A
columnist in the Catholic Times remembers a song she sang often as a
high-school student: "Tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree." She
liked the rhythm, but especially the touching lyrics. The song
expressed the feelings of a man who had received his freedom from prison
and wanted to know from the woman he loved whether she was willing to
take him back. He would be taking a bus to the town, and if she welcomed
his return, to tie a yellow ribbon on the oak tree in the yard. As we
know the tree was filled with yellow ribbons
This
was based on a real-life story, she mentions, and was the motivation for
using yellow ribbons to welcome back those from war and hostages who
were released and returning home. In Korea, the yellow ribbons are being
used to remember those who have died in the sinking of the Sewol Ferry,
and hoping that among the missing, they will find some alive. We find
the ribbons appearing on the social network, at schools, and in other
parts of society. The ribbon has appeared in parishes and
in religious houses as a sign of condolences and prayers for the
families and those who have died and are missing.
We
are not
able to deny that this tragedy was man-made. Money was put before
people, Greed was everything. To save money an old ship was bought; to
carry more passengers, they unreasonably added another deck,and for the
sake of money they ignored safely regulations and overloaded the ferry.
19
years ago, we had the largest peacetime disaster in South Korean
history because of a poorly constructed building: money put before
people. The Sampoong Department Store collapsed killing and injuring a
large number of shoppers. 20 years ago, we had the collapse of the
Seongsu Bridge over the Han River. Here was another case where bribes,
breaking of the law and immorality was overlooked for reasons of
profit with the loss of many lives.
The
mass media and the citizens lamented the lack of a concern for safety
and urged a change in our moral consciousness. 20 years later with the
Sewol tragedy we have not seen much change. What is the reason for this
failure? The columnist wonders if it is not, our 'frying pan
disposition', quickly changing from when on the fire and when off
the fire. We Christians, she says, have much to reflect on. Many
question marks are appearing in her thoughts.
She
mentions having met an ethics professor who said: materialism, egotism,
secularism are values that we have not been able to cope with.
Christians have much to think about. He is overcome with embarrassment.
She hopes that we will not need to use yellow ribbons in the future.She
concludes the column with the condolences of the pope for the loss of
so many lives. He is quoted as saying: "Hopes the South Korean people
will take the Sewol tragedy as an occasion for moral and spiritual
rebirth." This she hopes, we believers need to take to
heart.
The Catholic media have examined the statistics for the past year and have seen the red light. When one looks at the figures the future does not look bright. Catholics who are devout continue to diminish.
The numbers of adults baptized in 2013 were the lowest since 1985. It went under 100,000 in 1995 with 97,079 and last year the lowest with 87,088 baptisms. The Mass attendance has continued to decrease from 1995 when it was 35 percent. Last year it was only 21.2 percent attending Mass.
The number of parishes increased by 4. There are now 1,668 parishes: 4,901 priests, of that number 170 are foreigners. The total number has increased by 113. Diocesan priests have increased by 77 and the religious by 21. There are 1,463 seminarians studying for the priesthood. This has decreased by 70 from the previous year. There are 165 religious groups in Korea, and the total number of religious is 11,737: 1,564 are men, and women number 10,173. Religious women have increased by 830. The men in preparation have decreased by 17 percent, and the women saw a 48.9 percent decrease. The numbers of those in the foreign mission have continued to increase from 554 in 2003 to 979 last year. The number of diocesan priests on the mission decreased from 94 to 82 last year. There has been in the last ten years a continual increase in the numbers of diocesan priests.
Age of the Catholics continues to increase. Catholics over the age of 60 are over one million 200 thousand. The aging of the Church is at a faster rate than in society. We also see that many parents are not passing on their religious faith to their children. The numbers of those attending Sunday school programs continues to decrease. Not only is the low birthrate responsible, but many parents are not sending their children to catechism classes.
Catholicism continues to maintain the external numbers, but examining the practice of the faith in the numbers going to confession and attending Mass; we see a different picture.
Efforts are made in the different dioceses to energize
the communities and with some success. South Korea is a small unified
country with one language and basically the same culture. One of the recent editorials mentioned the recent meeting of the bishops and their 'common pastoral directive' hoping to give life to the Sunday Masses and the reception of the Sacraments.
There is a desire to break away from emphasizing the obligation and stress more the joy that should be coming from the attendance at Mass and the reception of the Sacraments. This will also, the Catholic Times' editorial mentions, require that the priest make more of an effort to make the liturgy more inviting and a better preparation of the sermons.
The paschal mystery is basic to our life as Christians. Life comes after death, not only physical death but the many other kinds of death that we experience. This paradox is accepted both in the East and the West. Not all that we accept as good is good nor is all that we see as bad is bad. We are not surprised by these words. The 'happy fault' of our liturgy brings to our attention the birth of Christ. We die to ourselves to be born in Jesus. "Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matt. 16:25).
In the liturgy, we meditate on the passion, death, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord. We learn that new life comes from death. Nature shows us the way life comes from death. There is a light in the darkness. Even the daily sleep of death refreshes us for a new day. We are reborn every day. I am not the same person I was yesterday. This is a recurring theme in many of our works of art, our literature our movies and daily lives. We read about this and enjoy the excitement that comes from the results of something as negative as death. We can find meaning in tough times and are restrained in our joy in the best of times. We are enabled to go out to others and show compassion.
The Catholic Times gives us two examples of this death to life journey in two articles commemorating the Easter Feast Day. Stephen tells us of his experience of death."With the sound of the beep, I heard the doctor say, 'he has died'. My wife was crying, and I heard my close friend's words as he was sending me on my way."
Twenty years earlier on his way home from work he fell unconscious and was taken to the emergency room of a hospital where he was pronounced dead and taken to the mortuary of the hospital. He doesn't remember how long after hearing the words in the emergency room of the hospital, but he woke up and walked out of the mortuary on his own.
He does remember opening his eyes in the mortuary and beginning to breath and feeling the cool air in his lungs and realizing that he was alive. When he went to find the nurses, the hospital was in an uproar. His doctors and family came rushing to where he was. They gave him a Ringer's solution which Stephen felt was bringing about a paralysis of the body, and he cried out. They removed the solution, and he was transferred to a hospital bed. He experienced a miracle. He never returned to his work, and has continued as a volunteer helping others in hospice and in other volunteer works.
The second article tells us the story of Angela, who worked in a place of pilgrimage to Korean martyrs. She was living the middle-class lifestyle when three years ago everything came crashing down. Her husband planning to expand his business borrowed money to buy some land and everything took a turn for the worse. They were in great debt. They had to sell everything to pay the debt even the house in which they lived. It was a hopeless situation, and she desired death. There were cliffs on all four sides. If this happened when she was young it would have been different, but now she didn't know what to do.
She remembered the martyrs who got rid of everything and moved to the mountains to live. This idea that God was working through her difficulties to a new way of living began to take hold. This reflection on the martyrs enabled Angela to see life in a new way. She began to see her situation with different eyes. The family became closer together than ever before, they became more concerned for each other, and she found work to help the family along. She realized that not all the possibilities had been blocked. She was born again.
The condition of workers as we approach International Workers' Day is seen in many articles in our papers and magazines. The Peace Weekly in one of the columns by a university professor recounts the story of a woman who was the cleaning lady in a university dormitory. She had to travel one hour and a half to get to work. Her husband was seriously ill, and she became the bread winner for the family. There was little she had not done to sustain the family, and hearing about the need of a cleaning lady at the university, she applied, and received the job. It would be a secure position, with medical insurance and a lunch supplied, which she considered an answer to her prayers.
Happiness lasted only a short time. She had to take the first bus in the early morning to be at work by 7:30 am and finish at 4:30 pm. It was a 9 hour day and far from easy. When she received her pay in her bank book it was not what she expected. She was told by the person in charge that the time of lunch and rest was deducted for a 6 and a half hour day of work. Her lunch depended on left over food, and often she would be without a lunch. She was faced with a disappointing situation.
She was told by her friends that she should join the labor union. "This unreasonable situation has to be given voice and to search for the rights of the workers." For her this was not a possibility. She had a sick husband, a mother- in- law, and three children. Her eldest daughter, because of a lack of education, worked as a nurse's aid in an oriental medical hospital, her son worked part time in a market to earn his college tuition fees, and thinking of her youngest child who was preparing for college, she was frightened that she would lose even this job.
Her religion gave her hope in overcoming the difficulties she faced in eking out a living for the family. She wants to receive a just wage for her labor. The irony of the situation, the professor reminds us, is a center for the education of our students in human studies, does not see those who are working in their buildings without the basic human needs, filled. She wonders how many would know about the situation, she doesn't think there are many.
She selects Pope Francis as one of those who has shown where his heart is; both in what he has done and what he says. His care and love for those most in need, she says, is the reason he is so well thought of among the world's citizens. This was true of those in China's history.The concern for the least in society was always a sign of a wise ruler and one who won the respect of the people. She also brings to our attention the president emeritus of Brazil, Lula. During his time in the presidency, he worked first of all for the lowest on the social scale and won great respect for his position not only in Brazil, but throughout the world. He solved the countries debt and made Brazil into a strong economic country in the process.
This is what the world is looking for now in its leaders. She hopes the teachers in our colleges and universities will be forming these kind of leaders for the future. Both Pope Francis and Lula were leaders who have shown us the preciousness of those who are poor and alienated. This concern is not to the columnist's way of thinking a difficult task. It is the way to win the hearts of the people and a short cut in winning the trust of the citizens.
She concludes the column by saying that those who want to be considered capable in our society need to open their eyes and look around. If one has the desire they will find the way to become a person respected by the citizens; the opportunities are all around us.
'Wellbeing' is the English word used in Korean society, and it would be a surprise to hear that someone didn't understand its meaning. A desire for fitness of body and mind is a culturally nurtured desire. Good food, exercise, no stress programs and a desire for healing, are all commercially successful marketing ploys.
The farmer poet in his column in the Catholic Times says that the word organic farming is part of the way we think. We see it on labels and signs. In the past, environmentally friendly farm products, those that were produced using organic farming methods, existed but were not an attractive possibility to most consumers, but this has all changed. Organic food stores continue to increase in the cities. The Catholic 'Our Farm' movement and many other organic movements are popular.
Environmentally friendly products for health, that become popular are desirable, says the poet. When all under the sun is gained, he says, and we lose our health it is of no use, is it? Vegetables, powdered milk, juice, rice, fruits, and the like all being sold with the words: organically farmed. Is this not a sign that our citizens are in need of health of both mind and body? To have a healthy body and mind in a healthy society requires that we listen to the need that we have for organic foods.
Those who farm know this to be true. The older farmers who spray with weed killers, pesticides, and use chemical fertilizers, are making the earth, the under-ground water, the rivers, lakes and the oceans, sick.
How can we get healthy food from the earth that is sick? How can we have healthy children from bodies that are not healthy? For every three children born, he says, he heard that one child has atopy (a tendency to be allergic). Sad, he says, to hear of the many who suffer from these allergies.
We have to find ways for nature and humanity to live. We have to find a way of doing this not by using the word organic farming, but being concerned for this alternative way of farming to take hold in our society. Do you know what is meant by organic farming? This is his question to his readers.
The way we eat, drink, use and dispose of our possessions is the reason for the acid rain. We are poisoning the earth and bringing death. The gardens of our country and the mother of our people, the farm lands are collapsing. Global warming and the change in the weather will not only harm the farms but make life more difficult.
We hear many of the Korean saying that our spring and autumn seasons are disappearing. Diseases because of the global warming are more prevalent, and the farming production has decreased. These are the signs that we see. Korea has had the yellow dust problem from China, but now we hear about the metallic dust that is coming in from China because of China's rapid industrialization and their use of coal. This is an area in which the countries of the world have to begin working together to solve problems that come with 'progress'.
The Desk Columnist of the Catholic Times introduces us to the very popular cable Home Box Office television drama: Game of Thrones which has just finished its 3rd year and began its 10th segment, 4th year series. Game of Thrones is a fantasy drama, adapted from a novel which, he says, in most cases is more elaborate and impressive then most or our ordinary movies.
In one of the last segments of the 3rd year series, there was a massacre of the guests who attended a wedding at which most of the main characters were killed. However, in a recent program the cruel killing in the 3rd year segment was not addressed directly and seen for what it was, but considered a breach of etiquette for killing the invited guests at a wedding.
In war to save oneself, killing one or ten, doing it respectively or frivolously, is considered self-defense. The killing of those at the wedding was an act that demeaned trust, dignity, and honor. One is not able to accept this shameless act of immorality.
Each society, East or West ancient or present has a moral code which they follow: which includes manners and propriety. At times, this includes an Absolute Being and respect for life. In all the different philosophies and religions and in the many varied societies and traditions, he says, we have never seen undisguised disregard for the nobility and dignity of life. The life of an individual was seen as a great value. There were times that slaves were treated like flies, but the columnist says, it was always with the understanding that the person was not a part of the human race.
The columnist presents us now with the Sewol tragedy which occurred on April 16, and the way it was handled. Over 300 drowned or are missing. The students were on a four day field trip to the island of Jeju. The ferry was carrying 476 people mostly high school students. The news has been very negative on the way the rescue was carried out. The captain ordered the students to stay in their bunks and when the order finally came to evacuate it was said the vessel was listing too severely for the passengers to leave. Investigation has shown the ferry may have been overloaded and under the command of an inexperienced officer. Many of the crew have been arrested, a vice principal committed suicide and another crew member attempted suicide and even the prime minster of Korea has offered to take responsibility for the disaster and retire.
The columnist says the way the tragedy occurred and the response showed a lack of basic human etiquette. The parents of these children are angry for the lack of concern for the life of these children whom they would not have exchanged for the whole world. They feel betrayed. There was according to the columnist a lack of sensitivity to the feeling of those who suffered this great tragedy. The captain left the ship before the passengers. Was the inspection of the ship done properly? It remains a question. The rescue efforts were seen to be poorly done. The way the news media reported the tragedy left a lot of questions; the way pictures were taken as a remembrance of the tragedy and the way it was treated on the Internet by some of the netizens leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of many.
The tragedy has been big news in Korea, and the alarm that it has caused will hopefully bring a change to not only the way this tragedy could occur, but help us to see the lack of sensitivity and simple etiquette and manners that we are often oblivious.
The farmers' way of looking at life is different than dwellers of our cities. With this as his subject matter, a priest writing in the Seoul Diocesan Bulletin, reflects on the Sunday Gospel and Doubting Thomas.
He recounts the story of a woman reporter for a TV program that went out with a crew of fishermen for squid. The fishermen worked hard but caught only 10 squids. The reporter was disappointed, after all the work, and her pictures, they were going back to land with a very poor catch. The fishermen made light of what happened with laughter, and tried to console the reporter saying that what happened is not uncommon. At times, they don't make enough to pay for the gas they use. However, tomorrow will be a new day, and we have hopes of a good catch: the fishermen's way of consoling the reporter.
Those who go out to fish or seed their fields are reckless, he says, they are dealing with uncertainty. Farming has advanced greatly with scientific methods, as has fishing with their ability to discover schools of fish, but despite it all, they have to hope in an uncertain future. Hope is always a part of their lives. For a believer, it is not my will but the will of God that is part of their thinking.
Those in the city, as the saying goes, even the stone bridge has to be touched to determine if it is reliable. Without that certainty, they are reluctant to spend their money or time. However, the farmer is different; they have a hope and a trust in the future that their labor in planting the seed will see it sprout and give a yield of 100, and even a thousand fold. Isn't this the heart of a farmer, the kind of heart that a religious person has?
We have the eyes to ascertain the facts with which we are faced in life. We also have the internal eye that allows us to believe in what can't be proved, but we can't help but to believe, this is faith. To such a person the most important issue is not is it a fact or not, but whether to believe or not, to believe is to trust. There are many who mix up what is fact and and what is belief. They want proof for everything. They want to see to believe.
This is a problem that requires deep thought. Necessary is the need to verify our facts to determine if they are sufficient to elicit our approval. When it comes to belief we are required to give our trust to something we don't see, and it can be considered as reckless, and we are asked to become adventurous and courageous.
Thomas asked for a certainty that comes with sight. Jesus answered: "Blest are they who have not seen and have believed"(John 20:29). We need to keep in mind the difference between fact and belief. Like the farmer, it is necessary to keep in focus the will of God more than our own wills; this is having the heart of a farmer.
