Making Religion a Private Matter

Religion, its place in society is a topic we hear a lot about, but not always with clarity. Not a few think that our religious beliefs are a private matter and not open to public discussion. However, a professor writing on the opinion page of the Catholic Times gives us a different understanding of the issue.

He uses the example of the recent nominee for prime minister who resigned after questions were raised about his  fitness for the job. For a few days, the public sector was  noisy. In a talk to his church, some years ago, he  described the Japanese colonial rule as  "God's will." The talk became known to the public, which generated a negative response that led to the resignation.

The professor considers the talk about friendliness to Japan a minor issue. A more serious problem is the way his religion sees God working in the world. He has asked some theologians and priests he knows, and the answers he received were what he has always believed. God does not cause  pain for those he created. He does not wish pain for us. The pain that we meet and experience in life is not God's wish for us. It is something that we have to undergo; it is a given in life. There is much we need to patiently accept, God allows it to happen, but he gives us the strength and hope to overcome it. Of course, God also will draw good from all that we suffer but the pain is not of God's willing. 

The issue that the media took as the main issue was his pro-Japanese stand. A lot of bad reporting and distortion of the news was involved, but this the  professor says, is only a minor issue. The bigger issue is the understanding of religion.This misunderstanding of religion is a greater danger in one who is to be a public servant.

There are those who will say a person's private beliefs have nothing to do with a public office.That was actually the issue on a panel TV show recently: what a person believes should not be an issue in his public life. The professor stresses those who speak this way do not understand religion. When one states that religion is only  a private matter and  has little to do with our public life, we have a misunderstanding of religion. What one believes, and this is not only true for the religious person but is true for all those with convictions and without convictions, they can  influence every facet of his or her life.

Many are those with  great passion and sacrifice in their religious life but do not have a correct understanding of religion. A person with blind religious beliefs is open to making wrong judgements and performing acts that will cause harm to those with whom he relates. A person in a public office should have concern for what he believes.

The professor is saying something, which is not easily digested, but is something with a little thought is rather obvious, for what we hold to be true and believe, is going to affect what we say, think and do.

Mercy and Justice

The Desk Columnist  of the Catholic Times reminds us that he does not know Pope Francis with any depth, but in his position, he does a lot of reading of the foreign news and  translating, so he does have a little better grasp of what the  pope is saying and doing than the ordinary Catholic.

He would like to know, he says: how he lived his early years, his personality, his hobbies and interests, the food he likes, the woman whom he may have  loved. These and many other  areas of the pope's life,  arouse his curiosity and have to be satisfied with a fragmentary understanding of Francis the pope.

However, since becoming pope, he has said many things, which have been unconventional, but have shown a certain consistency and have  won the admiration of many which as a journalist perks his curiosity.

For him, the number-one trait that impresses him the most is the pope's  mercy and justice. He can harmonize the justice with mercy. In dealing with the inhuman qualities of the economic structures, he is  critical of the neo-liberalism type of capitalism and at the same time showing mercy to the poor. On one occasion, it is  justice that comes first at another time it is mercy.This embarrasses the journalist.

The document in preparation of the October Synod has been released and there is the concern on how to make the teachings of the Church acceptable to our Catholics; it is not to review the teachings themselves. The emphasis of Francis is: How do we show mercy? There are many who are not following the teachings of the Church, the relativism that permeates all of society also has entered the Church. This along with many other unavoidable reasons have made married life, family life and the teaching on life difficult for the Christians. Pope Francis wants ways to show mercy.

Francis shows his mercy to the poor who are   harassed  and exploited by an immoral financial system and expresses this with a just anger. This mercy and justice are seen often in Francis. This, says the columnist is the reason for the admiration that is shown the pope. Mercy and justice go together. When mercy is necessary, and you thrust justice out in front you have oppression, and when you need to show a  courageous act of justice and you, recoil  and pull back, you are being a coward. The pope distinguishes the two clearly and with resolve, and without hesitation. Which makes his stand all the more attractive. He is waiting anxiously for his visit.

The problem of how to reconcile the two is difficult and  many are not able to see how they are compatible. St. Thomas said: "Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution;  justice without mercy is cruelty."

Peace-building

Conflict is a part of life. We see it in the family, village, society, church and the world. Most of the time we are passive spectators  and learn to live with conflict. Kim Young Ai, who represents the Saeurinuri Peace Movement writes about peace-building. Recently, she successfully completed a three-day Ganghwa-Gyodong Peace Leadership Camp. She has made a study of how to resolve conflicts, and the leadership program was a concrete expression of one of her dreams. Conflict resolution is now understood by many as conflict transformation. Conflict is an opportunity to come to a new understanding of the problem.

Conflict is not only something negative but can help us to grow, help us to transform the way we live. We first have to know the context of the problem. In Korea, the opposite of peace is war: the cessation of conflict, factionalism, fighting. Many of our conflicts end with victory for the strong, with a legal victory, or a cultural victory of a religious way of thinking, but those who lose  usually do not change and often the anger makes them resort to revenge. Peace is when the victors and losers can accept the results. Working together for peace means that we already have a kind of peace.

She mentions first the transformation of the conflict. This requires, first of all, the awareness of the conflict and its reason.There is no reason to blame oneself for conflict we have conflict because we are social animals. We have to understand what  the conflict is before we can hope to solve the problem.

The second step  is to analyze the conflict:  see it objectively and  without emotions; accept the others as our equal, and search for the roots of the conflict. The conflict could have historical roots or cultural roots. It may have to do with authority, material goods or health. Usually the roots are like those of a tree with a variety of reasons, a composite of reasons. We need also to know what are the results of the conflict and what it is doing to us. Understanding the conflict, the reasons for the conflict, and the influence that it is having on us  are necessary for the transformation we desire.

Thirdly, we need to have plans and policies to overcome the discord that we experience. The transformation of the conflict is many faceted. Compromise, concession and negotiation are all part of the process. The process does not only depend on practice and skills, but a need to make  the process a natural  human one. This will take a great deal of time, but the beginning is important and as the Koreans say, to begin is to already be half way to our goal.

A great sadness is that many do not think anything is possible.They have given up and  feel it is hopeless.  Many are willing to live with the discord and inability to communicate, which is a great tragedy for that is not what Christians are called to do. Theresa ends her words with a reminder that Christians with the analysis of the conflict and meditation, and  our continual spiritual training; we should be familiar with much of what is required for the transformation of  conflict.

Non-believer Writing a Book About a Catholic Martyr

There have been many books, plays, movies and even an opera about the celibate couple: Lutgarda Yi Sun-i and John Yu Jung-cheol. They are on the list of 124 martyrs who will be beatified on Pope Francis' visit to Korea. We have already written about them in a blog for Oct. 18, 2010.

Usually the interest on matters of this type would be limited to those who are Catholic, but a non-believer and university professor has written a book about Lutgarda Yi Sun-i: Beyond Death--Letter from Prison. A non-believer writing a book about a martyr is without question, rare.  He was moved by the high values that the martyr had  facing death. He wrote the book about Lutgarda not so much about her Catholicism but as a woman of the late Choson Dynasty with high ideals that he wanted to bring to our attention. Studying the  period  acquainted him with Catholic values. 

He became familiar with Lutgarda from reading the History of the Catholic Church in Korea by Father Charles Dallet. It was in this book he heard about the letter.The letter was written to her mother and two older sisters in Korean script. Her deep faith could be seen not only in  each word that she wrote, he said, but she was talking about giving their wealth to the poor since her husband John Yu Jung-cheol was a member of the wealthy class of that time. Few at that time had this kind of belief and concern for the poor. This impressed the professor in the reading of the history. If the martyrs are a sign of blessing, then Korea is a blessed country, he says. 

The professor has been gathering  information on the martyr for many decades without any recourse to the Church. He wanted to be as objective as possible and last year he began lecturing on the martyr.

Lutgarda was considered a great sinner and during those days of persecution when the Choson Dynasty was coming in contact with the modern day thinking her vision helped the  country to grow. He would like to have the young people  read  the letter that was stronger than death filled with her revolutionary convictions.

The book begins with Lutgarda and the family of her husband at the place of martyrdom. They were meeting their death in the way water flows, was the professor's way of describing the way they faced death. He then examines the letter in detail.

John was 22 when he died, and Lutgarda was 20. These ages apparently have a great deal to do with the professor's wishes to see these two martyrs be an example to the young people of our time. They had strong convictions and were willing to die for them, which is attractive to people of all ages and times. He would like to see the story of these two martyrs go beyond the confines of Catholicism.

Sister, Don't Cry

For years we have had protests against the electrical tower project in Miryang in the South Gyeongsang Province. The residents recently were removed forcibly from their sit-in camps by the Korea Electric Power Corporation, police, and government officials. An official of a human rights organization expresses his opinion, in the Peace Weekly, seeing a picture of a religious sister crying at the forcible driving out of the protesters.

The human rights committee of the bishops has tried to get the two sides to dialogue, but the electric power corporation was not interested and using military tactics cleared the area of protesters, so they could continue the work of setting up the towers. All that was left for the protesters was to cry out their fears and displeasure.

Over 20 religious sisters who were sympathetic to residents were removed with force, some suffered violence, in the struggle some of the sisters' veils were stripped off, and  one sister's leg was broken. A picture of a  sister who was crying appeared in the paper. They were following the words of Pope Francis when he told the young people to go out into the streets and become a Church that is hurt, wounded and dirtied. The sisters were doing just that--  showing love for those who were hurting.

A  minister was quoted  as thanking the sisters in showing him how to love, and the writer concludes his article with thanks to the sisters for showing solidarity with the weak. The sisters without any power, being ousted, alerted us to what love means. On that day, the sisters showed us the beauty of failure.

In the hardhearted world where everyone is concerned with their own interests, it is refreshing to see some people who are concerned with wiping the tears and crying with others.

The editorial in the paper addresses the need to be with the people.  Some of the more 'progressive' members of four different religious groups had a press conference on the problems in society. They do not represent the religious groups, said the editorial, and the editorial does not agree with all their proposals,  but  they wholeheartedly agree that people should always come first. The Catholic social principles are very clear, says the editorial: human dignity of all persons, searching for the common good, subsidiarity, solidarity, being on the side of the poor etc..These principles are very clear but many of the problems  in society are handled with a different value system.

In conclusion, the clerics of the four religious groups suggested there is a need for the government to use more common sense, more dialogue, and to find ways to have a win-win situation. The editorial hopes the government will work to achieve some of the desires of the citizens where people come first.                                                                         

Sensitivity to Beauty and Common Sense

15 crew members of the Sewol ferry tragedy are on trial for murder and negligence in the death of the passengers. They left behind hundreds of passengers heartlessly, is the accusation, to save themselves. The country is awaiting the verdict. Many of the citizens who watched the rescue efforts see it as  murder by omission while  practitioners of the law, see prosecuting the crew for murder as going too far.

The editor of one of the newspapers reflects on the tragedy and the trial on the opinion page of the Catholic Times. She tells the readers that many of the countries in Europe  have the 'Good Samaritan Law' on the books  which  would consider what was done by the crew a serious crime.The 'Good Samaritan Law' would require that you help a person who is in a difficult situation. In France a person despite having the time, refusing to help a person who  dies, should prepare to spend 5 years in prison. In Germany it would be 3 years. China has a similar law when one refuses to help.

The writer tells us legal positivism is the basis for Korean law, meaning that virtue and law are strictly  separated. She gives the example  of  problems with children in nurseries where working mothers leave the children. Not infrequently the mothers do not pick up the children on time. To prevent this from happening, they prepared a monetary penalty. However, this only made matters worse for the mothers brazenly felt that they were now entitled to have the children stay later since they were paying the penalty.

Nowadays, when one doesn't stop for the passing  ambulance, one is fined 200 dollars. Without this penalty and leaving it up the consciences of the individual the results were far from what was expected. What is needed, she says, more than law is  a feeling of common sense to permeate society; not the kind of superficial  understanding that comes from one mind to another, but a feeling that comes from one heart to another. She mentions the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who considered this common sense of extreme value in society. In the competitive society that we have, this common sense becomes important  in the raising of our children. Common sense is similar to a social  sense. They are different, but it is a respect of the other and the appreciation of harmony and beauty. Without this common sense, the market-logic, competitive-logic and capital-logic will overcome us with coldness and greed.

To save this common sense it is necessary to be familiar with art and literature. Confucius also said something similar that with ritual and music, we will not have crime. Familiarity with the arts, the children will become good.

She concludes with an anecdote about the author of Dr. Zhivago, Boris Pasternak, who on a cold day went outside to find wood for the fire and the log had a sprout coming out, he put down the log and spent the night in the cold. This kind of sensitivity to beauty and harmony she  hopes parents will try to develop in their children. With this sensitivity to life, the problems that we had with the Sewol tragedy will slowly disappear in our society.

Feast of St. Peter and Paul

Today in the Catholic World the Sunday liturgy concedes its place to the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, the two giant apostles of  the early Church. The pictures that we see of the two have St. Peter with the keys and St. Paul with a book or a sword. They were the prime examples of the messengers of Jesus to the Jews and the Gentiles: men of great passion, strength and love and at the same time flawed human beings.

Reading about their lives and the way they reacted with those around them, if it came to a vote among the disciples of  that time it is unlikely they would have received the votes for the positions they had in the early Church. Peter was born in Israel but Paul was born among the Jews who  lived outside Israel in what we now call Turkey, both were selected by Jesus for their mission to the world.

Peter was a fisherman, with little formal education and with a good heart but not too quick in understanding what he was called to do. Peter, showed his weakness in denying Jesus three times. Paul  fought with Peter over his failure to follow the teachings of Jesus when it came to food because of Peter's fear of the disciples who maintained the teaching from the past. When they were not present Peter readily ate with the gentiles. He was called a hypocrite by Paul because of this dissembling.  

Paul, on his trip to Damascus to persecute the Christians, experienced Jesus in a way that changed his whole life. He was blinded and helped by Ananias, was baptized, and began to preach Jesus to all, but in a way that annoyed many of his fellow Jews, so much so that they plotted to kill him. His friends warned him of the plot, they helped him to escape to Jerusalem. But even in Jerusalem the disciples feared him, and it was with the  help of Barnabas that he was introduced to the leaders of the Church.

Barnabas  explained how he worked in Damascus in spreading the message of Jesus in the Synagogues; he was accepted and worked freely in Jerusalem, but even there the Greek speaking Jews responded by trying to kill him, and his fellow disciples told him the best thing was to go home to Tarsus. We hear the whole area returned to peace.

Barnabas was sent to Antioch by the leaders of the Church to help in the evangelization of the city and seeing how much had to be done he decided to go to Tarsus to find Paul and work together with him.  For a whole year they worked in Antioch where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians.

Barnabas and Paul returned to Jerusalem where they began the first of the mission journeys. During this journey, John Mark who came along as an errand boy, a cousin of Barnabas, left to return to Jerusalem without word, which Paul would not forgive and because of this on the second journey, Barnabas and Paul separated and went their different ways. Here is another example of Paul's stubbornness but we know Barnabas and John Mark were reunited in friendship later, expressed in Paul's epistles.

We are all weak individuals and the story of these two giants of the faith  should give us much consolation for they could work through their difficulties and with their openness to graces, despite some of their character faults, did great things. They were willing to examine themselves and to work continually in becoming more of what they knew they were called to be.