those who have read the New Testament, 10 percent; those who have not read anything, less than 1 percent.

27 percent are now reading the Catholic Catechism; 10 percent have read it completely; 62 percent have not read any of it.  59 percent  are slightly familiar with the documents from the Second Vatican Council; 32 percent  are not familiar with the  documents; those who are well acquainted was 7 percent.

74 percent of the parish councils leaders thought that devotion and  service was an important qualification for the work. Those who thought it was respect and support of the Catholics was 11 percent;  9.5 percent thought it was a strong spirituality; 2.4 percent thought that money and social standing was important.

Only 17 percent  of the parish councils had over half of their members as women. Over half of the parish councils had from 20 to 40 percent women. This is a area in which we should improve, said the pastoral head of the diocese.

The article ended with a wish that the parish council heads spend more time with the Scriptures and reading the Church Documents.