Gaining Grace Points

A journalist for the Catholic Times reflects on his grammar school days when he worked to gather grace points by attending daily Mass. It was an opportunity which permitted students to  choose from a list of good deeds they had performed in order to accumulate grace points. The points could then be changed into a kind of money that could be used at the church  bazaar to buy gifts or sweets.

He was excited about getting  his points by attending daily Mass. He would get up early, and with his mother went to daily Mass. After two days, often dozing and finding it a great  bother, he was going to give it up but the words of praise from the parishioners and his desire for the points kept him going. Compared to his classmates, he remembers gaining a great many more grace points.

But getting grace points wasn't what motivated the children in Vietnam, he soon learned while traveling there to gather information on minorities. In order to write his article he went to a 5:00 am morning Mass at the Cathedral parish in one of the dioceses. Although it was a morning Mass there were many at the Mass; surprisingly many were children. They were, he recalls, all very attentive and devout, from beginning to end. It made a big impression on him. There were no adults to praise them or to present them with grace points, and yet they were all singling loudly and saying the prayers together. He interviewed  a few of the children, and was told they considered Mass a part of their daily life and a joy.

Even though the Vietnam government is putting obstacles in the way of believers, making it uncomfortable for them to observe the faith freely, they continue to build up
"treasure in heaven," he said, not grace points here on earth.

He wonders if he may still be unconsciously motivated, as an adult, to gain earthly  grace points by how he lives his religious life. He hopes to guard against this all too common tendency among believers.

Aliens Are My Brothers

Some years ago a priest responsible for a welfare center put a sign out in front with the words: "Aliens not welcomed." It was an attempt at humor, welcoming all to the center.
A staff member jokingly asked, "Aren't they also God's children?" Writing in the Window from The Ark column in the Catholic Times, the priest recalls that the incident was the prelude to thoughts on a subject he was not familiar with: other inhabited worlds, other people we call extra-terrestrials. 

One of the students who frequents the center asked the priest in all seriousness: "Father, if I am made from the DNA of an alien, does that mean that my head, as I get older, will develop into the head of an extra-terrestrial?" The priest was stupefied by the question and asked the student why he thought that was possible. It was then that he realized what the student had been seeing in the mass media. Doing his own search on the internet, he was surprised by what he found.

He soon began asking himself what would he do if he met one of these aliens, in the future or in the present? He also came to realize how much interest in aliens there was in our society and that there is a religious movement, the Raelians, who believe they have the DNA of aliens. However, he believes it important to remember that Internet information on extra-terrestrial life is presented without any supporting factual evidence, that no sources are given for the pictures shown, and that the explanatory theories offered are, in his words, "without the least semblance of credibility." Though most people know this, it does not prevent some from believing that extra-terrestrials are here, disguised, living among us.  

The priest mentions the well-known astrophysicist Carl Sagan and the influence of his 1980 television series: Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.  In his science fiction novel Contact the protagonist says: "If this universe was made for just one  type of intelligent creation, it was a great waste." He reminds us that Sagan was agnostic and felt that religion was close to superstition. 

Our response to all this, the priest says, is far from clear, but we can't just ignore it.  There are many young people who refer to the words of Sagan when asking us about extra-terrestrial life.  What should be our answers? he asks. If there are other worlds and other intelligent creatures living there, then aren't they our brothers? It's a question that young people are facing and struggling with. What are we to say to them, when we see their faith being challenged? These are the thoughts that came to the columnist as he looked out the window of his 'Ark' and saw that the rain was still falling.

Diabetes and Nuclear Power Plants

Writing in a bulletin for priests a medical school professor compares nuclear power plants with diabetes, a common  disease with a long history. With the advance of civilization and prosperity, there has been an increase of the disease, which is marked by a large reservoir of bodily energy, wasted energy, and when not properly regulated cannot be used and thus is thrown away in our urine. We have poverty in plenty.

The professor sees our nuclear power plants as beset with the same problem our bodies have in dealing with a poorly regulated supply of energy. The energy is there to be used but just as we have a problem with distribution in a diabetically diseased body, the same is true of nuclear power plants, which are, the professor asserts, a disease of modern society.

Briefly summing up what occurs in a nuclear plant, he points out that the nuclear reaction gives us heat energy which heats the water, and the steam produced turns the electrical turbines. It is the same principle as the thermal power plant: heat energy turned into electrical energy. When we have a change in the shape of  energy, there is a great loss of energy. Much of the electrical energy we use for heating purposes, he believes, is wasted.

As is well known, it takes a few days to start a nuclear power plant and a few days to shut it down, so it is not operated to match the needs of the average citizen.  The plants are continually in operation, and at night, when there is a surfeit of electricity, there is a cheaper rate for the electricity, which benefits mostly, not the homeowner, but the big industries which often operate around the clock. In the homes, the electricity (estimated to be about 24 percent of the total generated) is most often used for heating purposes, which makes for a lot of waste.

There are other uses for this excess energy, the professor says, but they are all a great waste of energy as presently used. The comparison of diabetes to nuclear power plants is meant, he says, to point out this great waste of energy and its poor distribution. (He does not consider the nuclear waste matter which is the result of the nuclear operation.) It's not too far-fetched to compare as some have done, the nuclear power plant operation to killing a fly with a canon. Getting rid of this societal disease, the professor insists, must be done as soon as possible.

Prosperity Does not Always Bring Happiness

There are probably few countries that are as introspective as Korea, which is still a homogeneous country, with a long history and one language, making  it easily accessible to this kind  of reflection. In recent years, with its ranking of 13th in economic strength, with a populace that is intelligent, diligent and devoted, it is hard to understand, writes the  priest columnist in the Peace Weekly, why the country ranks so low in the happiness quotient compared to other countries.

Is  it too much greed and not able to be thankful for what they have? he asks.  Although they have financial leisure and cultural advancement, he wonders if the lack happiness is a sign of spiritual disease, and proposes seven steps for achieving happiness.

Examine closely the way we live our lives as our Blessed Mother did in her life. Take care of our health. Make friends. Cut down the time watching TV. Study. Laugh; the Korean saying, "you get angry and age, laugh, and you get younger," fits, he says.  The seventh and last proposal is to be good to yourself; my happiness depends on myself; I am the subject of my happiness. If I am sad, tormented, and  unhappy this is what I will be sharing with others. When we are happy, thankful and at peace, this is what we will be passing on to others. His final advice is the suggestion that parents tell their children to imitate them when death approaches, and that they will meet in heaven.

Telling people how to live in order to be happy is big business. We have numerous entrepreneurs who live well telling others what to do to live well. Most of the wisdom that has come down to us from the earliest days has much in common with the search for happiness. Confucius wants us to overcome the  environment we were born in, wants us to study and have good relations with others. Buddhists want us to train the mind, the Taoist wants us to know that we think we know is not always the case. They are all seeing different aspects of life. Christians can use this wisdom, and add that Christ came to have us participate in divinity. This knowledge alone is enough to give us great joy.                  

What Is Success?

The present problems of Korean society are clearly evident to all, a columnist in one of the daily papers points out, and solutions are not easily found. To illustrate the complexity of a particularly troublesome problem, he relates a recent conversation with a businessman who told him he had been telling his  third-year high school son, repeatedly, to study hard so he will be able to get into a good school, get a good job, marry a beautiful woman, buy a nice house, and live the life of a prince. His son answered: "Dad, what is the value of  graduating  from a first class college, succeed in business, and end up in prison? Whether you have money and power makes little difference, when there are many who are under suspicion of corruption and end up in prison. Is that what it means to do well in life?"

The father said he was severely crushed  on hearing these words from his son. His many efforts to help his son break through the competitiveness of society and succeed left him feeling like a first class snob. He did have other words he could have used: be mature, humble, have good sense, dignity, respect, sacrifice for the country, love for the family. However, he felt these words would not have been helpful in the jungle of competition we now have in society--so our children only hear words such as  "study and don't play games."

What do our children see watching the news on TV? he asks. Usually another 'dirty hand' picked up by the police for questioning, big names in society who give bribes and receive them; bankers who are picked up for embezzlement and breach of trust; those close to the president, politicians, and company officials  who are making prison seem like a second home. 

Korea, the columnist says, is high up on the list of corrupt countries in the world. According to a Hong Kong research group that compared countries in Asia, Korea is listed as 11th out of 16 countries (with the 16th being considered the most corrupt.). Korean integrity in government  was shown to be less than Thailand's, which was 9th on the list, and Cambodia's, which was 10th. And in the last six years, the integrity index for Korea has steadily declined.

Though income has increased and Korea has become a leading exporting country, we should not be considered a developed country, according to the columnist, if we can't expose corruption and maintain a high moral standard in society. He concludes the article by telling the older generation that they have to show the younger generation a love for the good and a hatred for evil. If we continue to be insensitive to corruption and irregularity in our society and are not embarrassed by this, we will not become, he says, despite our material affluence, a truly developed country.

New Archbishop of Seoul

On  June 25, the Seoul archdiocese plans to hold an inaugural ceremony for the new archbishop, Yeom Soo-jung. On the opinion page of a secular newspaper, the writer gives us some background on the appointment.

Archbishop Yeom is a fifth-generation Catholic, 69 years old, who entered the seminary after graduating from middle school. Twelve years later, in 1970, he was  ordained. He worked in the diocese in many different positions and in many parishes, as well as in the minor and major seminaries. In 2002 he was made auxiliary bishop of Seoul and Vicar General of the diocese. He will follow Cheong Jin Suk as the 14th ordinary of Seoul.

The new archbishop has been in the Seoul archdiocese for 54 years, with a background that is conspicuously different from his predecessors. Cardinal Cheong, after 28 years, returned to Seoul to become the ordinary after being the ordinary of the Cheongju Diocese. His predecessor, Cardinal Kim, was a priest of another diocese, and after a period as the ordinary of the Masan diocese was made the ordinary of Seoul.  In the past, auxiliary bishops of Seoul have become ordinaries of other dioceses, but this is the first time that a Seoul priest who spent his whole life in the Seoul diocese was made its ordinary. He is considered an older brother to the 1100 priests of the diocese, and they have responded to his appointment with great joy.

There is a great difference from the two ordinaries that he follows, says the writer. Cardinal  Kim is remembered as a prophetic voice and a light in the darkness during the autocratic years from 1970-80s. Cardinal Cheong, on the other hand, was a canon law scholar and continued his writing during his busy years as ordinary, with a total of 36 books published. And Bishop Yeom stands out as a pastoral worker during those many years, and, in contrast to his two predecessors who had very strong charisms, Bishop Yeom is seen as a humble and gentle person. Those who have met him see him as informal and  warm.

The new ordinary will be the head of a diocese that has 27 percent of the Catholics of the country and  13.5  percentage, for the ratio of Catholics in Seoul to the total Seoul population, the highest in the country. However, at the same time, there are problems. The number of Catholics attending Mass has decreased, the number of babies baptized has fallen greatly, and the number attending Sunday schools are small. The future seems far from promising.

The changes in the world and society will demand a strong voice from the Church. Bishop Yeom, since he was involved directly in the  diocese, will have much working in his favor.The writer hopes that with the change of leadership in the Seoul diocese it bodes well for a change, both in society and in the Church.                                                                 

Serious Problem of Society

Last year in Korea 108,000 persons attempted suicide. Of this number over 90 percent had mental problems, most of which involved depression of some sort. Those who succeeded in killing themselves were about 43 a day, which placed Korea first among the developed countries of the world with the most suicides.

This tragic situation was the focus of the cover story on suicide in the recent Catholic Times. There are indications that society, according to the Catholic Times, is attempting to work together to discover the reasons for so many suicides, to spot the signs of helplessness, and to do something about it.

A  seminary professor of ethics referred to statistics from last year showing that 16 out of one hundred persons with mental problems contemplated suicide and 3 actually made the attempt. The Catholic Church has consistently seen the  evil of suicide but because of the mental state of the person it is rare that a funeral will be refused. The reasons for the large number of suicides generally given are depression, difficulties in life, pessimism, alienation, school bullying, but it would be unwise to try to select one as the primary cause, since in most cases multiple factors are in play complicating the problem.

Media also does not help matters by the way they tend to sensationalize their coverage of suicides, leading some vulnerable people to take on the same mindset, unwittingly preparing them for copycat suicides. The news, in attempting to present the suicide as factually as possible, often give reasons for the suicide which is no help to those who are looking to overcome their difficulties.  For a Catholic, the remedy would be their faith and a strong  spiritual life that sees adversity as a part of life, giving them the strength to overcome the adversity with God's grace.

Families of those who kill themselves, it must not be forgotten, are deeply hurt by the tragedy. This is also an area of concern for all those who are working to prevent suicides.  In his article, the professor reminds the Church of the important work that needs to be done to prevent these deaths. This will require a great deal of love on the part of the diocese and parishes to help those with financial, emotional and psychological  problems. Dioceses and parishes will have to have a safety net for those that need it. It will also require more targeted education of those who will work in this area in order to build a network of talented counselors to provide the help when needed. And at the same time to  contribute in changing the values of our society that all too often are a breeding ground for alienation and despair.