Alienation of those with Disablities

Father Benedict Min-seo is the first unable to hear or speak Korean priest; ordained in 2007 after many years of discernment and study. Thirty years ago, the handicapped found  attending college almost impossible. He writes this month in the Seoul Bulletin on the people he wants to thank for making the path to the priesthood possible.

He was on pilgrimage in Turkey when he received news of the sudden death of a priest who was the vocation director of the diocese. There was no possibility of receiving the necessary education for the  priesthood in Korea but was told of the possibility in the United States. He spent 10 years studying in the States and communicated monthly with the vocation director about his studies and spiritual life.

He had heard that the vocation director for the diocese because of eyesight problems was asking for a change but when he returned he was still in his position for which he was  thankful. He was the one who persuaded the cardinal, bishops, and priests to permit his ordination. He was ordained to the diaconate by the cardinal. The vocation director was changed, and he began to have doubts about the ordination to the priesthood, but all went well and the vocation director was there to receive his first blessing.

As soon as he returned from the pilgrimage, he went to the grave site to thank his mentor for the concern and love he showed him during the many years of  preparation. 

Fr. Park doesn't express himself completely on all the difficulties that he had in his article, but has made known in his writings obstacles  faced by those with disabilities. 

He was born in1965, and lost his hearing at the age of two after receiving the wrong medicine. His desire for the priesthood began at a young age, but this was not possible in the Catholic Church. Protestant Congregations have had deaf pastors for years. 

He wrote an article: Deaf Culture and Deaf Church, in New Theology Review, Nov. 2009. In the article, he shows us the way the deaf perceive the way Christians look upon the deaf and the difficulties they have in relating to fellow Christians. As we know it is difficult to understand problems others have, and the only way is to walk in their shoes for a good period of time, which is not really possible. The article written in English gives us an understanding of those with hearing problems and reminds us how little we know of those with disabilities.

 Often we are told the deaf feel more alienated than the blind. Concern for those with disabilities has improved greatly. We have parishes in Korea for the deaf and pastoral care people devoted to their needs. We are more sensitive to the needs of others: thanks to people like Fr. Park.  

Temptation to Fruitless Pessimism

"Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of hope!" With these words from Joy of the Gospel, a seminary professor, in an article of the Kyeongyang magazine,gives us a meditation on the ever-present  fruitless pessimistic temptations of culture.  

Pessimism's dictionary meaning: seeing only the dark side of life, gives rise to sadness and an attitude of despair. He uses a line from a novel in which the author says pessimism is a conscience without courage that continues to eat away at itself.

In Gaudium and Spes #16, we have the words: " In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this shun that."

"In some places a spiritual 'desertification' has evidently come about, as the result of attempts by some societies to build without God or to eliminate their Christian roots. In those places the Christian world is becoming sterile, and it is depleting itself like  over-exploited ground, which transforms into a desert” (#86 Joy of the Gospel). This attitude according to the pope leads to pessimism.

He brings to our attention the film: Life is Beautiful, directed  by Benigni in 1997. The last part of the movie takes place in a concentration camp. Under the Nazi regime, they rounded up the Jews in Italy and the hero, and  young son were sent to a concentration camp. The father makes a game of  the incarceration. The point the professor wants to make is that even in such unspeakable circumstances, forgetting the merits of using the Holocaust as a background, the  father was able to give the boy hope by turning the boy's experience into a game. Briefly, what images we have in our head and the understanding we have of God is going to determine what we see, how we judge and what we do. 

Christians because of Jesus  should  see, think, and act differently than those without this relationship. When we have a defeatist attitude we can't help but fall into pessimism. When we lose sight of hope, and images continue to enter our head that militate against hope, we need to look at the Cross. Because  sorrow and pain have disappeared we have not overcome pessimism; when we fail to see the victory of the Cross, and God's providence, pessimism remains.  Consequently for a Christian the opposite of pessimism is not optimism. 

Christianity is a religion with hope in the desert. We don't curse the darkness but light a candle and know that something will happen that will give us more hope, and a desire to give these candles to all willing to accept them.

North And South Korean Unification

Numbers leaving the North for South Korea continue to decrease. This year, according to an article in the Catholic Times, up until October, 978 escaped to the  South, which would be about 98 a month: first year the numbers have dropped to under a hundred.

Many are the reasons for the drop, but in first place is the strengthening of the borders between China and North Korea under Kim Jong-un. Once the route for leaving  the north is closed, natural to see a drop in the numbers. Expenses are now higher since the dangers are greater than the past: "High Risk, High Return." Although they have a strong aversion to the principles of capitalism, they still are experienced in their use. It was only a few who could  take the  freedom train for the South.

Living conditions in the North have improved so that many don't feel the need to risk their lives in leaving. Citizens are permitted to use personal funds in the market which  has made the market a different reality. They are able to take care of their needs for food and shelter; living is no longer what it was.

In third place is the difficulty in adapting to life in the South. Coldness which the refugees feel and the  financial difficulties they experience, becomes big news in the North. It is well known that  those who fail to make Korea home, try to get refugee status to go to Europe.

When the numbers decrease not because of the better living conditions in the North but because of the treatment in the South and opting for a third country should make us think.

Refugee response to life in the South comes to us  by the media in many different ways. When we have a scuffle with the police, leaflets are distributed; we have the women with heavy makeup and short skirts bringing up in conversations the strange things that happen in the North which adds to the distance and curiosity towards the North, and a 'we against them' scenario.

If we want unification, says the columnist,  should we not emphasis what we have in common instead of  what divides, to embrace instead of shun. Are we as citizens and government doing what we can to include them and co-exist with them using our resources to facilitate the relationship? He doesn't feel there are many who appreciate the question. 

We have 28,000 from the North living in the South. If we can't  accommodate them in our society, and we talk about unification, he feels this is hypocrisy, and to consider unification a desired goal and continue acting in this way are we justified, he concludes, in speaking about unification?

Christian Spirituality

The spiritual column in the Peace Weekly reminds us we  live in relationships with others. We might think we are called as individuals for the spiritual journey but that is not the case. Relating with others is the way we grow in the practice of virtue and in the spiritual life.

He reminds us of the first Christians whose spirituality was relating with the other members of the community. "They spent their time in learning from the apostles taking part in the fellowship and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers" (Acts. 2:42). They partook of the Eucharist  and maintained the unity of their oneness with Jesus.

One of the early Church  Fathers Ignatius of Antioch in his letters to the communities stressed their oneness with the bishop and the importance of their relationship with one another. "It is therefore, befitting that you should in every way glorify Jesus Christ who has glorified you, by a unanimous obedience, you may be perfectly joined in the same mind, and in the same judgment, and may all  speak the same thing concerning the same thing and that, being subject to the bishop and the presbytery you may in all respects be sanctified" (Letter to the Ephesians Ch. 2). 

He gives us the story of St, Francis of Assisi who gave everything he possessed back to his father and was covered by the mantle of the bishop, symbolizing  his oneness with the bishop and the community. At that time, many were leaving the Church but Francis embraced it more firmly in its poverty. 

St.Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual exercises  also stressed the obedience to the Church. He was one who wanted his followers to think like the Church. Bernard, Charles Andre  who taught spirituality at the Gregorian in Rome in the present times also stressed the need for those on the spiritual path to be related closely to the Church and its teachings.

The column concludes with a look at shamanism and the influence it has on Koreans. Folkways in Korea will show us the desire of many to go at spirituality as loners, but that is not the spirituality that is Christian, but we find many who find this more attractive in their way of thinking. Christian spirituality is through the Church, with the Church and in the Church.

Church of Mercy Needs Renewal

Pope Francis has proclaimed  an extraordinary Jubilee with mercy at the center. He wants us to live the Holy Year of Mercy starting on Dec. 8th which will continue to the Feast of Christ the King of 2016, remembering the Lords words: Be merciful, just as you Father is merciful (Lk. 6:36). Yesterday, we began our liturgical new year with the first Sunday of Advent and Mercy is the theme. 

A seminar, sponsored by the Catholic Pastoral Research Center, and written up in the Peace Weekly  reflects on the work ahead. They wanted to study the direction the Church should be going with the new evangelization in connection with the teachings of  Vatican II which ended 50 years ago. Hope was expressed that we will have a new turning point within the Korean Church for they all agreed that the implementation of the Council left a lot to be desired.

In the  keystone address the previous head of the bishops' Conference stressed Pope Francis' vision for a synodal Church at every level with everyone listening to each other, learning from each other and taking responsibility for proclaiming the Gospel. The bishop mentioned the need to listen to the people and be companions with them in their struggles.   

One of the participants mentioned we don't see mercy expressed in society, and in our culture but neither is it prevalent within the church. Another mentioned the need to understand two words collegiality and synodality if we want to bring about renewal.

Another participant listed the assignment the Church of Korea has to implement: to see the signs of the time and prepare for it pastorally; concern for the weak, the common good, and seeking peace; renewal and dialogue with the world, efforts to change the way we do politics, finances and the culture is our prophetic call. These are the elements that have come from the Second Vatican Council.

This kind of reformation will require a great deal of effort in the local areas of the Church. In  recent years we have had Synods in many of the dioceses which were meant to renew the local church but it was like the listing of problems and tasks  as they would be in an encyclopedia without priorities, and follow ups. We need targets and priorities, if we want to see change.

Peace is More than a Dream

In recent weeks, we continue to hear the news about  violence throughout the world. Islamic State has taken credit for the killings in Paris. Korea's demonstrations against the government for its education, and labor policies was met with violence to stop the demonstrators. A past president of a diocesan Catholic Farmers group was struck by a water cannon and injured seriously, and is hovering between life and death.

In a Column of the Peace Weekly, we are asked what should be our attitude in the face of all the violence we see in the world? We have been given at baptism the mission as prophet and what does this require  of us in this present reality?
 
We will not arrive at peace in the world with a few people of good will acting righteously; it is a task for all of us. Popes have made it clear that peace is the work of all, and we will not have it without justice.

From the first, we were created to enjoy the gift of peace. In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us: "Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children!"

Jesus' teachings are clear. "The precondition for peace is the dismantling of the dictatorship of relativism and of the supposition of a completely autonomous morality which precludes acknowledgment of the ineluctable natural moral law inscribed by God upon the conscience of every man and woman. Peace is the building up of coexistence in rational and moral terms, based on a foundation whose measure is not created by man, but rather by God (Pope Benedict's Peace Message for 2013).

This desire for peace is not a dream or a Utopia. Not just a wish we have but a real good  we work to achieve. Consequently, Christians have to work against all kinds of injustices, and work in solidarity with all movements for the common good. We have to resist all kinds of selfishness, violence,  greed,  thirst for power, and structures that breed hate and injustices: working on the side of the weak for their rights and dignity.

Peace we all know is not something we achieve quickly nor merely a distant ideal, but something with daily little steps, we persistently  and gradually work to realize: difficult though it be. In the fragmented society in which we live, working to realize this peace is carrying out the mission we have received from Jesus at baptism. And we start with ourselves.

Search for Authenticity

A recent symposium with the theme of Crisis in the Church  considered the reasons why people are leaving. Representatives from the German and United States Church  gave examples and compared their own problems  with the Korean Church's problems. Parents are not able to hand down their faith life to the children. People are thirsting for authenticity; one of the participants believes  it is this  lack of authenticity that people are looking for and not finding.

The failure of the Korean Church to grab the attention  of the Catholics is not unique to Korea. A professor from Germany explains that the secularization of the population has led to the turning of their backs to the Church. In 2010 there were more people leaving the Church in Germany than entering.

Germany is emphasizing the role of  the laypeople. The Church is discovering the value of the lay person and working to get them involved. The future of the Church is with the layperson and not the clergy. He further stressed that the Church is the people of God and in this they are not disconnected from  the clergy.  We need to put down our authoritarianism  and make the joy of the Gospel come alive.

The professor from the States reminds those present that women are not taking their rightful place within the Church. In the States those that approved of women priests  within the Church in 1987 was 35% in 2011 it rose to 55%. Within  Protestantism over half of the Churches allow  women clergy within the ranks. In Lutheranism and Anglicanism they are accepted as bishops. This is not the direction we should go,  he makes clear, but we should see what the laypeople are telling the Church  about women's role within the Church.

A Korean seminary professor says we need to find a way of having the women participate in the workings of the Church in an enthusiastic way. We have to find ways of being more persuasive in our teaching and in communicating with our Christians.

In the discussion that followed  there was a question about the new religions that are appearing on the scene.This is a sign the the Church is not fulfilling the role that it should have in society. People are not interested in what is the oldest and most original of the religions  but one that serves them the best. It is not the teaching that attracts but how it is received by the hearts of the people.

We have to find ways of being more authentic and closer to the Gospels if we are not to follow the ways of the West.