Loss of Civility on the Interactive Internet

"Before you write a comment to one of the blogs or internet bulletin boards remember that you are a person of faith, make the sign of the cross, and then write your comment."This was the plea  of a  follower of the premier Catholic internet site of the Seoul archdiocese.

The Korean language portal site of the Seoul archdiocese, "GoodNews" (www.catholic.or.kr), with its interactive bulletin board is a cause of concern to many: it is still buffeted with the abusive language of the netizens. Because of the efforts that have been made since the site went online in 1998, there have been conspicuous changes for the better but personal attacks and ideological battles continue. Even those who go to the site frequently are surprised by the comments that are submitted, causing many to wonder how persons of faith could possibly write such words. The article in the Peace Weekly discusses the problem, which is common not only in Korea but  possibly wherever you have interactive dialogue on the internet.

Many write to say they came to the site to hear about Church reportage, but found, instead, participants hurling insults at each other. A typical comment:  "I was hoping to find a Gospel message or some spiritual help but found only inappropriate  content, which was disappointing."

The site has over 300,000 members, and about 100 join daily. According to the conditions of use, those who are responsible for the site have the right to erase objectionable material and refuse the use of the site to the offenders. But the site's reason for being is to encourage the netizens to speak out freely, which might explain why efforts to regulate from above are makeshift and rarely enforced. The article suggests that those using the site should do the regulating and see to it that the users follow rules of internet etiquette. The team leader said, "It is necessary to respect the freedom of those participating, but it is important to have more constructive  comments on the Church and faith life than abusive ideological battles." He added that the site is, after all, the face of the Catholic Church in Korea.

The sensitivity of  Koreans  not to inflict pain on another is evident in everything they do--until, when seriously provoked, someone loses his cool and explodes. But it is  doubtful that the feelings of discontent will have any  effect on the way future comments are made. There is, however, still hope expressed by some that in some future time we will learn to be more civil to others we disagree with.

Street Retreats for the Busy

Retreats are usually made away from the hustle and bustle of daily life in the quiet of a monastery or a retreat house. An article in the  Chosun Daily introduces us to a Jesuit priest who brings the retreat to people where they live and work.

It was an early Saturday morning and about 10 persons met in front of one of the universities in Seoul. The priest gives them a piece of paper nicely folded and a stone.  The paper recounts the incident in the Gospel of John about the woman caught in adultery who was dragged to our Lord. "'Shall we stone her?' the crowd asked him. Also written on the paper:  "In my hand I have a stone. I can use this stone to  throw it at someone. Or I can condemn myself and use the stone on myself. What would Jesus tell me to do with the stone?" The group takes the paper and stone and goes off for an hour to reflect and comes back with their heartfelt responses.

For his Street Retreats the priest  selects a topic each week, which he places on Twitter, Facebook and a Jesuit website, and asks that the retreatants take one hour to reflect on the topic and post their reflections on Twitter or on their own blogs. Once a month, offline, he will meet with a group in Seoul that will have an experience like what was presented at the beginning of this blog.  He even recommends that they take pictures during the Street Retreat. This is part of the Catholic tradition that encourages looking at a holy picture so we can enter  contemplative prayer more easily. The stone that was given was to help them use the senses to concentrate and enter more deeply into contemplative prayer.  When looking at the photographs at a later date, after having all the five senses involved, the thoughts one had during prayer may return to the person's attention for further and deeper reflection.

He has about 400 followers on Twitter and although in the beginning they were mostly Catholics, now any Christian can find these online retreats helpful in their prayer life. He was happy to hear that the Catholic Times will include his weekly meditation especially for those who do not use smart phones or the internet.

This is  a grace to have  time to spend in a Street Retreat. The article in the Chosun Daily ends with the words of the Jesuit: "The people I meet on the Street Retreat are not stopping their daily activity to remain in their internal world, but are developing their senses to see how God is working in and through the world. I want to help them experience this  presence of God as they go about their daily activities."

Vocation of Teacher

The Korean Association of  Catholic Educators met recently to discuss ways of moving away from educating only for intellectual knowledge to a more all inclusive  approach. Education should include the spiritual and the other essential aspects of a fulfilling life.The educators agreed  that this would renew Catholic education.

Since the Catholic Church is very much involved in the education of the young, the educators were interested in preparing standards for the future. In the discussion, they considered the relative merits of IQ (Intelligent Quotient), EQ (Emotional Quotient), and SQ (Spiritual Quotient). As one of the participants said, the Catholic perspective is concerned with all three.

Another participant mentioned that the  leaders of the future will  be asked to develop a program that emphasizes a person's innate, intuitive and spiritual potential. If the Catholic  educational charter is followed, it  would do much to change the present method of teaching, said one participant. He recommends that an all-out effort be made to implement the charter in the classroom.

A middle-school teacher attending the symposium "Granum" (Latin for grain), summarized many of the ideas of the meeting in her blog, noting that she finally came to a better understanding of what it means to educate the whole person, and realizing that educating for creativity means more than imparting knowledge. The danger, she stresses, is believing that the goal of this educational approach is to make students more altruistic. Not so, she says; concern for the welfare of others is not the goal of educating the whole person but is an important consequence of the education.

Knowledge can be a dangerous thing or can be the salt and light of the world. Educating the whole person means that what is learned becomes part of our value system and leads us to  maturity.

Life, she reminds us, is a continual meeting: meeting with oneself, with others with nature, with events and with things. Inanimate things all  have a purpose, she says; they exist not for themselves but for others. Education and all learning in life begins with the person and extends outward in concern for all other persons, and ultimately, all that exists. 

She concludes with  the words of one participant who stressed that we should always keep in mind the words of the Our Father: "Thy will be done on earth...." Awareness of this transcendental purpose is necessary, she says,  for all who have the vocation of teacher.

Experiencing Prejudice for the First Time

Although most people know that being prejudiced is wrong, it is still very much in evidence in most of the world. Over the years I have heard stories of Koreans coming back from trips to the States who have expressed their hurt feelings because of the prejudice they experienced there.  Most of them would have known about the discrimination against the American blacks but were not expecting to experiencing it themselves.

In a sermon on the internet, a priest mentioned that before he went to the States to study he was intimidated by foreigners. After he began to study English and was able to interact with Americans, he came to see them in a different light because of their concern for the workers; it was a feeling he did not have.

However, living in the States he began to observe what seemed to be a sense of superiority and exclusiveness from many of the Americans he encountered. He felt that they considered Koreans just another short-in-stature-non-white Oriental.  Not identifying himself as a priest, he was thought to be just another   foreign Chinese worker.

He experienced this on many occasions, and when he returned to Korea the feeling of admiration toward the white foreigners disappeared and a warm feeling toward the non-white foreign workers increased, as he felt himself  becoming angry at the treatment they were getting from their employers.

He believes the reason for his changed feelings may be because of the prejudice he felt was directed at him while he was in the States when he was thought to be a Chinese worker. He now feels that if a white man and a non-white foreign worker were in trouble, he would help the non-white worker first. He admits to having his own 'prejudice', the kind he believes we all have and should have for those we feel closest to.  This was the main point of his sermon.

Although we hear stories that young Asian students feel discriminated against when trying to get into the better colleges in the States, this may be more jealousy than racially motivated. They are better at their studies and spend more time in preparation, which  opens them up to be  criticized for their lack of social virtues.

Koreans also have their problems discriminating against others. Fortunately, there is probably nothing as helpful in changing  discriminatory attitudes than to be on the receiving end of discrimination oneself.

The Status Quo Does Not Benefit All

When we are too concerned with the details to see the big picture, we may be told "You can't see the forest for the trees." This tunnel vision can mar the historical record when we select some incident and think we know what happened without understanding the background of the incident. the society, and the mind set of the people living in a different culture than our own.  Sister Im Keum-cha of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Community has written a historical novel, " Break," which intends to show that the entrance of Catholicism in Korea was not only a Catholic thing but affected all of society.

The novel centers around the years 1830-40, as seen through  the eyes of its two protagonists, who are not Catholic but are able to see the problems of the society from having traveled widely and benefited from the status quo. They realized that this stratified society of  privileged and disadvantaged citizens has to be be broken; this goal to break the status quo gave the novel its name.

Catholicism brought into Korea a belief system that spoke about the equality of all. This thinking was not absent in Korea but Catholicism was showing how this could be achieved by putting into practice its beliefs.  It was because Catholicism was breaking down the status quo that brought about the persecution.

Sister has a doctorate in oriental philosophy,  studied in Taiwan and has taught in universities here and in the States. Her intention in writing history packaged in a historical novel was to make available her more academic works in a genre that would be of interest to all. She did this by introducing to us two protagonists whose primary concerns where not for themselves but for all of society. They could  see the world as bigger than their own life situation.

Both Catholic papers reviewed the book, one review quoting the words of one of the protagonists, who at the end of the novel whispers to his son: "Those who adhere to only one way will not allow for  change. But when we don't have change only a few will live well and the rest will live with anguish and without meaning. Change means to look for a new way. That is the way you should go. It is the  way to find meaning in life." It is this message the sister wants to  leave with the reader. (The word used in the title of the novel is the word I  translated as change in the above paragraph.)

Educating the Whole Person

Korean students do well in competition with students from other countries, and the percentage of high school students who go on for higher education are second to none. And the number who go on to  study overseas would also rank high. Embedded within the culture is the belief that success in life depends on education. This desire for knowledge is remarkable but there is a dark side.

Most parents realize that this desire  for the benefits of education may lead to separating the head and the heart. But the pressures of society are such that it's difficult for them to protest. School studies are often supplemented with private tutoring, which is a financial strain on the family, but when other students have these opportunities, parents find it difficult to do differently.

There are efforts being made, however, within the educational system to place less emphasis on academic brilliance and more emphasis on educating the whole person. And just recently a priest, recently installed as president of a Catholic school in Seoul, indirectly alluded to these problems in his inaugural speech. Although admitting to having little background in education, he said he will  be learning by teaching, and quoted a Latin phrase in support of this intention. He does have a great deal of experience in the field of human growth, having received a doctorate from the Gregorian in spirituality.

Here are some quotes from the inaugural address, showing the direction he will be taking:

"Since the students have not established their own values they look upon  their grades  as something absolute, so if they receive low grades they consider themselves failures." He wants to nurture students that have the soul space to grow in their lives: "Persons who have the values given by Christianity as their foundation can face failure when having the soul space that allows them to see more than the failure....I hope students will have the same concern for their dignity as persons as they do for their studies." He wants students to pose ultimately important questions and to search diligently for the answers. "Like Don Quixote, in the words of Cardinal Kim, push like a fool toward the windmills, where the head and the emotions are not in conflict."

There are many, like the president of the Catholic school, who see the problems but solving them in a society that views success in good grades and winning in competition  will be difficult. It is very satisfying for a nation to be  number one in its efforts to educate its citizens, but when the standards are not helpful in cultivating a spiritually healthy human being, then the nations must consider changing the standards that have been set. This thinking  will have to become part of our common educational  legacy if we don't want to see more dropouts from society.

Wanting to Live a More Meaningful Life

There have always been persons who want to live the Christian life more fully by cultivating an interior life. Many join a religious order or society and some join  lay  communities of men and women, which are often ecumenical, sometimes have a religious orientation, and sometimes have no beliefs. But most persons who join these lay communities want to share their life and material goods with others. Though the communities may be composed of Catholics, families as well as individuals, they are not formally recognized by the Church. The one thing they have in common is their dissatisfaction with the ways of society.

We are introduced to such a  community, the Community on the Mountain, in the recent Kyeongyang magazine, by a priest who works on the pastoral committee of the Seoul diocese. He begins by telling us that  society is made up of  all kinds of innovative minds that continually  surprise us with their discoveries: today we have smart phones, robots, cosmetic surgery, even the possibility of changing men into women and women into men.  No one knows what surprises will come tomorrow.

The Community on the Mountain has over 30 members and is working on two  projects that the priest describes by posing two questions that the community is in the process of answering: "Can we, without working for money, discover the art of being  happy? And can we, without  competing with one another, find success?"  When the answers to these questions have been found and put into practice, he says the earth will shake, and the first signs of the change will likely be that we will lose interest in having the finest education possible, or getting the highest paying job possible.  He then relates a few of the things that  the group thinks important to reach their goal.

Children in the community are required to work, besides going to school. They have to feed the animals, clean the chicken coops, and help with the many tasks of the community. In the past, learning and labor were not separated like they are today, where children are not to work but  study. The writer feels that for a person's mature growth work is required.

In Japan, one of the communities that required the children to work was featured in a TV program that accused the community of abusing children. The journalists had no idea of the value of labor for helping to nurture creativity and spirituality. They saw working with the hands as something lowly and for those without education. Without work, the priest says,  knowledge does not have  soul.

Another point he makes is that the children eat only after the adults have eaten. This surprises visitors to the community, but the priest explains that in our society children often consider themselves as being the center of the family, which is not the way it should be.  If we are truly to respect our children and help raise them to be responsible adults, we have to show them they are part of the human family. If they do not learn that lesson they are easily spoiled and will be difficult to discipline.

He finishes the article by contrasting what parents would say to a child leaving for study abroad: "Let us  know immediately when you need money." And what a Christian would say: "You should be in search of God's justice and  practice justice yourself." Teaching  our children the art of true happiness is the first principle behind education for a person of faith, which means becoming the person God wants us to be, a  complete human being. As expressed in Luke 2:40, "The child grew in size and strength, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him."