In a recent diocesan bulletin, a college professor, remembers dreaming of being a writer, and remembers reading with great pleasure the poem: Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.
What
grabbed his attention was the title. As a child during the cold winter
with his stomach on the heated floor with no desire to go outside he
could see himself at the edge of the woods, moved by the reading.
Both the title and contents made a deep impression on the child. Riding the small horse the traveler stopped before the wooded area captivated by the scene before him. The trip had miles to go, but it was like seeing the last scene of a movie.
Strangely, the professor was fascinated with the mention of the owner of the wooded area. He would know about all the trees, location, how large the property, etc., but would he know what period of the year the wooded area has its greatest beauty? The difference between seeing the woods in the morning or evening? Does he know how charming the paths are in the wooded area? Without this knowledge, can he say the woods are mine?
We are not able to possess completely what we own, just a part, but we think we are the owners. Living in the village and thinking that the wooded area was his, is false. He concludes his meditation by asking his readers did not Jesus come into the world to shows us how unreal it is to make something mine?
Dealing with the natural virtues the wisdom of the ages has proclaimed, "Virtue stands in the middle." Use of what we call ours should have an understanding of this wisdom, which we call detachment: a much healthier approach to what we believe we possess, both materially and spiritually.
What is the Christmas Message? Many ideas are afloat, but the Gospel scene does speak for itself. God chooses an image of absence, a lack, instead of fullness and abundance. Poverty is the first of the evangelical counsels, and it speaks to us starkly in the Christmas scene. Detachment is the word that gives meaning to poverty.
An article in the Kyeongyang magazine reminds us of the place of poverty within the Church. He quotes Pope Francis in his talk to the bishops of Korea on Aug. 14th of last year. "There is a danger, a temptation which arises in times of prosperity: it is the danger that the Christian community becomes just another 'part of society', losing its mystical dimension... When this happens, the poor no longer have their proper role in the Church. This is a temptation from which particular Churches, Christian communities, have suffered greatly over the centuries; in some cases, they become so middle class that the poor even feel ashamed to be a part of them. It is the temptation of spiritual 'prosperity', pastoral prosperity. No longer is it a poor church for the poor but rather a rich church for the rich, or a middle class church for the well-to-do."
Why does the Church have to be poor? This question he attempts to answer, using the words of a priest who began a committee to work with the poor in the Seoul Diocese.
1) Jesus was poor.
2) At the beginning of his public life, he chooses absolute poverty.
3) He wanted those that possessed and those that did not, to share.
4) He wanted his disciples to be poor.
5) The Eucharist is an invitation to poverty.
When the Church is not poor it participates in the corruption and injustices of society and becomes an accomplice. It borrows strength from the world and works with their principles.
"Religion, of course does bring large profits, but only to those who are content with what they have. We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it; but as long as we have food and clothing, let us be content with that. People who long to be rich are a prey to temptations; they get trapped into all sorts of foolishness and dangerous ambitions, which eventually plunge them into ruin and destruction. The love of money is the root of all evils and there are some who, pursuing it, have wandered away from the faith and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds" (1 Tim. 6: 6-10).
Heavy words to hear at this time of year when we want to make people happy, and enjoy the many gifts we have received. Jesus was laid in a manger, a trough used to feed animals. Mentioned three times in Luke's Gospel, not an insignificant word, and full of meaning; the only word to describe Jesus' birth location. We may easily be distracted with the stable and animals and forget the message Luke was giving us. Blessed Christmas.
"As a Society of Apostolic Life, our first priority has always been and remains the mission apostolate. We have always placed mission ahead of both community life and our own personal growth." These are the words addressed to the members, by the Maryknoll Superior General, in a report on the state of the Society at the end of the year.
Fr. James Sinnott is a good example of a person whose priority was the mission apostolate, and it cost him a great deal. A recent book published by the Pauline Books and Media "A Critical Biography of James Sinnott," the subtitle was revealing: "The People's Revolutionary Party and the Dong-A Newspaper fight for press freedom, shook my life completely."
In the forward to the book Kim Jong-cheol explains how he came to write the book. During the difficult years under the Yushin Constitution from 1972 to 1981, Fr. Sinnott was well known by those who were imprisoned under the Yushin Constitution. Families of the eight members of the so-called People's Revolutionary Party were hanged for being spies. They were later exonerated, and the Revolutionary Party was seen as a fabrication of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, and families compensated. Fr. Sinnott together with Rev. George Ogle a United Methodist Minister worked to show the falseness of the allegations against the eight. Both Rev. Ogle first, and later Fr. Sinnott were expelled from the country.
Mr. Kim Jong-cheol mentions the last public appearance of Fr. Sinnott was at the 40th anniversary of the declaration of press freedom on Oct. 24, of last year. Fr. Sinnott gave a congratulatory message and very shortly after left the group. They noticed his weak condition and heard that he was admitted to a hospital shortly after where he remained until death.
Two months after the death of Fr. Sinnott those who had great affection for the priest met together and agreed to write a biography of Fr. Sinnott before his first anniversary of death. Others were willing to write the book, but because of lack of time to do the interviews and gather the material, Kim Jong-cheol was given the task. He knew Fr. Sinnott from the time when many of the reporters and those working for Dong-A newspaper were having difficulties. The Korean Intelligence Agency was preventing commercial enterprises from advertising in the Dong-A and Fr. Sinnott and Fr. Ben Zweber, along with many other citizens, were putting ads in the paper giving the paper encouragement to continue the fight, but lack of advertising and the control over press freedom by the government eventually weaken the will of the Dong-A company, and they fired many of the reporters and employees.
The fight for the Peoples' Revolutionary Party ended with justice being done, and Fr. Sinnott lived to see the reversal, but the Dong-A reporters are still waiting for justice in their forty-year battle against the State in the firing of the reporters. The recent court battle dismissed the state's liability for damages. The Hankyoreh Newspaper is the result of the fight with the State and a free press. Dismissed reporters started the Hankyoreh, which is still far behind the conservative press but gets high marks from journalists for reliability.
How does one work for the common good? In a recent column in the Catholic Times, a seminary sociology professor gives us some thoughts on our economic slump and reflections on the social gospel of the Church. We know there is little sympathy with "trickle-down economic" theory.
We are in a long economic slump, and many have difficulties, especially the poor and the young. The government is making all kinds of efforts to pull us out of the recession: offering subsidies to big industry, tax benefits to help sell cars and apartments, removal of restrictions on industry, and making it easier to fire workers. Hope is that my taking these steps, the economy gets a boost and all benefit. For this to happen, we need a number of pre-conditions to be in place.
Utilitarianism is a theory of efforts to promote the happiness of the majority of the citizens: a correct understanding of morality. Supposedly, everyone working for his own individual good will eventually benefit all. This is a premise for trust in the free market. When each works for his own good to increase wealth, this will feed into the consumption and distribution of the market, the unseen hand will regulate the market. Each person can approach the market and makes free competition possible.
That is not what is happening; this vague belief is not realized. Not everyone can freely partake in the market and enjoy free competition. We know how the big stores quickly shut down the small enterprises.
Unseen hand is not operating and this vague belief in the efficiency of the market is not realized, rather we have a jungle where the weak become the food of the strong. Not only does the individual when he uses all his ability benefit himself but can also harm the market, this goes contrary to the principle of the common good: the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals to reach their fulfillment more fully and easily" (Social Compendium #164).
"The Catholic Church, in its social teaching, explicitly rejects a belief in the automatic beneficence of market forces. It insists that the result of market forces must be scrutinized and if necessary corrected in the name of natural law, social justice, human rights, and the common good. Left to themselves, market forces are just as likely to lead to evil results as to good ones" Catholic Bishops' (Conference of England and Wales #77).
When the economics: the Gross Domestic Product increases and the citizens' income increases not everything turns out well. Korea shows that the gap between the rich and poor continues to increase. "We can no longer trust the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market. Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programs, mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality. I am far from proposing an irresponsible populism, but the economy can no longer turn to remedies that are a new poison, such as attempting to increase profits by reducing the work force and thereby adding to the ranks of the excluded" (Joy of the Gospel #204).
Korean Catholicism has spent a great deal of time working with small Christian groups in the parishes. An article in the monthly bulletin for priests on pastoral matters, questions, whether the efforts have failed.
Parishioners
do not attend is a common complaint. Members heard words spoken at a group meeting spread to the larger
community, and stopped coming out. Groups get involved in arguments about politics and stop meeting.
The writer agrees failure to respect confidentiality, and conflicts over societal problems have done harm to the movement but are these problems confined to the small-group movement? Is it not more correct to say they are problems the Church community has?
When we look into the mirror and see some disfigurement, we don't blame the mirror for what we see: smashing the mirror doesn't make the disfigurement disappear. The problems we have in the small communities are the ones we have in the Church. We can take the population of the world which we can consider 7 billion and see it as a population of 100, and determine from the hundred how many are literate, malnourished, have computers are college graduates and the like. We can use the 100 as a mirror of the 7 billion.
The work we are doing with the small communities are opening our eyes to the work that we need to do with evangelizing in the Church. The small communities are a mirror of the whole church. By getting rid of the small communities, we know the problems with the church, remain. We need to understand the problems, and begin to evangelize and work pastorally to overcome our failings. "Let us not give up the habit of meeting together as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more...." (Heb.10:25). We need to return to this way of thinking.
Positive values from the small-group meetings are obvious: Christians are reading the Scriptures, reflecting on what they read, and is influencing their daily lives. This alone is enough to want them to continue. The writer wants to see the seeds of the Gospel spread at these meetings, and our parishioners filled with a new vision: a community on fire with the Spirit and a dynamic force for good in the world.
The Korean Foreign Mission Society celebrated their fortieth year of establishment with a Mass of Thanksgiving on Dec. 5th. At that time, they had a an academic conference in which they looked over the past forty years and looked ahead to their fiftieth year. The Catholic Times acquaints the readers of the celebration and the results of the conference.
Forty years ago when the Society was established the understanding of mission in Korean Catholic society was deficient but during these years, there have been changes, the place of mission in the life of the Church has been established. Korean Mission Society has strengthened its identity, examined itself theologically, and is imbued with the teaching of Vatican II.
The keynote talk by a priest, head of a research institute, congratulated the Society for its example. The Mission Society, and the Korean Church as a whole is faced with a crisis in implementing the teaching of Vatican II: authoritarianism of the clergy, separation of life and religion among the laity, also a country in which the gap between rich and poor continues to grow and will impact the Mission Society.
A member of the Missionary Society of
St. Columban, gave the first presentation in which he showed how after 82 years
of mission in Korea the missioners have become old, the decrease in
younger members, has in his opinion, been a blessing in bringing the
talents and insights of the laity to the church.
Problems and difficulties in mission, the sudden changes in pastoral efforts in the local church, the scandal of clerical sexual abuse, brought confusion and frustration to the fore but also an invitation to missioners to be humble.
He recommends
that the society after 40 years be theological open to the reading of
the signs of the time, reflection on the history of the Church in Korea, and its traditions, and to bring the laity into the life of mission.
Another participant mentioned that during the past 40 years of mission, the Korean Mission Society has realized that mission is the life of the church. Mission to Asia and especially to China should merit the attention of the Society: a research institute to educate specialists for the work, and to begin a society for mission in China.
He urges strengthening efforts in education, and preparing specialists for mission and a new model for lay people in mission.
Natural religions placed great importance on the place of virtue.
From Taoism, Buddhism and finally Confucianism, we see how grace builds on
nature. Catholicism's stress on virtues was not foreign to the thinking
of the sages who began to look into the new thinking that came from
China. This similarity in a virtuous life with which they were familiar,
made Catholicism in Korea, easy to accept.
In the spirituality
column of the Peace Weekly we are told that the first of the natural
virtues is prudence. Before Christ, in China and the Greek world we had
the wise and philosophers teaching the need for virtue in search for
the good life. They discovered that these required repetition. In
Confucianism we have benevolence, propriety, fidelity, wisdom, and
righteousness. We find lists of these virtues both in the Old and New
Testaments.
In the book of Wisdom: "Or if one loves justice, the fruits of her works are virtues; for she teaches moderation and prudence, justice and fortitude, and nothing in life is more useful for men than these" (8:7).
Philippians
4:8 "Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true
everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything
that we love and honor, and everything that can be thought virtuous or
worthy of praise."
One difference for a Christian when
we speak about the natural virtues is we understand God's grace can
enter to make our acceptance more complete but it begins in the
natural and our efforts are required. Cardinal Virtues are Prudence,
Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. All the other moral virtues hinge on
these four and consequently are called cardinal. They can be infused
with the grace of God but they begin in the natural.
"Prudence
is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good
in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it;
'the prudent man looks where he is gong.... It is called the charioteer
of the virtues; it guides the other virtues by setting rule and
measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of
conscience" Catechism of the Church #1806.
