Surprised by a Gift

A poet writes about her moving to the country and the gift she received in the process. A number of these returning-to-the-soil articles have appeared in the Catholic Kyeongyang magazine lately, demonstrating a growing nostalgia for things of the earth and for its basic life-nurturing qualities. Our poet moved to the country to tend wildflowers and to plant and care for an herb garden which will supply her with teas throughout the year, and to have more time for quiet reflection.

She made the move with some apprehension, not quite sure whether it was an act of bravery or foolishness. She did not dislike city life, nor was she enamored philosophically with life in the country and living close to nature. Her reason for the move: her life was just too fast. Thoughtlessly accepting life was suffocating, she said, and she wanted a change.

Her two boys were now adults and did not need her care anymore. Feeling free to leave behind family responsibilities and the city for a life close to nature, she was guided by the words of St. Matthew that the lilies of the field do not work or spin and yet even Solomon in all his splendor was not arrayed like one of them.

"Mother, today I have begun the course in the catechumenate to be baptized. I will be looking forward to your help." This was the first telephone call she received last year.  She never had a daughter and the caller, a friend of her second son, was to grow closer to her than her own son. In the beginning, she had misgivings on the kind of girl her son would meet, for all he knew from the time he was in grammar school was sports, and now he was in a soccer training camp. But from her first meeting with the girl, at her home in the country, all her fears disappeared.

Since the son was living in a dormitory, when  he had some time off, the girl would come down from the city, and both would meet at his mother's house. The mother  had arranged with the girl's family to have her stay with her when her son could leave camp and be with them in the country.

The girl was baptized last year on the Feast of the Assumption, and now goes to the country to help the mother during weekends; this was the gift the mother feels she has been given. They both work in the garden and go to Mass together on Sundays. The mother wonders now if  returning this gift back to God is not her task along with the gardening. Whether it is the life of living close to nature or the life of raising a family, she has no doubts that God looks upon both with favor.

Freedom of the Press and Democracy

A journalist writing in the premier Catholic magazine recalls a book of only 30 pages that has already sold in France nearly 2 million copies. With the publication of the book, Time for Outrage  (Indignez Vous), its message is spreading to other parts of Europe.

The French author, 94 years old and a resistance fighter during the Second World  War, tells the young, "Just look around, and you will see what is not to be endured. The worst kind of attitude is indifference, 'What can I do? I have my work to do,'" you say. "With that kind of thinking the  strength that comes with outrage is lost--one of the qualities that makes us human--and we miss the opportunity to bring about change."

The first object of our anger, he says, should be the gulf that separates the rich from the poor. The second object of our anger should be the present threat to welfare programs for the powerless in society, and concerns in  maintaining an independent press among other issues--all of which have to be seen if we are to make judgements and move into action.

The author of the book participated in drawing up the  Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. When we are angry at the violations of  human rights wherever they occur, he believes we will also attain rights and freedoms for ourselves. And his recommendation to cease from violence is to have non-violent, peaceful demonstrations.

The journalist briefly reviews the struggles for change in Korea, especially the recent candle-light processions of college student asking  for an  unconditional decrease in college tuition. They were joined by workers, parents, and by high school  students. He remembers his own struggle for a free press 37 years ago when the journalists of his own paper confronted the government of  Park Chung-hee. When the journalists issued their call for a free press, all the advertising disappeared. In the place of the advertising, the blank spaces were filled with the angry words of the readers, offering consolation and encouragement to the protesters, and also donations.

This could have continued but the shareholders of the paper and radio station decided against the protesters and fired 134 employees of the paper,  including journalists, producers, and announcers.  Our journalist was one of those fired. The advertising income returned, the number of  pages of the paper increased  but the freedom of the press died.

The freedom of the press, he concludes, is the foundation of a true democracy--freedom from  power, moneyed interests, and the influence of  big business.  He ends with the words of Isaiah (10:1-4): "Woe to those who enact unjust statues and who write oppressive decrees, depriving the needy of judgement and robbing my people's poor of their rights...."

New Stem Cell Therapy in Korea

				The press in Korea recently reported on the first stem cell therapy to receive the approval of the Korean Food and Drug Administration for commercial use. The therapy uses somatic stem cells extracted from the patient's own body to treat people with damaged heart conditions. The medication is injected directly into the heart through a coronary artery. The pharmaceutical company says that not all heart disease patients are eligible for the treatment but only those who have had angioplasty surgery will benefit from the treatment. It is reported that the treatment will take about four weeks. The company has conducted clinical trials since 2005 at major general hospitals around the country, while investing about $28 million on research and development  Treatment will cost about $10,000, the company says. The editorial in the Catholic Times describes this new cell therapy as the first of its kind in the world, giving hope to many. The use of adult stem cells--not the use of embryonic stem cells--is something that can be celebrated. There is nothing morally questionable with this medical procedure. The problem, the editorial states, was the way the news was handled by the press, focusing on the great financial windfall that is sure to accrue to the pharmaceutical company, and not focusing on questions concerning the safety of the procedure. Capitalism is based, as we know, on the profit motive. But when life and death issues become entangled with the profit motive, often controlling  medical practice decisions, the editorial expressed reservations. Life, it said, should not be subordinated to other values. Clinical tests to  rule out problems with the procedure have not been adequately completed. And efforts to bring it to the marketplace quickly is no reason to jeopardize life. When we are dealing with life, caution should be our principal concern. This is only the beginning for stem cell research. The therapies that will follow should always take into consideration the protection of life while companies pursue legitimate financial profit. Needless to say, the stock of the pharmaceutical company that introduced this breakthrough procedure did go up after the report in the press.

The Marys and Marthas of the World

In Korea, as in every other country, we have differences of opinion. We have the left, right and middle, words that have taken on meanings that are not difficult to understand. And yet we know that on any issue one can be considered conservative and on other issues, liberal or somewhere in the middle. And with time even these ideological positions can change. 

Our acceptance of Christianity can also have different perspectives. It can be accepted with a preference either for the inner life or the life in society-- the Martha and Mary difference, activists and contemplatives.  Most would understand maturity  as a mix of both,  promoting  a  harmony between the supposed opposites enabling  one to function humanly. But it is here that we  have much discussion, pitting one against the other by the words we choose to use.

This past month the Catholic Journalist Club met for the 11th Catholic Forum,  where participants expressed their views on the role of leadership in the different  areas of Korean life. One of the presenters considered the Church to be too much turned-in on itself, believing the existence of the Church is what is all important. He said that this long-held traditional idea has to be discarded.  Many clerics are too concerned with the internal life of the Church, with its structure and liturgy, than they are with humanity.  The issue of human rights is considered important but, according to the speaker, some continue to maintain the rights of the Church in opposition to human rights.  Shouldn't this interest, he asks, also be the aim of the Church as it is in society?

This issue was made very clear by the speaker. This was the way the Church appeared to him, and yet the Church is not here on earth for itself but for the world. That is rather basic, for the Church is Christ's mystical body. Christ's example is normative to all Christians.  The goal should  be the same for all, but the means taken could be different. Some are action-orientated while others wait for the movement of grace to attain the goal.

It is regrettable that we see the issue in black and white terms--one against the other-- instead of working together in a partnership of gifts to achieve the same goal which both acknowledge. The present Pope, as Cardinal, expressed this goal as teaching the art of living-- the road to happiness--which continues even after death. That not all of  humanity is  living  with the dignity that should be theirs is sad. All of us should see this as our  responsibility to  improve conditions. This is expressed in terms of love of  neighbor. Though this virtue does not immediately energize us for the work here and now, all Christians should have it as the default position in life, and give it practical significance.

Christians Should Not be Narcissists

A journalist, writing the lead article in the Catholic Magazine this month, recalls a priest saying that the majority of our Korean Christians, 60 to 70 percent, are asking for earthly blessings.  For Protestants the percentage is 80 percent, for Buddhists and Confucianists the percentage would be higher.

What is more shocking  is that the Church is contributing to this situation, believing it necessary for the Church to  grow. The leaders in the Church preach that if you come to the Church you will have health and prosperity, in effect promising Christians what society has prepared them to desire.  And there is no denying its effect: It would be difficult to find another country so successful in this area.

However, we have to get rid of this asking-for-blessing approach to religion. Forgotten are the words of Jesus to love our neighbor and to fulfill our mission and duty to society. Although this is known, it is difficult to free oneself from it. The journalist has been baptized for 13 years but still can't rid himself from this attitude.       

After baptism, he remembers saying his morning  prayers that had the line,  "Lord I return to you my body and heart which I have received from you and offer them back to you  with praise and service to others; may you look upon them worthily."  This was difficult for the writer to say. He had no difficulty with others doing this, but it was not his desire. This, he acknowledged,was selfish.

In this same morning prayer, the line he liked the most was the last, "Today may my thoughts, words and actions be guided by your  peace." It's true that God's love is a 
descending love more so than that of parents for their children. God does not only love me but all of creation. When we are not conscious of God and don't believe, we have chaos, division, and wars.  Selfish love is the  kind of love nurtured by materialism and secularism, which leads to unhappiness. To only ask for blessings is not to see God correctly, and breeds selfish love, which paradoxically leads us further away from what we really want.

Knowing something is not the same, of course, as doing something. When we have a distorted idea of what it means to be a Christian this will affect not only Christians but society. If Christians have a selfish seeking-for-blessing understanding of Christianity, they will only be interested in themselves or their Church and the Church's influence. Jesus gave birth to the Church to be as he was  for others-- to give and not to receive. We are not only interested in numbers entering the Church but for those that do-- to be doers of the word and  help change the world, and oneself in the process. It this is not our attitude the mission we have as Christians will be jeopardized. We will be a community of narcissists. Numbers and the Church's influence are not our primary interest but to create a  Church that will give life to the world.  The writer ends by asking how much confidence does our society have in the Church and Christians.

How to Overcome Authoritarianism

The Catholic Peace Weekly featured on its front page a picture of the auxiliary bishop of Inchon massaging the feet of an elderly person in a nursing home. "It feels good to get a foot message, doesn't it? the bishop asked the grandmother whose feet he was massaging. She replied, "We are living in great comfort and here I am showing my bare feet to the bishop.  I am embarrassed...."

"Grandmother," the bishop said, "it's alright, didn't our Lord wash the feet of his disciples?"

The 80-90 old grandmothers who offered their gaunt bare feet had embarrassed smiles on their faces, but they broke out in laughter as the bishop and priests gave them their massage. About twenty priests, who are in special works for the diocese, and two bishops visited the home for the elderly. They showed their concern and, even if only a one time effort, were  energized by the words of our Lord that he did not come to be served but to serve.

The home for the elderly has 100 grandfathers and  grandmothers and the group from  the diocesan center spent the whole day in service to the elderly. The ordinary of the diocese told his priests, "We should not only speak about service to others from the pulpit but we priests should be an example of how word and action come together in service to others."
 
The editorial mentioned that although priests have a better reputation than some other religious representatives, when Catholics leave the Church and  are asked the reason, the authoritarianism of the priests is still a common answer. This kind of sign of service to others is a good indication of where the clergy would like to go to leave behind this reputation.

Pope John Paul II said, "People today put more trust in witnesses than in teachers, in experience than in teaching, and in life and action than in theories. The witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission: Christ, whose mission we continue, is the "witness" par excellence  and the model of all Christian witness" (Redemptoris Missio 42).

This sign on the part of the priests, the editorial concludes,  leaves many with a good  impression and message, and should be a help to overcome the propensity to authoritarianism in their work.

New Evangelization In Korea

Pope John Paul II used the term "new evangelization" during his trip to Poland in 1979, and we have been hearing it often since then. The Desk Columnist of the Catholic Times makes a short  study of its history.

In 1983 the bishops of Latin America at their general meeting considered this new idea, calling it re-evangelization. The Pope, in his encyclical Redemptoris Missio (On the permanent validity of the Church's missionary mandate) and Christifideles Laici (the post-synodal apostolic exhortation of Pope John Paul on the vocation and mission of the laity in the Church and the world, emphasized this new evangelization. Many synods throughout the world, in preparation for the Jubilee of 2000, concerned themselves with this new approach to ministry.

Next year the Bishops Synod in Rome will have as its theme, "The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith." This synod will be the 13th Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will guide the pastoral initiatives and programs for the future.

The various bishops, religious superiors, Vatican officials and experts will  submit their suggestions and their answers to questions in preparation for the meeting.

Last year, because of the problem in parts of the world where secularism poses a serious crisis in the people's sense of what it means to be Christian and to belong to the Church, Pope Benedict  created a pontifical council for the new evangelization to find ways "to re-propose the perennial truth of the Gospel... have decided to create a new organism, in the form of a pontifical council, with the principal task of promoting a renewed evangelization in the countries where the first proclamation of faith has already resounded and where there are churches of ancient foundation present, but which are living through a progressive secularization of society and a kind of eclipse of the sense of God." The challenge, he said, is to find ways to help people rediscover the value of faith.

The Church of Korea--various bishops, religious superiors, Vatican officials and experts--are preparing for next year's synod by doing their homework and answering questions from Rome during a two-day workshop; these efforts will continue. The columnist feels that the preparation will be a great help in determining how prepared the Catholic Church in Korea is for the 21st century. How is the Church to witness to the different areas of our society?

The Catholics in Korea now number over 10 percent  but the quality of our evangelization and our maturity as Christians are matters of concern. The columnist hopes that the preparation for the synod next year will help  bring Korean Catholicism to another level of spirituality.