Pope Francis and War

Pope Francis has asked all of us to pray and fast for peace in Syria. In the Catholic Times, both the desk columnist and the editorial reflect on the words of the Pope and their practical application to all of us. Even the Great Mufti invited all Syrian Muslims to pray for peace in mosques in Damascus and across Syria, in communion with the Pope. The Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, joined with Pope Francis in praying for peace in Syria.

The pope said, very pointedly, the columnist reports, that there is doubt about the motives of the United States for wanting to attack Syria. Is it for humanitarian reasons or is it to sell more weapons of war? These words of the pope, the spiritual father of Catholics throughout the world, could not have been easy to say, according to the columnist.

The popes in recent history have been spokespersons for peace in the world, coming out strongly against all forms of violence. Much of what is going on in the world is not for the good of humanity as a whole, but rather the consequences of an extreme hardhearted and unfeeling self-interest, he says.

In the past, the Church  supported the just-war understanding, and has promoted this thinking and  participated in what was considered just-wars, the crusades being one example of this thinking. One of the symbols of this thinking remains in the Vatican Swiss Guards. Pope Julius II, during the Renaissance, led his Catholic troops into combat dressed in full armor. However, in the 20th century, most everyone would agree that the preferred method for solving problems is by dialogue and negotiations.  Benedict 15th worked to end the first world war and Pius 12th the second world war.

Reasons for the change, says the columnist, are the development of weapons of mass destruction, and the number of innocent people injured and killed--collateral damage, as it's euphemistically called-- in modern warfare. War no longer can be seen as an option under any circumstances, the columnist says, but as an absolute evil.

The editorial states categorically that the use of chemical weapons has to be prevented but this has to be done following international law and not unilaterally by a strong country with their use of force. Fortunately, there now seems to be a way out with the proposal that the stockpile of chemical weapons be turned over to supervision by the UN, and ultimately destroyed.

The  whole issue is surrounded with a great deal of ambiguity, and the US threat to use force has not disappeared. The editorial says that as long as the motive of selling arms continues, the end is not yet in sight. The pope has clearly stated that the Catholic Church is against the use of military arms, and that everyone should be against all wars and supporters of peace.

Pyongyang Vicariate

 

Maryknoll's work in Korea started in 1923 in the Vicariate of Pyongyang, given to Maryknoll by the French Foreign Missionary Society. The above picture and article appeared in the Peace Weekly this past week; it is the penciled drawing of an old photograph taken in front of the Tai Shin Li Church in Pyongyang. This was the second parish built in the Vicariate after the Maryknoll Society began working in North Korea.  Under the Japanese occupation, they had to change the name of the church to follow administrative regulations. After liberation, it was changed back to the original name, but soon after the work of the Society come to an end with the Communist takeover of the North. .

The first Korean priest of the Vicariate, Fr. Ryang Ki-sep, was assigned to Pyongyang and built the church that we see above. According to the "Korean Mission History of the South," by Fr. Robert M. Lilly M.M., Fr. Ryang, after leaving the North, assisted in project work for the Seoul archdiocese. He had dual citizenship which facilitated travel for fund raising. Through a grant from Miserior, he built the original Saint Mary's hospital which has since moved across the Han river to the south side of Seoul. He later improved the pilgrimage site where the martyr Hwang Sa-yang wrote the silk letter to the bishop of Peking. Fr. Ryang died in 1982.

The second pastor of the parish was Fr. Patrick Duffy. At the start of the Second World War, the following story about Fr. Pat was told: The American missioners were considered enemy and confined in a large Protestant compound in Pyongyang. Fr. Duffy had two passports, Irish and British, and in order to remain within the group, he first presented the British passport, which made him an enemy alien. After several months of that experience, he got fed up and thought he might do better back in his own place. So he presented his Irish passport which made him a neutral, giving him the right to demand his freedom. Returning to his parish again, he became a prisoner there and not allowed off the compound. He couldn't meet anyone and was in worse shape than before, having to stay under house arrest until the end of the war while his follow Maryknollers were repatriated in 1942 and 43. 

He was assigned back to Korea, after the war, but with the country now separated into two halves, north and south, with the occupation of Soviet, and United States forces, the situation provoked a great deal of suffering for the Korean people. After the silencing of Catholicism in the North, Fr.Pat went to Japan where he spent the other half of his 54 years on the missions.

Always Conscious of God

What does a priest do when during his sermon a toddler with unsteady steps makes his way down the main aisle to the altar, calling out Abba Abba, the sound getting louder as he arrived at the altar?  asks a columnist on the spiritual page of the Catholic Times. Since it happened so quickly no one was quick enough to respond to the situation, and no one could anticipate how the situation would develop. The priest stopped speaking, looked at the infant and said:

"Child, why are you making our relationship known to the whole world?" He then left the pulpit, picked up the child and brought it to the toddler's room. The mother couldn't imagine her child walking to the altar, and  stood transfixed, not knowing what to do. At the priest's words, the whole congregation broke out in  uncontrollable laughter.

The mother took the child from the priest and, with her head down and very much embarrassed, went back to the room. The priest returned to the altar and continued with the Mass and told the congregation that, like the child  who was calling out Father as he was coming to the altar, he will try to be the good Father and priest. When life comes to an end he wants to be able to go to God the Father like the child coming to the altar. The congregation broke out in applause and laughter as if everybody in the congregation wanted to be like the child  going to God our Father.

The columnist mentions hearing the complaints of a mother who was asked to leave the church because the baby she was holding was crying.  And at the children's Mass, one of the teachers said the penalties given to children for not behaving were difficult to accept, for she herself tries to enter the children's world to learn how to go to God with the innocence of a child.

The columnist wonders how many, like the priest in the incident with the child, have the presence of mind and the spirituality to respond as the priest had done when events suddenly take us by surprise. Do we revert to our ordinary way of behaving? Or do we recall how Jesus showed us how to behave when sudden events surprise us? Jesus was always acting appropriately because he was always conscious of God. 

Filial Piety and Loyalty of Korean Martyrs

Most people consider life their most precious possession. However, there are times that other values are more important: parents will sacrifice their lives for their children and  children for parents. And sacrificing oneself for an idea or a belief has often occurred throughout history, always for what was thought to be of greater value than their own life.

A professor emeritus writing for the diocesan bulletin reflects on  the sacrifice of life by the Korean martyrs, as they would have seen it. Often we hear that the martyrs of Korea belonged to a foreign religion. When they list the Korean traditional religions, it is natural not to include Christianity. However, when  martyrs sacrificed their lives for what they believed, it was not something separate from their being Korean, says the professor, but was an integral part of who they were.

When the Korean martyrs gave their lives, the professor points out, they did not do so for a foreign religion but for what they believed in. They accepted their Christianity as having many of the same traditional values of the Korean culture, and interpreted Christianity from this background. When Catholicism entered Korea, one of the most important values widespread throughout society was respect for parents and loyalty to the king. The cultural values of respect and loyalty were root and trunk of the Korean ethos, with loyalty valued higher, says the professor, than filial respect.

The martyrs of Korea, because of their great respect for God, called him, in keeping with their cultural heritage, their Great King and Great Father. They felt a greater, more lofty loyalty and filial piety for God  than they did for their earthly king and parents. They remembered the filial piety Jesus showed his mother when he was on the cross. The martyrs were very much taken up with the thinking of the times, and since filial piety and loyalty were so  important in the culture, it was only natural that they would direct these values onto God the Father. This is where the Korean values of loyalty and filial piety and the Christian teaching become one. Therefore, to say that what was done by the Korean martyrs is foreign to the Korean culture does not fit the facts, says the professor.

The Christians knew that God was a just God and that the filial obedience they owed to parents should also be directed to God. This filial respect is fundamental to our Korean religions, the professor maintains, adding that the filial piety of our Koreans is the same kind of piety the Christian martyrs showed to God.

Education for a Healthy Future

The world is changing more quickly perhaps than ever before in history. The need to adapt to these changes, primarily by learning English and becoming acquainted with foreign cultures, is becoming critical, according to a columnist in the Peace Weekly. Even the country is looking for leaders who are educated in the new global realities and are fluent in English.

Consequently, even before they know their own language, our future leaders are beginning the study of English in kindergarten. There are also those who are sent overseas for studies. The downside of this policy is that many of these future leaders, when separated from their parents at an early age, have to deal with depression.

She mentions meeting with two elementary students studying in Canada--one her niece--who say they are depressed. When asked to explain, they said they did not know the reason for these feelings. The columnist says she rarely thought of the difficulties of studying overseas at such a young age but only admired the students who succeeded in learning a foreign language and learning about the world. One of the Canadian students this year developed a serious case of depression that caused great concern to family and  friends.

Are there any parents who would rather not send their child overseas for study at such a young age? Perhaps many, she says. The reason they are sent overseas is that parents feel it necessary for the child to prepare for the future. However, more important than economic and political success, the columnist reminds us, is the health of mind and body and emotional stability. Knowledge is only a means; without health and happiness, knowledge has little meaning.

Does happiness come, she asks, with winning in a competitive environment?  Is it possible to have happiness without competition? Mencius mentions three reasons for achieving happiness. First, the presence of parents and harmony with siblings. Second, the ability to look up to the heavens and to interact with others with a pure conscience. Third, the opportunity to teach those with talent for future responsibilities. And he makes clear this happiness does not consist in living in luxury.

The Korean Ministry of Education has a unique program for the 21st century, called "Brain Korea: BK21 Plus,"which intends to help universities prepare leaders of the future. However, the columnist expresses some reservations on the direction Korea is taking in educating our youth for leadership roles. Will these future leaders be happy leaders? she asks. There is little concern, she says, for educating the whole person. And she wonders whether we are preparing the future generation by setting in place the beginnings of what will develop into depression.

The proposed government program, she believes, will not be able to solve the problems that are sure to arise, and she suggests that the Church take a bigger role in preventing some of  these problems, as well as dealing with the problems that have already appeared. We are meant to have health of body and mind and emotional maturity. She hopes the Church will see this as an important mission for achieving the present and future well-being of society.

End of Life Issues

How do we cope with end of life issues? At what point can or should treatment for the terminally ill be stopped? Does the person facing death have the right to make this decision? Or should it be left up to medical personnel? A columnist for the Peace Weekly takes up these questions, which have been often debated, and now the government has begun to take an interest, with a special bill being worked on by the government's bioethics committee which would allow patients facing death  to determine whether to receive treatment that would prolong their lives or refuse the treatments requiring the use of drugs and medical equipment.
 
End of life decisions are those when death is imminent, with no hope of recovery. The decisions often come down to a simple question: Do we prolong the suffering by keeping the terminally ill alive by medical treatments, or do we allow patients to die naturally by refusing the treatments? Though these options, as they are commonly expressed, makes the choice rather obvious, it is in reality surrounded by all kinds of difficulties, explains the columnist.

Those who face death not infrequently do so without knowing that the end is near, entering intensive care units with the hope of getting well, but often die without the family being present.
 
Studies have  shown that when a sick person has only a few days to live, the family finds it difficult to mention this to the sick person because of the shock it would be. However, the reasons for making  the situation known to the sick person are many. This natural and obvious decision becomes--in the actual situation when we are in the presence of the sick person--very difficult to carry out.
  
Making the end of life decision can be made in advance, however, and with the knowledge of the whole family, but this requires talking about death, which some find difficult. This uncomfortableness needs to be overcome, the columnist urges. Since we all are going to die, is it not better, he asks, to prepare for the arrival of death than to be surprised by it, or be dragged to it protesting the loss of life? When we are upset everything tends to be done poorly. When we talk about death, especially before the end is near, there is an intimacy that arises that can calm the fears that come with ignoring what we all must face. 
 
Preparation for death should be an ongoing preoccupation of a Christian, the columnist reminds us, and the taboo that many feel in talking about death needs to be changed. We need to see death as a friend and the gateway to our maker. 

Living a Mature Spirituality

100 Catholics were asked at the end of Mass: What do you understand spirituality to be? More than half of them hesitated and couldn't give an answer. A columnist, discussing this situation in the Catholic Times, asserts that most of the others who answered would probably find it difficult to speak about spirituality for 10 minutes. This would also be true, he says, for those who have lived the Christian life for many years.

Though we often hear the word 'spirituality' mentioned when the topic of religion is brought up, its meaning is not easily understood; it's often shrouded in mystery, says the columnist. Partly because, he suggests, there are different kinds of spiritualities such as a martyr's spirituality, a layperson's spirituality, ecological spirituality, and so on, which makes for confusion.

The absence of spirituality, the columnist says, is a shadow hanging over the Korean Church. We speak often of the crisis of faith, he says, but it is more often a lack of spirituality. The spirituality that the Holy Spirit fosters in us gives us a way of seeing God, providing us with a world view, an ethical vision, and life values--all included in the word spirituality, enabling us to love God, neighbor, ourselves and creation, for we all participate in the priesthood of Jesus.

One seminary professor saw spirituality as the strength that Jesus gives us enabling us to live wisely in society, without which we would not have the dynamic will to live correctly, and doing it with happiness and meaningfulness. Spirituality gives us a deep insight into the workings of our society. 

Another priest made a study of the secularization of the Korean Catholic Church for his master's decree. Referring to the 1984 Gallup survey, he noted that 37 percent of Catholics were looking for well-being from their religious life; in 2004, the percentage was 74 percent. Goals of eternal life and meaningfulness were extremely low in comparison to achieving well-being. We can see from this statistic, he says, that the psychological motivation of Catholics mirrors the crisis that the Church in Korea faces today.

With the religious life of most Catholics being bound up with satisfying personal goals, their faith life becomes submerged in self gratification. This is clearly seen by the way we pick and choose what to believe and follow. We often hear that there is little difference  between those who believe and those who don't. Many Catholics do not agree with what the Church teaches.


Spirituality is not something that comes down from heaven that miraculously changes us, but something we personally have to make part of our life. if not, we are living without a compass and trying to make sense of our life without having a competent guide. Living without  a compass may be quick and easy, but it is a dangerous way to live, he says, for we are separating ourselves from Christ.

The purpose of all this, no matter the kind of  words we put together, is to live in the way Christ showed us, and to live with the strength that he continues to give us.  This is the kind of spirituality that we as Christians must aspire to.