Among the young people in cyberspace, we hear often the ranking of spoons. What parents pass down to their children in wealth or place in society is expressed by gold, silver, brass or earth spoons. A column in the Catholic Times expresses the view of a seminary professor in social science on a subject which he feels is important because of the influence on the young, which leaves them with little hope for the future.
He shows statistically how the reality of our situation is feeding this despondency of the young. The poor are finding it more difficulty to leave their poverty. Inherited wealth of the wealthiest one percent continues to rise and the dividends and interest from invested money: 90 percent of this is received by the richest 10 percent. Money is not the result of work. Position in society, in many cases, is not from effort and labor but what was handed down from parents.
In Korean the proverb: A dragon rises from a small stream-- rags to riches stories-- are relegated to the land of mythology. " Without education, or money with two hands alone they began." These words in song are no longer heard and in its place we hear 'Hell Joseon' a phrase which the young use to express the period of the Joseon dynasty where the feudal system determined who got ahead. Many feel they have inherited an earth spoon.
In the Church's Pastoral Constitution # 4: "Never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources, and economic power. Yet, a huge proportion of the world's citizens is still tormented by hunger and poverty, while countless numbers suffer from total illiteracy. Never before today has man been so keenly aware of freedom, yet at the same time, new forms of social and psychological slavery make their appearance." Again in # 63: We are at a moment in history when the development of economic life could diminish social inequalities if that development were guided and coordinated in a reasonable and human way. Yet all too often it serves only to intensify the inequalities. In some places, it even results in a decline in the social status of the weak and in contempt for the poor."
Within this kind of society, the values of honesty, sincerity, labor, diligence the value of community, and moral life find it difficult to take hold. In the world of finances, the elite minorities are not only influencing their own financial world but all other parts of society. Their values are spread in politics and in other areas of life. Each person has one vote is changed to each Korean's ₩ (won) has one vote as in a cooperation, and this reality can permeate our social life.
Obviously when this happens, we have the death of democracy and with it, the devaluing of the dignity of the person and labor: consequently, the interest of the Church in justice and equity.
At the end of last year a 11 year old girl was reported to the police by a shop keeper who caught the girl stealing some bread but knew she was not an ordinary elementary school child. She had run away from her home climbing down the gas pipe from her second story apartment. She was abused and tied up and was missing from school for about two years. When the news hit the press the anger of the public could not be ignored.
A teacher in a Women's Research Center writes about the incident in the Peace Weekly and expresses her opinion on our need to prevent incidents of this type. Schools and organizations will be more pro-active and when a child is missing from school for any period of time steps will be taken to find the reasons and work to prevent abuse from happening.
Department of Health and Human Services reports over 80% of abuse is from the parents. In 2015 there were 16.8% more reports of abuse than the preceding year. From 5 years before there has been an increase of over 2 times. Since there is now an obligation to report abuse reporting has increased but those familiar with the situation say the numbers reported are just a small number of the actual cases.
In Korea only 29 % of the abuses are reported while in United States 58.3%, Australia 73.3% Japan 68% are reported. Would strengthening the penalties for abuse result in a drop in the numbers?
She lists some of the reasons for the mistreatment of children that she sees operative in society. Many of the families are poor, we have alcohol and game addiction, disease and handicapped individuals all combining to make the situation complicated. Those who abuse often have been abused as children and have little qualms of conscience for their actions. Pathological behavior is also picked up by children.
Consequently, it is easy for those who are abusers to blame those who raised them for their actions. So better than making the penalties more severe is to show them their actions are not proper and to make them understand in counseling of what their abuse is doing to the children and themselves.
She concludes her article with a need to change the way we are are building our society and the values we emphasize. Pope Francis is speaking strongly about the new liberalism that is spreading throughout the world. Korea is accepting this focus and we have competition without limit, and organizing of society with power. In this kind of environment we have citizens bowing to those with power or determining to have some of this power. With this kind of society those who suffer the most are the weak: children, women and the handicapped. When society forgets the moral values and actions, the weak will suffer and the desire to end abuse and mistreatment of the young will be only a distant dream.
A recent symposium on labor, and reviewing a survey made among the young people in the Seoul Diocese, discovered the difference between Catholic youth and other young people was not much different. Noticed was an estrangement between religion and life: helped along by the secularization and middle-class life-style of many. The survey will be a sign post for the direction of the programs for the young people.
Both Catholic papers had articles on the symposium. 1,818 middle and high-school students when asked what thoughts came to mind when they heard the word labor. From a list presented, the following were the percentages for each: effort 30%, difficult 47.5%, devoted 3.5%, shovels and tools 2.6%, employment 6%, strikes 0.5%, capitalism 1.6%, poverty 1.3%, satisfaction 0.8%, humanity 1.5%, politics 0.4%, salary 4.1%.
When the question of who do they see as laborers in our society the number-one response was the apartment building security people. Followed by sales people in markets, and those working to set up Internet connections. Labor was something difficult, a not surprising answer coming from students.
The
young people when asked what they wanted to do in life: 14% teachers,
doctors 6 %, scientists 4.5 %, policemen 4 %, entertainers 3%. Students selected occupations not considered labor. This was similar to another survey that was made in 2014.
The Church has not made the message clear that we are in God's country doing God's work as Christians here and now. We are in the world but not of the world. We are to transform society, but we have not made this mission of Christians clear to our young people. We are part of a 'contrast society' that has not been internalized.
Many students take pride in their Catholicism but when asked would they help a fellow worker who was treated unjustly, only 35 % said they would. Sadness comes when we realize the efforts to give students a Christian value system fails to compete with what they have picked up from society.
Only 8 % of the students have had a part-time job during their years of schooling. Study is a full-time job for many and finding time to do anything else is difficult. Work is something sacred. Most of us will spend more time working than sleeping. However, the treatment that workers receive does not coincide with what we believe about the dignity of work and workers.
One participant mentioned there is still the idea of high and low when it comes to labor. This viewpoint colors the way labor is looked upon and the reason physical labor does not receive remuneration and respect as other occupations.
A bishop at the close of the symposium hoped that the interest in work, and its understanding will be a long-lasting influence on the lives of the students.
"Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being. Do
it for the Lord rather than for men" (Colossians 3:23). These words should apply to
all we do.
Now Here News Site has a report on a survey with shocking results. We are reminded again that we are influenced by the structures of society more than we want to believe. Finances, politics, society, culture, have often a stronger pull on us than our individual wills, personality and even religion.
A news letter from the Inchon Catholic University research center explains the results of a study made on Catholic understanding of attitudes on family, marriage, support of family, life, sex, marriage satisfaction, suicide, birth rates, divorce, remarriage, abortion, etc....
Four groups were compared: Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists and Non-believers. Catholics were second to the Protestants in agreeing that marriage gave more happiness than the single life. To the question if you want children you should get married: Catholics were the lowest of the religious' group. Marriage and children the Catholics saw loosely and was at the bottom.
Catholics were welcoming to divorce, when problems within the family arose; the same as those with no religion. Those who agreed with the statement that for the good of the children, parents should not divorce, Catholics were lowest of the three with religion. Sex before marriage with or without the intention of marriage Catholics were the most open. Catholics did not see much of a difference in one-parent homes and two-parent homes. When it came to supporting a family, Catholics were very loose in their thinking and in accepting divorce.
With suicide, there was a shock in what was discovered. Catholics had the highest number of those who have thought of suicide, of harming themselves or attempting suicide. Those with no religion had the lowest rate. The writer wanted us to remember this. The distance in percentage, compared to the other two religions was high.
Catholics opposed abortion with the highest rate of all the other groups. However, when the fetus had a defect, the Catholics would be third after the unbeliever and Buddhist to accept abortion. When financial difficulty was present the result was the same.
Although Catholics were opposed to sex before marriage, they were opened to it outside of marriage. They were also second in agreeing to accept same-sex couples in raising children.
When it came to finding satisfaction in marriage, they were the third but when it came for the whole of life, they were the lowest of all the groups: the happiness quotient among Catholics was at the bottom. Results from this study leave a great deal for the Korean Church to ponder.
A series of three articles in Catholic Digest by a seminary professor treats the topic of Witch Hunts in Europe. Those opposed to religion and atheists during the 19 century inflate the figures of those killed. Most historians would accept a number of around 60,000.
Christianity has always been interested in making sense of religion with our intellectual faculties. Catholicism had no trouble in accepting Greek philosophy while the reformers wanted to remain with the scriptures. Monotheism had only one God and consequently, was made responsible for evil in the world: a reason theologians wanted to understand the issue surrounding witches.
Consequently, the devil was the instigator of evil. Those who were using sorcery, and incantations had sold themselves to the devil so it was thought, and were called witches.
Different from religion was incantation. The practitioners were not interested in thinking about God but used brief magic words, amulets, to influence weather, health, wealth, romance. It is no surprise to have this kind of thinking wide spread when we remember that medicine, and sciences were in their infant stages. Incantations were not considered in themselves anything serious except for the kind that wanted to bring harm to another.
Sorcery was an elaboration of incantations, a development, but here again; it was the wish to bring harm to another that was the problem. Those who worked in harmony with the devil, were considered devil worshipers.
The Church saw many of the incantations as superstitious and tried to Christianize them. Gradually, mementos of the dead martyrs and saints were used to pray for health and blessings. Shrines and places of pilgrimage were selected, and Christians would flock there for blessings. Here the Church made clear that it wasn't the incantations or the mementos but God who was giving the gifts of grace. Those who refused to accept this distinction separated themselves from the Church practice, and were the so-called witches.
During the Middles Ages, the Cathars and the Waldensian Church were the two sects that caused the Church anguish. The Cathari (believed the physical world was evil, which conflicted with the doctrines of the Catholic Church. The physical world and the human body were the creation of the evil spirit).
Catholicism was more interested at this time in eradicating the heresies than dealing with sorcery. Christians continued using incantation; non-believers would be using incantation along with medically popular practices with some positive results. Catholic priests would also be using these incantations and healing procedures. Most were not interested in the reasons but only in results.
The Church was not opposed because they were superstitions, a waste of money, and energy, but because they were successful. Why were they successful?
When Christians used the incantations with invocation of the Saints and their relics and had a positive response they knew why, but when those who were not part of the Church, opposed, and using incantations and received positive results this was attributed to the devil.
Theology professors at Paris University were examining this phenomenon, and it was in the university where study of the worship of the devil began. University of Cologne was the university where Jacob Springer wrote the well-known book Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches) published in 1486, which taught how to know, find, and question those suspected of witchery.
There are those that believe that if this book was not published the problem would not have been as serious as it was. Islam was not caught up in the witch hunt because they were not interested in the reasons for what was happening in society.
The professor mentions that with light, there is also darkness and one of the darkest medieval periods was also the beginning of science. The irony is that the universities were the reason for the spread of the witch hunts but also the beginning of interest in science and its progress within a Christian setting.
Reporters
Without Borders has again this year determined the freedom of the
press index for 180 countries and Korea ranks 70th. The RSF (Reporters
Without Borders) has criticized the Government for interference in the
independence of the press. Freedom House also criticized the government
for censorship.
A
column in the Catholic Times brings this news to the readers, and
mentions that even if the report of press subordination and control is
exaggerated, when mass media is looking to see what the authorities
will say the results on a free press is crippling. In a country like
Korea a free press is a requirement for a democratic society.
When
the press becomes a big business and is tied too closely to the
financial interests of the country, freedom is sacrificed;
advertising income becomes an important issue and democratic maturity suffers.
The
aim of a democracy is to enable a pluralism to exist. Authoritarianism and totalitarianism don't allow for this and tries to gain a
cohesion of the political, finances, military, culture, while democracy
is willing to work with pluralism. Free press is a help in attaining
this goal and helping to bring about dialogue between the different
segments in society.
Once this is lost big business begins to dictate the direction of society and justify the status quo.
"Participation without an understanding of the situation of the political
community, the facts and the proposed solutions to problems is unthinkable. It
is necessary to guarantee a real pluralism in this delicate area of social life,
ensuring that there are many forms and instruments of information and
communications. It is likewise necessary to facilitate conditions of equality in
the possession and use of these instruments by means of appropriate laws. Among
the obstacles that hinder the full exercise of the right to objectivity in
information, special attention must be given to the phenomenon of
the news media being controlled by just a few people or groups. This has
dangerous effects for the entire democratic system when this phenomenon is
accompanied by ever closer ties between governmental activity and the financial
and information establishments" (Compendium of the Social Gospel #414)
"In
the world of the media the intrinsic difficulties of communications are
often exacerbated by ideology, the desire for profit and political
control. rivalry and conflicts between groups, and other social evils.
Moral
values and principles apply also to the media. The ethical dimension relates
not just to the content of communication (the message) and the process of
communication (how the communicating is done) but to fundamental structural and
systemic issues, often involving large questions of policy bearing upon the
distribution of sophisticated technology and product (who shall be information
rich and who shall be information poor?)” (Compendium # 416).
A medical school professor, finished forty years as a teacher and retired; he writes a column in the Peace Weekly on Hansen's Disease, his field as a researcher and medical practitioner.
His life has been his work, and apologizes to those who have worked with him for being stubborn and slow to listen. He, unconsciously, both in word and action has hurt the feelings of many and asks for forgiveness.
In his plea for forgiveness he uses a phrase from Confucius 和而不同, which translated freely: being at peace with others does not mean that we think the same. This is a sign of a wise person while the small-minded person wants the other person to be of the same mind if there is to be peace and harmony between oneself and another. The doctor admits that he was slow in understanding this and is sorry.
For the doctor one of the hardest situations to deal with was the way leprosy is used in the Scriptures as a punishment from God. Every time he hears these words it hurts him greatly. The word leprosy appears 83 times in the Bible. It appears both in the Old and New Testaments. When Moses received the mission to liberate the Jews in Egypt, he was given leprosy and cured by God to rid himself of his doubts.
In the English Bible in Leviticus, the word leprosy is used but in the Korean Bible, it is malignant skin disease. In Leviticus chapter 14, we have the purification rite for leprosy. Since 1943, we have the discovery of medicine that cures the disease. In a period of one to two years, the disease is cured. In one year in Korea, there are less than ten with the main symptoms, and they are of an ordinary infectious disease.
St. Luke who was a doctor mentions in chapter five verses 12-16 the cure of a person with leprosy. In the Old Testament, it was a sign of uncleanness and ungodliness, and here we have a cure. The doctor remarks that the understanding of punishment that was present is no longer true in the New Testament because of Jesus.
We are in New Testament times and hope that the readers will never use the word leprosy as referring to sin and punishment. Hansen's disease used in place of leprosy is an effort of many to disassociate it from the term leper.
