Unification of Germany was basically the demand of East Germany. An article in the Catholic Times wants us to review the process that brought the East and West Germany together, and the message it has for Korea.
The last Soviet leader Gorbachev and his revolution and policy of openness: Perestroika and Glasnot were the heralds for the change in society. East Germany felt with unification there would come freedom and prosperity. Where did this thinking come from? It was the constant interchange between the East and West from the time of the division. The East wanted to be included in the West. The citizen revolution in the East brought about the unification of the country.
In 1970 the policy of rapprochement with East Germany brought about a thaw and the interchange that brought about the unification to the country. In the beginning of the interchange East Germany was lukewarm because of the structure of their government but this changed and they overcame the difficulties.
The unification brought many problems to the fore. West Germany thought only of money. Economic unity was important but gradually they realized that mutual understanding was more important. With the unification the West took all the important positions in the government. The West also took a great deal of the responsibility for social security and payments towards the social welfare programs.
Germany in helping the East for ten years remained without growth and the East felt that they were second class citizens.They were treated like the West and yet they felt they were deprived and this feeling grew.
Efforts were made to win the hearts of the East. The East wanted unification and the surrounding nations agreed and yet after unification there were many problems.
Here in Korea the North South divide without interchanges, without travel between the North and South, and little efforts to win favor of the other, there is little resemblance to the preparation that preceded German unification. If suddenly we had unification, with our own differences in the South, and the North/South division, does any one think it will be a blessing?
A young girl about 13 or 14 years old, with short hair, dressed in a Korean skirt and blouse sitting in a chair looking straight ahead with a determined sadness in her face and closed mouth. A statue depicting one of the comfort women as a young girl, sexual slave of the Japanese military during the Second World War. The bronze statue is a sign of the scars inflicted on these young girls who were for the most part Koreans. This statue was put in place in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul four years ago, and have now appeared in other cities of Korea and in other parts of the world.
Each year the sculptor and his wife make two or three statues in a small attempt to heal the wounds that have been inflicted. They just finished the ninth statue that was commissioned in Detroit where they had the unveiling recently, and the journalist interviewed the sculptor recently after his return from the States, for the article in the Bible & Life magazine.
These young girls were recruited by the Japanese with deception and force, using family relationships to trick them. The Japanese military worked mostly with the poor families. 'Comfort stations' exposed the girls to all kinds of inhuman treatment. When liberation came many of them did not find it easy to return to their home country. Even after Japan's defeat some returned to Japan to do forced labor. Those that returned to their home country had another tragedy befall them. One of the grandmothers, in one of the reports, said after what they experienced it was difficult to return home to the family; they lived in the shady places of society.
Reporting about the comfort women began in earnest 23 years ago with a Wednesday protest march outside the Japanese Embassy. On the 1,000th weekly demonstration by the elderly women and their supporters they erected the Peace Monument which is the young girl sitting in a chair.
The Sculptor mentions the many times they tried to get the face of the girl correct.The couple have always been interested in the fight for rights of the citizens in their art work. They find great satisfaction in what they do. In this fight to have Japan recognize and apologize formally brings an increase of interest on the issue, but also the opposition of Japan continues to increase. In California where a statue was erected, the Japanese residents and the extreme right groups have continued to fight legally for the removal of the statue. Another statue that was to be erected in front of a library in Detroit was cancelled and they had to change the location of the statue.
The issue will continue for the time being but the number of the women who experienced this shameful period in their lives continues to decrease with death: most of them are now in their 80s and 90s. How much protest will continue if the Japanese government does not accept blame for the treatment of these girls only the future knows.
The Desk columnist in the Catholic Times recalls a weekend retreat
she made a few years ago. At the end of the retreat master's talk, he
gave them the task of finding 100 reasons to be thankful, and to
write them down during the retreat.
Her first thoughts--no big deal, and took her notebook and began writing, but soon
realized this was not going to be easy.The first 10 came quickly,
the next a little harder but then the going was difficult. Many
others, she kept repeating to herself, but they were not coming to
mind. After the retreat remembering reasons for gratitude became an important part of her meditations.
She
came across a book written by a psychiatrist who says there is
scientific evidence that our feelings of gratitude influence the body
for the good. Our thoughts, feelings and actions are all influencing the
operation of the brain. Daniel G Amen an American psychiatrist is
quoted, and uses his studies in her article.
Thanksgiving and praise she says have a relationship with how the brain
functions. Words of praise trigger the feelings of gratitude and there
is a noticeable greater flow of blood in the brain.
We
as Christians do not need this study, she says, to know the importance
of gratitude. In the passage of St. Paul in First Thessalonians 5:6--"Be
thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your
life in union with Christ Jesus." A virtue that we as Christians are
familiar.
She mentions a parish in which there is a
relay in giving praise to individuals in the community. A name of one of
the parishioners is listed in the Bulletin for something that was done:
"Volunteered for 10 years in our Sunday School Program." "Every time
there is an event she took the initiative and gave us a good example."
These and similar reasons for giving praise and thanks appears and the
community expresses their thanks to the individual during the week.
A
month has passed since the visit of Pope Francis to Korea. He left us
with praise for love and service to others. "There is nothing that
belongs to me in this world," he is quoted as saying. We need to
compromise, show concern for others. The less we have of possessions
in the place in which we live the more leisure and good feelings we
will have to share with other human beings and created life. He is
thankful with tears, for all those that have come into his life. With
just a little thought he realizes that life is just a continual life of
thanks and blessing.
Our life, she concludes, should be one
of thanksgiving and praise. Let us long around us and be open to this manner of life in both our actions and words.
Many find confession difficult, and have a reason to fear the experience. We have all heard many stories of priests not sensitive to the needs of the penitents leaving scars that do not easily heal. In the magazine Catholic Digest a writer tells us his experience as a child in the confessional.
At his first confession the child was given a hard time for not confessing his sins. The confessor raising his voice in a way that his parents, outside the confessional, knew something was amiss, and asked him about it when he left the confessional. From that time on the confessional became a place he would go to be reprimanded.
While in middle school they moved to China because of his father's work. Catholic Churches were distant, and the language were some of the reasons he distanced himself from God. After high school he entered college and going to Sunday Mass was infrequent.
During college there was a Catholic Scripture group that met and during one of the study and training programs he gathered the courage to go to confession. As he was waiting to go into the confessional the thoughts of his first confession came to mind, and like a child overcome with timidity, his whole body stiffened. Hesitating awkwardly, he opened the door and went in. But making matters worse was the cloth that separated the priest from the penitent was missing, and he was face to face with the priest. A candle in the cozy compartment in which the priest sat, cast a shadow which projected the priest's image.
His hair was white and his blue eyes welcomed him with warmth and a smile, he was a foreigner. Without words he was telling him to sit down, say anything you want, nothing to worry about, God will forgive all your sins. Without reason seeing his smiling eyes he began to cry. All that kept him from a closeness to God and his dark past all came out.
After the training period his life changed greatly. He went to Mass and felt a closeness to God. He was thankful for the time at the training and study program. He was not conscious of others but made his own plans for the future and his happiness was such that even his acquaintances noticed the difference.
Some four years later he was working for a department associated with the Vatican. He was given the task to interview a foreign missionary priest and religious sister. They were Franciscans. When he met the priest he looked just like the priest that made him feel so comfortable some 4 years earlier. He passed it off as being a look-alike.
When the article appeared in the magazine he brought a copy to the priest, and while eating they talked about the spiritual life. The writer brought up the Scripture study and training group of young people he attended while in college. During the conversation it was clear that this priest was the one who heard his confession many years before. And he thanked the priest profusely. This experience was a gift, and helped him to experience the love of God again.
September is the month of the martyrs. Korean Catholicism has a great devotion to the martyrs; their spirituality is influenced by the martyrs. In the Catholic Bible & Life magazine a pastor explains what this should mean for the church of Korea. Obedience of the martyrs has become the foundation for the growth of the Church. Efforts continually are made to instil this mind of the martyrs into our Catholics of today: their courage, sacrifice, and love of neighbor.
Spirituality of the martyrs, is not something that is sentimental and of the moment, but a deep appreciation of their life. The priest as a pastor of a parish makes it clear to the catechumens who are preparing for baptism the joy they should have with a martyr as their patron.
At present he says only about 4 percent of the parishioners have a martyr as their patron saint (baptized with the name of a martyr). However, with the newly baptized we see more who are choosing the name of a martyr. When the example of the martyrs enters into our lives we become witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus and open to the seeds of the new evangeliziation. The results are many: we are changed and the Church renewed.
He introduces us to two of the martyrs who were recently beatified on August 16th. One is
Simon, Hwang Il-kwang, a devout follower from the lowest class in the Joseon society. The other was Simeon, Yu Keun-myeong, from a high class noble family. Simon was a butcher by trade and not welcomed in the society of the times and before his death said:“There must be a heaven on earth and another one after death.”He was treated so well by his community of faith that he felt that he was already in heaven. Yu Simeon after being baptized, a hundred years before the law required, freed all his male and female servants and gave all his property to the poor neighbors. Here was an example of breaking down the walls separating the different levels of society, and giving freedom to those that had become his property because of the Gospel message.
In order to follow the example of the martyrs there is a need to know them and the pastor has made this an important part of his teaching method. The dying daily is the way we partake of the paschal mystery in our daily life, and the way we live the Christian life. White martyrdom is living the life of the martyr without the blood, but with their heart and spirit.
Writing in the Bible and Life magazine, from the time he was in
middle school to the present, now in his middle forties, a parishioner
tells us about his volunteer work as a member of the parish liturgical
committee. Usually his turn comes-up about twice a month, but at the New
Year and Autumn Festival he is the one who is the lector at the
liturgy. He lives in Seoul, no need to go to the country to visit
relatives, not married, his concerns are not as many as the other
members of the community.
Some years ago at the Autumn
Festival he was the lector not only at the morning liturgy but at the
evening Mass. After morning Mass he was called by the assistant priest
to the rectory to have breakfast. He was asked if he could be lector at
the evening liturgy. Since he would be alone during the day he had no
problem with attending the evening Mass. During the breakfast they
talked about the single and married state. The priest said: "Whether
married or single we have to live according to God's plan for creation."
With
these words came the realization that we are all responsible to form
the world we live in according to God's plans, and he saw the vocation
to the single and married state in a different light. In one way it was
the same vocation. One of the benefits of the single life is the freedom
to be of service to others.
He was introduced to
volunteer work in an old age home by one his younger friends. Every
other week he would go to wash clothes, clean, and play checkers and
talk with the grandfathers. The question he hears the most from the
grandfathers: "Isn't your wife and children upset with you being away
from the house on Sundays?" When he tells them he is not married they
respond: "Forget about coming here and get married." Volunteer work is
not difficult and has helped his spiritual life a great deal.
The
biggest problem with the single life is the distorted view that many
have of the celibate life. Life is incomplete. Many see it as as a lack
of something, and this is not only a view that is seen outside the
community of faith. On one occasion he was chosen to be mediator in a
problem with those preparing an athletic meet for the church community.
One of the persons who was given the committee some trouble was not
married, and was criticized for his stubbornness: "Isn't that the
reason he has not found someone to marry?" These words were not address
to him but it made him feel very uncomfortable, and he found himself
avoiding situations where he would be bickering with others and became
passive.
Because of his celibacy there are times that
he has felt alienated from the community. In a meeting with the married
members and their talk about family and their problems it is then he
feels like an outsider. Little is there for him to say during the
discussions.
Looking over his life as a single male he
sees it as something positive in living the life of faith. His
membership in societies of the community, his service to others, prayer and meditating, reading spiritual books, all have been helped by his celibacy. Prejudice against the single life and the need to overcome
the temptations in daily life that are present are a problem but he
feels celibacy is a help in some small way in witnessing within the community of faith.
Consequently he
concludes there is a need to have specialized programs introduced into
the community of faith that are concerned with the single Christian. He
has never attended any such programs so doesn't know what they should
entail but it would be sharing of ideas and experiences, praying
together would be a great help in their spiritual growth. It would be a
help in overcoming the bias against the single life and dealing with
the temptations in life and the feeling of alienation that is often
present. He hopes that this new chapter in Church life with these groups
for single Catholics spreading the fragrance that comes with a life
with Jesus will give birth to new life within the Church.
We speak about coming to the crossroads of life. A fork in the road: will it be the left or the right? Will it be a choice for the good or the bad? This fork in the road is present not only for the individual but for families, society, and the nation. In the opinion page of the Catholic Times a columnist brings to our attention this serious decision that many face.
The Sewol tragedy, death of a soldier because of bullying, number one in suicides among the developed countries, one out of eight adults suffering from despondency: these are some of the issues Koreans need to face. One student tells his mother that one of his classmates committed suicide and the mother tells him not to take his attention away from studies. This is the kind of society that we are promoting, he laments. Process, motivation, does not concern us but rather hoping for a jackpot.
The columnist is referring to the stalemate in congress over the special bill regarding an investigation to uncover the truth behind the
ferry sinking of the Sewol.The truth in the eyes of many will be harmful to the country so the maneuvering to limit what will come out from an investigation. The dilemma of choosing the lesser of two evils is a difficult decision and the columnist feels that the Christians should not have a problem with this, but they do.
How does our religious belief, faith life, relate with our present reality? We proclaim who we are by the choices that we make, a phrase with which we are familiar. If we take a rough look at statistics, he reminds us, 10 percent of the population are Catholic and 30 percent are Protestant which makes the country 40 percent Christian. Four out of 10 are Christians and yet the efforts to find the truth about the Sewol tragedy is meeting stiff resistance. A disregard for the dignity of human beings and the responsibility we have to search for the truth is being buried because of political strategy and to preserve one's future.
The columnist wonders if this is not because we have so many with a religion but not religious faith. Or is it rather that we have religious faith but don't believe; is our belief genuine?
A person of faith will trust that when one does what is right, the results whatever they be, will all work out for the good. However, this does take a great deal of faith. Form, is all that seems important, but wonders if this is not just empty babbling. Have we forgotten who we are? What is our mission? Especially, he concludes, those in Congress....
