Distinquishing the Pseudo from the Real

Pseudo is a word we attach to anything that is not true, not genuine a sham. Often used in respect to adherents of some teaching, politics, religion in a pejorative way. We are dealing with the phony the bogus and the tragedy is most of the followers are sincere.

Catholicism has always been a little skeptical about experiences that were distant from the reality in which we live. In the encyclical of Pius X on the Doctrines of the Modernists, the following are the words we read. 

"This is their manner of putting the question: In the religious sentiment one must recognize a kind of intuition of the heart which puts man in immediate contact with the very reality of God, and infuses such a persuasion of God's existence and His action both within and without man as to excel greatly any scientific conviction. They assert, therefore, the existence of a real experience, and one of a kind that surpasses all rational experience. If this experience is denied by some, like the rationalists, it arises from the fact that such persons are unwilling to put themselves in the moral state which is necessary to produce it. It is this experience which, when a person acquires it, makes him properly and truly a believer."

This is not the understanding of religion or the way we are to come to the truth that a Catholic would accept. We see how this understanding permits the unlimited possibility of beliefs and tragedies that result from jettisoning our mental faculties. Sincerity is an admirable quality but it does not take the place of truth.

In the Catholic Times, a member of a pastoral research team gives us his ideas on the pseudo ideas that are prevalent in our society. He recalls seeing on a wall the words: "Make the abnormal, normal." A wry smile came to his face for he remembers the past and the ways we tried to justify many of the actions of the government.

He recalls the words of Confucius who was greatly opposed to the pseudo for it distorted the meaning of justice and truth. The writer considers the Sewol tragedy a case where we see distortion, fabrication, and concealment-- no transparency. However, the time has come where the darkness will give way to the light and lies to the truth.

In the time of Jesus, we also had pseudo teachings and teachers. They worked against the welcoming and solidarity of the community and brought in idols that restricted freedom.

Jesus came to remove the chaos and replace it with the cosmos. In these times of upheaval, we drink new wine from new wine skins and pray for the eyes to see what is phony. We need to ask for the gift of wisdom to distinguish the pseudo from the real.

A Child Grows Up

An article in the Catholic Digest by a seminarian gives the readers a brief overview of his growth as a human being.

In the 3rd grade elementary school, the writer with his father, visited a nearby monastery for Mass on Sunday. The priest he met left a lasting impression on him for his kindness and peaceful demeanor.This remained with him for years after and a reason he entered the seminary.

He was considered naive and gullible. He always tried to do what was right and say the right things to receive approval. More than happy to be a good servant of Jesus he was acting under pressure. No joy, only duty, it was an obsession. What he did had to be done.

He finally did enter the seminary and this way of behaving followed him. No big fights with others but he was strong in his opinions. His dignity was important, in comparison to others he always considered himself right and in his own eyes number one. Everything needed to be seen thru his own eyes and his values needed to be satisfied. "I am right others need to follow."

This gradually came to an end and the faults of others were seen as his own magnified. This brought discouragement. The priestly life and his own life was seen negatively. He saw himself as a monster. Like a person in flight, he entered the military and thought after two years things would get better but it was not so. The Seminary became a trial. All was habit. Attending Mass and communion he felt like a hypocrite. He tried to change but nothing worked.

He continued being conscious of others and felt he should leave but couldn't and time passed. He began to feel more alienated from the spiritual life and began to become involved in other distractions. On vacation, he would contact his high school buddies and go drinking. He behaved other than like a seminarian and didn't want to be considered one.

One day on vacation a grandmother saw him at Mass and put something in his pocket. She was a street vendor with her small articles for sale in the village market. She told him that she prayed for him and was touched to see him at daily Mass and kept him in her prayers, praying that he would be a good priest.The crumbled piece of paper had a Korean bill valued about 10 dollars. He was moved by the encounter and the knowledge that he was loved by the grandmother left him embarrassed but also a warm feeling.

He was struck with the knowledge that he was not called because of his goodness or ability. Knowing this did not change his way of life but knowing the love of God and of others made him conscious of something that was nor present before.

He remembers the recent ordination ceremonies for priests and deacons and the answer to the call of their name: " Yes, I am here" He looks forward to the day when he also will shout out: "Yes, I am here".

Religious Vocation Crisis In Korea

The religious vocation crisis in the west was a topic of discussion for many years, but now we have the same problem facing the Korean church.

A religious sister, a high school teacher, writes in the Kyeongyang magazine on the issue. According to the Catholic Peace Network in 2013 we had 11,734 religious. At  present comparing with the past this was an increase of 74.1% for the men religious and 48.6 % for the women. When we look at the statistics all seems rosy but the reality is different.

In comparison to 1994 the number of men religious preparing for vows decreased 41 % and the women has decreased 67%. Over half of the religious orders have no one in formation.

This is not simply a problem in the church for the reasons affects all of society. The signs of the times are not only confined to the church.

Pope Francis at the end of the year of the Consecrated Life in his talk to the religious stressed the three pillars of the religious life: prophecy, proximity and hope. The pope is telling people that there is a path to happiness and grandeur, a path that fills you with joy. If we lived this life would the crisis end?

The sister has talked to many of the young who are not interested in the religious life. They have little knowledge of the spiritual life and living in a complicated world. We don't only have a crisis of vocations but a crisis of society. What are we to do?

We live in a time where values are missing. How am I to live? This is the guide for life. They are surrounded with materialism, invited to find ways to make money. They are absorbed in finding employment, make money and be a big class consumer. Is there any thought of the kind of person they want to be? Asking the young what they want to be is a dangerous question.

The pope speaks about the prophetic life.This is not difficult for it requires saying no when a no is required and yes to a required yes. We need to be strong in our quest for truth. We are  prepped to look for success, results. Society, she says, sees us as means to achieve goals and when not needed discarded as a spare part. In her own teaching profession she wonders how much her own encounters with the students are person to person.

She concludes the articles by telling the readers that we should not concentrate on the problems or be obsessed with the numbers entering the religious life but to be hopeful and remember that we are to work in the building of Christ's kingdom. Isn't this for a Christian, the reason for the creation of the world, the reason we are here. How we are to live is the decision that follows on this.

Discord in Society

The Korean word for conflict, discord, complications, dissensions, difficulty is made up of two Chinese characters each meaning a type of vine. When they are entangled, one with the another, we have discord and complications, not easily resolved. A college professor who is an authority in the field of social discord gives the readers of the Kyeongyang magazine an understanding of the reasons we see so much discord in society.

Koreans use the word mostly with mental conflicts, psychological difficulties but the writer stresses it is much broader in meaning. When people are interacting with each other both individually or in groups, differences of understanding cause conflict.

Asians have a tendency to work with the internal emotions that arise and work to resolve them with the cultivation of the mind. In the West, coming to a peaceful resolution with the other or others is central. Needed is a concern for both.

The background for these problems may be expressed by differences, needs, perceptions and values.

In the workplace, if another worker enters the workforce at the same time and does the same work and we have a difference in pay, we see this as discrimination and a reason for conflict.

When a person seeks to satisfy their needs we have the possible infringement of another person's possessions or rights and a reason for conflict. "After three days without food, there is no one who will not steal." This Korean proverb shows the lack of what we need can lead to conflict.

In the same situation and circumstances because of our bodily characteristics, experiences, education etc. we perceive reality in different ways. A teacher can say to a student: Why did you act in that way? One student can see it as concern and another as a reprimand.

Values can affect the way we approach a subject.  One may have a value that shows respect more for an older person than for the young. Some would take this as discrimination. These four human qualities do not cause the conflict but are in the background.

Facts and data that are not accepted in the same way may cause conflict. Different understandings, structures, relationships, values, (convictions, religion, philosophies) and our very identity:(our appearance, race etc.) maybe the reason for conflict.

Knowing the reason for the conflict can solve the difficulty. If facts are the problem we work to uncover them in an objective way which will decrease the area of discord. Misunderstandings over the distribution of material goods, fairness and rationality all have to be spelled out clearly and with transparency.

Relationship discord needs the easiness of dialogue to remove the problems. Values and identity have taken a great deal of time to form and finding areas of compromise, difficult. Rather than looking for compromise it is better to recognize the existence of the other, respect and avoid the points of difference, which maybe the easiest way towards a solution.

Prudence Is Not a Popular Virtue

Everything on the face of the earth is beautiful. Even if on the outside it is homely, its existence in itself is beautiful. Prudence opens our eyes.

Even if existence is beautiful not all is beautiful. We have in the world both the beautiful and the homely. At the beginning of spring, it's not out of place to consider what is beautiful and what is unattractive. So begins an article in the Catholic Times by a seminary rector.

Little can compare with the beauty of nature. Marvelous is the beauty when a bud appears from the recently thawed earth. Life is always beautiful. Development that randomly destroys this beauty is not. Those who cut a branch from a flowering plant to place in their knapsack to show to others does not appreciate the beauty of the flower.

From where does the beauty of nature come? Not difficult to answer for it comes from its very being. We like to compare one person with another but all persons are beautiful for beauty comes not from the face or body but from the person's being.

We want to be beautiful, consequently the need to be concerned for interior beauty rather the external beauty and to adorn our lives with beauty. The manner in which we live determines the beauty or unattractiveness of our lives.

We are all different which adds to the beauty. Youth and love he considers of great beauty. Personally, youth without the advantages of wealth who don't envy those with wealth have great beauty and wants to praise them. Beauty is there with those who dream, without dreams we have desolation, loneliness, and unattractiveness.

There is both beauty and ugliness in meeting and departure. As one poet said: how beautiful is the back of the one who knows the time of leave-taking. However, the one who finds the leave-taking difficult when the time demands it is not attractive. 

When we have an exchange of ideas and a meeting of minds, this is a beautiful result of an encounter.  Shouting and attempting to force one's opinion on others is ugly: no matter how attractive, when forced, beauty is lost. No matter how small the issue when we work towards conciliation we are practicing virtue. 

He concludes the articles with the situation in Korea where you have street demonstrations with Korean and American flags appearing, opposing the impeachment of the president. It seems that the Korean flag is not enough so they add the American flag. This leaves the writer with a bitter taste. Too much is as bad as too little and as unattractive. He's sad to see people of faith in these demonstrations. When we try to force our personal beliefs on others no matter how lofty and beautiful the belief, this comes across as ugly to many. We need prudence.

Striving For The Ideal

A priest writing in a pastoral bulletin for clergy mentions an incident on a trip to an island some years ago. A grandmother was carrying a heavy load and would put it down every few steps. He saw it all and in his own mind the thought was present to help the woman but no movement of the feet. A woman behind him ran up ahead to help the grandmother and took one of the packages.

Why seeing the woman's difficulty did he not offer to help? Why didn't the heart and body move? He is always talking about love but those who are less concerned with talk are often more sensitive to the needs of others. He reminds us of the famous words: "the greatest distance in travel is from the head to the heart and the heart to the feet."

Associating for the most part with people with leisure he is not close to the poor consequently the motivation to help is missing.

The famous Russian novelist Tolstoy and his wife Sophia had 13 children. His wife mentions in her writings that he wrote often and eloquently about the love of Jesus and thought a great deal about it but it was not practiced in his life.

Living with high ideals and to feel the love in the heart is important so we read the Scriptures, spiritual books and listen to talks and mistake this for actual acts of love in our lives and think that we are doing much.

He is now up in age, has traveled much but most of what he has learned has stayed in the head. When he sees the acts of others and their concern for others he is moved but making a decision and carrying it out correctly is not easy.

Helping others is important but the way they are helped is also important. Giving of money is not always the best way to help. If a person is not helped to be strong in heart they may be hurt by the help given. He feels that to help the movements that are concerned for the poor may be wiser.

As an individual, he has no reason with his personal history, appearance, or way of life to receive the respect and love of others, his position in the church, his priesthood has made all the difference.  Actually,  not only his priesthood but also all those who have lived the priestly life in a sacrificial way and have moved the hearts of many has influenced the way many see him. To repay what has been received is to live in the manner that they did.

Sewol Tragedy Revisited

On the morning of April 16 of 2014, the Sewol ferry sank on a trip from Inchon to Jeju island. The ferry capsized carrying 476 people, mostly high school students, 304 died. This tragedy has continued to smolder in society and a reason for the unfavorable impression given by president Park to many of the citizens.

The National Assembly with more than two-thirds majority voted to remove Park from office on charges of corruption, misconduct, and negligence. All eight of the Constitutional Court justices supported the actions of the National Assembly to impeach the president. Interestingly the allegations of negligence related to the sinking of the Sewol Ferry were seen as troubling but not a reason for impeachment. 

A series of articles in Bible and Life visited the issue again in a Before and After headline for the articles. One writer questions himself: if his daughter had died in the tragedy what would he have done? The feelings aroused with the sinking even after three years are still smarting. For many, it is the lack of transparency and the feeling that efforts are made to hide the reasons for the tragedy.

Why did the ferry capsize? The ferry was carrying more passengers than allowed and many points of illegality were ignored. Why didn't the passengers escape? Many who were in charge of the ship were temporary workers, with little training but took most of the punishment. It was shown that all of the passengers could have been saved if appropriate measures were taken but the confusion and failure in coordination and misinformation were reasons for the tragedy.

The families of the Sewol victims have been critical voices in movements for democracy in Korea and a reason for the mobilization of the citizens asking for the impeachment of the president. The yellow ribbons have been a sign both of mourning but also remembrance and a desire for social change.

Raising of the Sewol ferry had been delayed but just a few days ago, accomplished. There are many questions that will be answered with the raising of the ferry. There are still 9 victims whose bodies were never found, a difficult situation for the grieving parents. One writer mentions in his article the collapse of a gymnasium just a few months before the Sewol tragedy killing nine, added more pain to the Sewol sinking, and the citizen's desire for a new way of being Korea.