One of the dioceses recently had a symposium on pastoral work. Written up in the Catholic Peace Weekly with the headline: "Peace of mind is desired but church work—well, let me think about it!"
The hearts of believers are ready to receive service in the manner of customers. Service of others is difficult and they want to be at peace. Participants wondered whether the church is doing its part in inviting the laypeople to get involved.
Up until the eighties, the church's mission was to enter the world and change it but gradually the world was seen as secularizing the church. This year is the Jubilee year of the laity; a desire to speak about the age of change and awakening of the laity. Are the laity living with the joy of the gospel?
One participant mentioned 5 issues which are obstacles for the laity:(1) low priority of the religious life in daily living (2) relationships with others not one of the values (3) individualistic spirituality (4) anti-intellectualism (5) weakening of the family bonds.
Another participant mentioned motivation behind faith life is weakening. Our 'bellies and mouth' and lack of concern for peace of the world was listed. Believers are looking for peace and joy of the gospel but not finding it. In his opinion, the greatest obstacle to growth in spirituality is being confined by one's own personal understanding and interest of what is required—isolated from others.
In the panel discussion, one person mentioned the tendency of the parish priests to curb the activities of parish groups according to the whims of the priests. A desire for more autonomy of the parish groups was expressed. In the education of the believers, it was hoped that a special parish could be designated where this could be carried out.
The results of a survey made among the leaders of the diocese on consciousness: 82% said the president of the parish council was chosen by the priest, as to the qualities necessary—getting along with the pastor.
The biggest problem seen by the leaders of the diocese was the members who have left the community of faith and how to get them to return 66%. Re-education of the Catholics was 52%. Education of the young 47% and renewal of the clergy 32%. Overall, the Korean Church's greatest problem was the passivity of the laity 49%; 32 % felt it was the falling away of the Catholics.
Both Catholic papers had writes ups on the Suwon diocesan change for the governing of the diocese. Since 2006 the diocese was divided into 6 vicariates with deaneries. They have now taken the diocese pastored by the ordinary and divided the diocese into two vicariates with deaneries. The two bishop auxiliaries will have the pastoral responsibility under the ordinary in the two vicariates.
In the past the deans where elected by the members of the deanery but the bishop of the diocese will now appoint the dean and the parish in which he resides will be the seat for the deanery.
This is a change in an effort to become closer to the people, priests and religious. The diocese has over 900 thousand believers and over 500 priests and 214 parishes. Editorials and articles are hoping that the efforts do produce fruit.
One editorial saw the diocese stripping an old frame and making a new one. To summarize the characteristics of the new frame—small diocese, strong vicariate, and lively parishes.
The two auxilary bishops will take the place of the 6 vicariate priests who were the vicars. One vicariate has 110 parishes and 11 deaneries and the other one has 10 deaneries and 104 parishes.
The intention is to make the communication between the pastors, religious and people and the bishop smoother and easier. Efforts to decentralize are for better use of the personnel—more effectual on the pastoral level. The vicariates will have autonomy to set up their own offices for vocations and public relations and other offices they feel necessary.
The ordinary of the diocese has explained that with any change there is always some difficulty and they should be prepared to deal with the problems. With cooperation and working together, the goal is to give vitality to the parishes. Each vicariate has the freedom to be creative. The diocese is working at reform and renewal and the bishop of the diocese hopes difficulties encountered will not discourage but challenge and encourage them.
The ordinary in the message for the 50th anniversary of the diocese stressed that communication and participation as two important categories on which to work." Before us, both within and outside, we have challenges and critical situations to face but we need to face them head on for our work of evangelization.
With Pope Francis we are seeing steps taken for a decentralization of the work of the church away from the Vatican. There are dangers in everything we do but the attempts of being a more listening and closer to the sheep type community is all for the good and hopefully, success will inspire other dioceses to attempt renewal in their governing.
The Burnout Society is the way Han Bung-chul a Korean born philosopher living in Germany describes the society in which we live. He diagnoses people as being both perpetrators and victims of fatigue—exploiting and exhausting themselves—separating themselves from others and themselves. The fatigue that is experienced he calls a "solitary fatigue" precisely for this reason.
A professor from Gwangju Catholic University writes in the Theological Perspective Quarterly about the need for re-education of the 'floating Catholics'—intermediate Catholics, who are between the committed and those who are no longer part of the community and living in this burnout society which has entered the church.
This fatigue can develop into violence that may destroy the lives of individuals as well as the society to which they belong. The writer strongly feels the sociological diagnosis leads to a pastoral search for remedies for the fatigue that we find in the field of theology. Pastoral research is necessary for the efforts in the past have been mostly temporary strategies.
He reviews the recent statistics of the church that were published. The government census in 2015, made every ten years, showed a drop in the number of Catholics from the church's own statistics. In the 2005 census, Catholic were 10.8 % of the total population, in the 2015 census only 7.9 %.
This was embarrassing for the church. Those who left the community of faith were about one third. Over half of the Catholics can be considered to have left the community of faith. According to the church's own statistics Catholics who attended Mass in 2015 were 20.7%, in 2016 it dropped to 19.5%.
According to many, we have a core group of religious people and semi-peripheral and peripheral groups. The core group which numbers from 5 to 15 % do not speak for the larger number of Catholics. In a recent survey 70 % of the Catholics who have left the community show a possibility of returning while 30% showed no similar desire. The main reason for leaving the community was to make a living and for studies—44%.
We have various divisions of those who have left the community of faith: religious abstention, apostasy, disaffiliation, and unchurched—also different degrees of leaving the community of faith. Many who are members are also in some of these categories and it is these that the Church should desire to make core members.
We have active and passive members. Those who know how to pass on the message but we need those who live the message and have not separated the living from the thinking. The article wants the church to be interested not only in core believers and the lapsed Catholics but on the large numbers within the community of faith who are peripheral believers, intermediate believers, to help them become core believers for they are the ones who become lapsed.
These are the burnout members of our faith community who need the concern of the pastoral workers to make them active and contemplative members of the community of faith.
All religions and Christians of all types, for the most part, use the word spirituality as a positive quest for a fully human life. Many also use the word spirituality in opposition to religion: "I am spiritual but not religious" not affiliated with any church. This is a common understanding of many as if religion was an obstacle to spiritual growth.
In the Jewish Christian understanding of the person, we have the body, soul, mind, and heart."Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind."
With efforts at integration and harmony of these four, we walk the path of spirituality. Sadly, the Church is not seen as a path to a deep spirituality. Writing in a bulletin for priests the writer mentions that scholars of the religious life see humankind interested in the spiritual— a deep concern and desire for the spiritual.
Materialism and liberalism is doing well but in the gaps we find many looking for the spiritual often in faulty manners but the desire is strong and healthy. Many are leaving the establish churches for they do not find a response to their thirst for the spiritual. A sign churches have lost the spiritual vitality they once had.
One priest expressed the problem as one in which the church with the great changes taking place in society is in crisis, fearful of the future like "scared dogs who put their tails between their legs, bark, and walk backwards."
He wonders whether the reason is the loss of prestige the pastoral workers had in the past when the country was attempting to bring itself out of the difficulties of the war and the poverty of the times. The church was active in feeding the poor and bringing to the aid of the citizens what we received from the west. We benefitted from the influence of Christianity and the culture of the west as a church with class.
In the process, we forgot the role of our ancestors in the faith who gave their lives for what they believed. We benefited from their lives and sacrifices but have done little to prepare for the future church with the examples they gave us.
We are coming close to a century of being a divided country. Hope abounds for a time of peace and we as a church need to participate in the attainment of this peace. We have to get over a feeling of fear and trepidation and remember the strength that comes from the fortress of spirituality we possess. We have to bring this traditional spirituality to the fore and deepen it among the faithful and those who approach the church. This is what the world is waiting for.
In an
age of speaking one's mind, SNS presents an easy means to
legitimize the truth seen by the underdog or the strong, male and
female, liberal and conservative. In most cases the situation is never
clearly presented and not enough information is given to understand the
context. A religious sister who is the director of a spirituality center
examins the way we are to respond.
At
times it is difficult to grasp the nature of the incidents that are
presented to the viewers in cyberspace. Information is revealed only on
one side and usually not enough information is presented to understand
the situation. Our brains tend to simplify the reality, overlook the
truth and listen and respond to what I want to see and hear.
A
famous writer after revealing something about a certain incident in
which an acquaintance was involved did not receive a call from the
acquaintance. The reason he believes was that he would be shaken. A firm
conviction can often be shaken by a voice in a telephone call.
We
are more courageous in cyberspace with no expressions or voices, very
different from face to face contact. Since it is invisible it can easily
be more intense and overcome with feelings. It is the only method for
those who have been treated unjustly to feel the freedom to resist:
women against men the weak against the strong.
The
writer mentions how one of her acquaintances had an SNS fight with one
of her subordinates. Her acquaintance had to deal with falsehood and
exaggeration and suffered great embarrassment. The other party was
joined in the attack by followers, the acquaintance was condemned and made to appear
ridiculous. Her acquaintance used reasonable arguments but the
subordinate was using emotional arguments and her acquaintance made an
effort to respect the other person with reason and tempered expression
but wasn't able to overcome the feeling of unfairness experienced by the
subordinate. For such a person the rational expressions of the other
person are just cold, and empty. No matter who is right if there is no
sympathy for your situation the rational proposal is intimidating and
insulting.
The
process of exposing and ridiculing the mistakes of the strong in
society gives pleasure to the viewers. The group attacks that often
follow become addictive and give to many a feeling of catharsis.
Unfortunately,
nowadays, priests and religious people are seen as the strong and the
vested ones in society. Of course, concern for the poor continues but it
is also true that we have power as leaders in a community.
Therefore,
in the course of leading a group, if someone enters and expresses: "I
am a victim, it is unfair," the standard of right and wrong often seems no longer valid. It is only necessary to communicate with the
'feelings' that are unfair.
When
the grievance and unfairness get bigger, counterattacks, insanity, and
anything goes. There is only a fierce court battle that remains but the
wounds are large for both sides and last a long time.
When
we have a dislike for someone we don't care to live uncomfortably in
that situation. However, sympathy is one of the best helps in
communicating, consequently, the best way is to find a way to compromise on the way to
the court (Matt. 5:25).
This year we are celebrating the Jubilee of the Laity which began on Laity Sunday last year and will continue until November 18 of this year. This year is the 50th anniversary of the Lay Apostolate Council of Korea; a year spent studying the place of the laity, their role, and evaluation within the church. An article in a bulletin for priests expresses the views of one priest.
The laity in Korea has a unique history, however, looking over the statistics of the church, Catholics are very similar to the other countries of the world. Laypeople were without their own priests for 60 years. They brought the faith to the country and nourished it without the help of the clergy and with thoughts of a martyrs' death the community of faith continued to grow.
Influence of society is present but in the eyes of many, the laity are not able to express their vitality, take their rightful place in the church, but remain passive. St. John Paul II called them the sleeping giant. They need to be awakened. Why is that the situation that we find so often?
We use the word community so often that the word loses its meaning. Team and partnership are words we hear in society and business but rarely within the church. If we imported these words we would look at the work we faced differently. We use the words unity, cooperation, interchange, fellowship and the like expressions but they don't move us—distant ideals. Partnership when used, connotes equality, mutual responsibility and solidarity in the work. A more intense feeling of working together. St. Paul in Corinthians used this meaning when talking about the analogy of the body.
Searching for a true community is not easy. It is easy to see the working together as more convenient, profitable, efficient means to an end. However, a real community when achieved is the medium projecting love and unity. Desire and vitality are nurtured and the community evangelizes as a community. The Holy Spirit with obstacles removed is free to move the community. The community becomes an end in itself—presence of Jesus.
In society, without partnership, we have little development. In the church, we don't lack partnership but it is not easily seen. It is not a central feature of our mentality. In May of this year, the International Theological Commission said any process of discernment should begin with a consultation of the laity and they need to be given more space in the church where they can express themselves.
There is a need they said to overcome a clerical mentality that risks keeping them at the margins of church life. It is true that the laity in our tradition don't have the right to vote but when the clergy as lone rangers go about their work without consultation with the laity this is often the results. The laity are not only in the church but are the church said St. John Paul II in Christi Fidelis. In the Church's law and tradition, the laity only have the right to propose but there is no law that prevents the clergy from sharing their authority.
The clergy needs to show they can't do the work they have been entrusted, alone. The laity are the partners in the work given to the church. St. Teresa of Calcutta is quoted as saying: "I can do something you can't and you can do something I can't, together we can do great things." Would it not be a big step to have this as a motto for our faith communities?
On the
opinion page of the Catholic Peace Weekly, a senior journalist writes
about the decrease of the birth rate and the impact on society. He
recently attended a lecture at a high school and spoke with the
principal, teachers, and parents. At first, the conversation was about
the career path of the high school students but passed to the issue of
elementary and junior high schools in the countryside.
The
problem is the lack of students because of the low birth rate in the
country. One of the middle schools with the smallest number of students
was 13 and there are 16 staff members. At some other middle schools there
were only 18-35 students, in the past these schools had 300 to 500
students.
It
would seem that if the number of teachers and students were such that
you have one on one you would have more interest in the needs of each
student and more learning. One student's mother responded that people
who speak this way don't know what they are talking about.
When
you have so few students socializing is a problem and you are in a
situation where you are competing with friends from elementary school.
Parents have a problem with sending their children to such a school.
This is a problem not only in the country. This year's school
population was 8,240,000 which is a decrease of 5,444,000 from 1988.
In
June the Ministry of Education completed the evaluation of 323
universities nationwide including 40 colleges and vocational schools.
Universities that received bad grades in the second evaluation which
ends in August will be sanctioned and reduced in their capacity and
financial support ended.
The
reason is to reduce the admission quota of college students in line
with the decline in the school-age population. In 2015, the number
attending universities was 530,000 this will decrease to 240,000 in
2023. No signs of improvement in the future.
The
number of children born last year was only 358,000 and this year at
most 320,000. The number of babies born in April of this year was only
27,700 so this year the birth rate even lower than last year which was
the lowest recorded.
This
will also affect the universities run by the church. The question is
what will happen when the ripple effect reaches these schools. The
average number of new students in the seven Catholic seminaries
nationwide including the Catholic University is significantly below the
quotas. The average was 53% percent lower than the quota and in a few,
it was 30%. The recruitment rate occupies a large percentage of the
total score of 76 points in the evaluation.
Although
the Catholic and other religious groups claim that it is necessary to
consider the circumstances of each university since theology schools
only have one department; it is unlikely this will be accepted by the
Ministry of Education.
The
situation in the universities will continue to deteriorate with the
passage of time. The low birth rate will have serious repercussions and
one of the signs is when you have more staff than students. This will
require preemptive measures for Catholic seminaries with low recruitment
rates.
