Shamelessness

Shamelessness is seen all too often in our society laments the writer of the column on spirituality in the Catholic Times. In the press and on TV, we see so many that do wrong, and very calmly see it as an unfortunate quirk of fate, as the wrong-doers persist in maintaining their innocence. It makes the columnist angry.

These persons, he maintains, either lie, mitigate what happened, give excuses, cover it up with great audacity, showing no embarrassment or sorrow, or recall moments in their lives to show how upright they have been. Which reminds the writer of the problem Jesus had with the Pharisees and the lawyers. 

"Wanko," the Korean word he uses, meaning stubborn, obstinate, lack of adaptability, expresses this mindset and is understood by many to describe a person not able to see his own faults or understand another's position; a person living in his own world, his heart locked, judging the world with his or her own measuring rod.

The columnist tells us the story of a priest friend who had an experience while in middle school that exemplifies this kind of attitude. His friend was not well prepared to take the exam on music theory, so he surreptitiously opened the book on the subject and was seen by the teacher, who told him to come to the front of the room. He had never done any cheating before and was judged a good student by his teachers. So when the teacher asked him why he had cheated, he was so confused that he blurted out, "I was planning to look, but I didn't."
 

The teacher, seeing the student trying to justify himself, hit him and took him to the teachers' room. All the teachers were surprised to hear about his cheating. His homeroom teacher was called in. He showed no anger and asked for the circumstances and the student repeated that he was going to look but didn't. His homeroom teacher told him that the teacher who discovered the cheating was a wonderful teacher and usually overlooks a lot. If only you had acknowledged doing something wrong, he was told, it would have been all over. But now he had to ask the student to bring his father to school.

We can all imagine how the student felt. Now a priest, he told the columnist that if he had simply said he did wrong it would have been all over. However, with the words "I was going to look, but I didn't," he had unleashed a chain of unwelcome events: being hit, going to the teachers' room, having his father come to the school, and the embarrassment of it all.
 

This attitude, which can be compared to hardening the muscles of the mind, insisting on ones own way, is something we have to fight against. This will reduce our stress and make us more attentive to the words of others, more honest with oneself, and more willing to admit to being wrong. In time we become more generous, and as we open up to others our world also opens and becomes less stressful.  

Divination in Korea

Catholicism has always seen divination, better known as fortune telling, as something that should not be done. Why is that? asks a columnist in the Catholic Times, and he proceeds to answer, giving three reasons for avoiding fortune tellers.
 

The first reason: When we indulge in divination, we are denying our free will. When we believe what the fortune teller is saying, putting ourselves in a position to be controlled by the fortune teller, our free will is taken away. 

The columnist tells us about a high school teacher who, whenever he considered moving, would visit a fortune teller. If told to go West he went West; if told to go East he went East. He was generally pleased with the results. His life was controlled by the very skillful fortune teller.

The second reason he gives is that a skillful fortune teller who seems able to predict the future may be working with the help of the devil. Which means that nothing good will come from the results.

The third reason is to prevent the possibility of addiction to divination. The columnist then tells us of his own difficulty with the addiction. Every year at the beginning of the year he would consult Tojeongbigyeol (The Secrets of Tojeong). As a young man he would at times want to know the future for a number of years. Ambition, he thinks, was the motivating force. What was not a laughing matter was a daily need to look at what the stars had to say about his day. It made for the day's joy or gloom. At the age of 40, he stopped and has not returned to the habit.
 
The columnist concludes his article by saying that though he did give up going to fortune tellers, from that time on something else took its place. Koreans are born, he feels, with a desire to know the future and to prepare for it. After he gave up turning to the astrology page of the paper, whenever he found himself out walking and came across a small pebble in the way, he would give it a kick. If it hit the telegraph pole he would have a good day. This action and similar habitual actions, he believes, are natural to those who have a strong sense of responsibility and a natural curiosity.

Koreans have a beautiful saying: "Do all as if it depends on you and leave the rest up to heaven." And whatever the results, with St. Paul, be thankful.                                      







  

"New Spirituality" in Korea

The New Spirituality, the last topic of discussion in the series Catholicism and Other Religions appearing in the Peace Weekly, is the name given to an eclectic mix of teachings and techniques, which emphasize  personal efforts and the importance of a direct experience of reality. The writer a professor emeritus, considers this to be an 'unseen religion' that  includes: Transcendental Meditation,  Power of  Will,  Mind Control, Zen, Extra Sensory Perception and the like. This would be understood by many to be what is called New Age Spirituality: considered by many to be an 'alternative religion.'
  
Origins of this movement, the professor says, began in the last part of the 19th century, as an attempt to come to terms with the industrial revolution. Looking at it from a religious viewpoint, he sees it as a backlash against the materialism, scientism, and rationalism that pervaded society at that time, and the need to satisfy the craving for the non-rational, the mysterious and the spiritual.
This craving was not satisfied by the established religions and many wanted more than they were receiving, which was the reason for the quick spread of this new spirituality. Also the strategy learned from capitalism on how to market products in search of greater profits helped the movement; spirituality became a marketable commodity.
 

The New Spirituality is a part of the New Religious Movement but there are major differences. The New Religious Movement attracted those who felt they were being left out of mainstream society: the alienated and oppressed. The New Spirituality, on the other hand, attracted those who were well educated and had good jobs, those of the middle class living in the cities. It is sometimes called The New New Religious Movement.

The professor lists some of the ideas of the movement: searching for a higher state of consciousness and more concern with nature; concern for the God within rather than the God outside; acknowledging the spiritual evolution we are experiencing and a need for a new awakening; emphasizing the development of personal inner strengths and direct experience instead of seeking the God outside and the supernatural. And they do not see any conflict between science and religion, and want them joined.

The conflict with Christianity comes with the denial of Christ's divinity. They believe in monism. All is one. They would not see Jesus as savior. Their idea of morality would also be in conflict. When one is excessively absorbed with the teaching of this new spirituality, there will be harm done to a Christian's faith life. The truths of faith and the existence of the Church are threatened by this new spirituality.

The Catholic Church, with its traditional world view, had difficulty in coming to an understanding of the  modern world.  Establishing the social Gospel, and giving life to pastoral work has helped to overcome the difficulties. We are now faced with another problem: postmodernism.  In dealing with this newcomer on the  scene, it will be necessary to read the signs of the times and cope positively with a new attitude, which should, at the same time, enable the Church to follow the mandate of the Gospel it has received, and faithfully continue its mission.

Giving Is Not Always Easy

Moving is difficult and requires thought. When it is a question of not only moving but having to rebuild, trying to decide what to keep and what to give away is not only difficult but dangerous.

A priest given the job of rebuilding an old church structure near collapse was faced with these problems, and shares them with the readers of the Peace Weekly. What was he to do with the fixtures and furnishings in the old building? What should be kept? What can be given to others? What can be disposed of? He found them to be difficult questions to answer.

Many gifts were given to the parish over the years. Talking to the older priests, he found that the consensus was to ask those who gave the gifts what they would like to do. What to do with the altar turned out to be the biggest hurdle, even though the gift-giver, who had left for Spain, wanted it given to another church that was being built. However, this did not stop the uproar among the Christians:  "That is a very expensive altar and you are going to give it away?" "What is the reason for being so quick to dispose of the altar?" "Can't we use it in the new church?"

The disturbance was so great that he decided to postpone the decision on what to do. He found this difficult to adjust to, and wondered about his preaching, how effective had he been in preaching on the importance of letting go of what we have. When we grasp too tightly, God finds it difficult to give something new.

When all was placed in storage he was relieved. But there were articles that would rust and not be usable, and he wondered why it was so difficult to give them away. The storage fee also was a little extra hurt. Disposal has some negative connotations but when something can be used by another more profitably, he asked himself, isn't that sharing? For us as Christians, 'mine' and 'yours,' are not words that we easily say, for it is all belongs to God, given to us for a time. When I can't use something I should give it to another. Why don't the  parishioners want to  give? These are the musings of the writer.

Obviously, there are things we should preserve or use again, but putting all the fixtures and furnishings in storage gave the pastor much to ponder. It was not easy to fine-tune his feelings with those of the parishioners. He wonders what other problems he will face in the years ahead.

Foreign Workers Seeking Justice

Stories of inhumanity are familiar to all  but some move us more than others: especially with the weakest in society. Working with foreign workers in Korea a priest recounts the tale of a worker who had trouble getting his severance pay. 

Bible & Life magazine carries the story of a Nepalese worker Nari, who worked in a company of about a 100 for  six years. He was planning to return home to his family after 10 years in Korea, a country he grew to love. He had worked in many other different companies but from 2005 to 2011, it was the same company.

Nari  mentioned to the company  he would be leaving to return to Nepal. The section head called him into his office one morning  to sign a paper that said he would not be taking another job in Korea. Nari could speak Korean well  but  could not read or write. He signed the paper, but on second thought wanted it back so he could have one of his friends read what he was signing. The section head took the paper and ripped it up.

That afternoon the company president called him into the office and asked him to sign, and when Nari refused, he beat him and locked him in the office for two hours. After release, afraid he came to the counseling service run by the diocese asking for help in getting his severance pay.

The priest looking into the situation, found  the paper he was asked to sign stated that the severance pay he was to get was about 2,000 dollars when actually, it should have been over 10,000 dollars. The priest petitioned  the labor office and  heard a different story. In the year 2008 he had with others signed a paper that said that he  had received 5,000 dollars in severance pay. Nari said that he never received the money.
 

There were no records and his salary was always given in cash. The paper he signed in 2008, which said he received $5,000 was all the proof the company needed.               

The money was taken from Nari by fabrication of  paper forms, which made it impossible to do anything. What Nari wanted more than the money was to be respected as a person and treated with dignity. Fortunately, he could get the remaining severance pay but the priest  seeing the treatment of the workers and  not able to do anything, and no place to go for recourse, left him  angry and hurting.

First Sunday of Advent--Happy New Year

Waiting, as we know, is very much a part of life. Even our liturgical calendar reminds us each year that we must wait for the big feasts of Easter and Christmas: ample time for preparation and for hope. But how much of our waiting time is done with little hope and, sadly, with much impatience and even frustration?
 
Modern society sees little good in the value of waiting. It is something we have to put up with. For a Christian, waiting has a value in itself. Even our Lord waited 30 years before beginning his public life. The desk columnist of the Catholic Times tells us about some of the benefits of waiting.

Today is Advent, the first Sunday of the New Year and a preparation for the many comings of Jesus in our lives, past, present and future comings: miracle of miracles, a great blessing and a grace-- the reason for our joy. With longing we wait, but God is also waiting for us; this is the spirituality of waiting.

By repentance and reform, we evangelize ourselves, changing direction to meet the Lord. To help us make the change, the columnist discusses the three virtues of the faith life. First, humility in our faith life, stressing the importance of avoiding its specious forms, such as proclaiming, "I'm certainly not proud." Pride is raising our status in the presence of God, living a life focused on ourselves.
Second, a positive faith life. When our hearts are not at peace, we see all that is around us with negativity and criticism. If this doesn't change we live in pain and often hurt others. Advent is a time to forget ourselves and go out to others who are hurting. 

Third, a pure faith life, living with gentleness. When the heart becomes calloused, at the least provocation we lash out. We have to change this hardness to a gentleness, with the love of Christ. Walking an uneven path we need the love of Jesus to change our ways and to trust in his grace.


The columnist wishes all of us a joyful and hope-filled Advent, as we remember the birth of Jesus, his daily comings into our lives and  await his second coming.

Catholic Charnel Houses in Korea

Our cultural experiences of death and funerals can be very different.  It is therefore difficult to find the same practices being followed, in any culture, when dealing with the death of a loved one. Seeing the necessity for setting aside more land  for cemeteries in Korea has brought about a change in the thinking of Koreans. In 2008, the number of those who chose cremation over burial reached nearly 70 percent.
  

And yet the facilities to cherish the memories of the dead are few. There is an aversion to these facilities by many in the culture, perhaps one reason being an extreme emphasis on health and fitness This opposition on the part of many of our citizens, often without good reason, is the reason local governments have difficulty in permitting charnel houses.

Even when these vaults that temporarily hold the remains of the recently deceased are located in buildings of worship, there are those who avoid them. A sign that the funeral procedures we now have are not conducive to giving respect to the dead. Even the constitutional court makes the building of charnel houses in churches difficult.
 

The law court acknowledged the sentiment of many of our citizens: "Our country has a cultural climate and sentiment that is afraid of the corpse and the tomb. In consideration of such an atmosphere in our culture, the legislature decided to regulate the establishment of charnel houses near schools in order to protect the educational environment."   

The editorial in the Catholic Times  goes on to say that a society that does not have respect for our predecessors is not a well-regulated society. To have places in churches to cherish the memory of the dead is to see life and death correctly and also be a chance to educate our children. In Europe and the United States, cemeteries often are on the grounds of the church.

There is no good reason for seeing the facilities for the dead as repugnant. The government has the task to promote a proper understanding of matters surrounding death, and the Catholic Church also must do a better job in communicating what it means to cherish the memory of those who have died.