What Must the Church Do Post Corona 19?

Fortunately, the recent "coronavirus infection-19" in Korea has been slowing down. [Masses resumed on April 23] However, it's still too early to make any predictions for the future. We know what is happening in the West. So begins a feature article in Catholic Times by a pastor with a doctorate who taught in the seminary and now is a pastor in Inchon. He looks over the past history of Europe with Asian eyes.

The article is titled "Civilization and Disease and the Path of Humanity and the Church" and uses the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on the role the Church must play to overcome post-Corona 19 problems.

The Plague (Black Death) ended the Middle Ages and gave birth to modernity. The enormous contagion caused the loss of much of the European population, which in turn accelerated the fall of the manorial economy and serfdom. Besides, the religious authority that had ruled the Middle Ages collapsed when high-ranking priests fled the Black Death. Until the Black Death, Europe was controlled by the Catholic Church and the feudal aristocracy. They not only dominated the territory and possessed wealth but even controlled all information and knowledge. The weakness and confusion of the ruling and clerical classes gave way to a longing for a new era. This chaos in the church was the trigger for the Renaissance to bloom.
 
The reformation was an internal movement for church reform. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a priest of the Augustinian Order, announced the 95 articles of refutation: "Only with the Bible only with grace, only with faith." It was a movement that tried to reform the churches and institutions that were collapsing at that time. As the feudal society gradually collapsed after the Crusades, the development of commerce changed the structure of society as the agricultural economy moved to a commercial economy. With the advent of nationalism, churches in Spain and France came under the rule of the state, and the decrease of the authority of the papacy accelerated church reform. Powerful monarchs appeared in France, England, and Spain, forcing nobles to serve the entire nation. The monarchs of these countries felt the need to restrain the power of numerous feudal lords and senior clergy, who owned vast amounts of land.
 
Descartes (1596-1650), father of modern philosophy, said: "I think therefore I am" (Cogito ergo sum). 'God' who was at the center of philosophy (Deus) disappeared and "I" (Ego) appeared and the beginning of modern thought and the French Revolution (1789 ~ 1799). At the time of the French Revolution, about 2% of the total 25 million people in the country, comprised the first estate, and second estate: Catholic clergy and the nobles owned half of the entire country, and most of the important positions, exempt from taxes, and lived in luxury. On the other hand, most citizens, 98% of them, had to pay heavy taxes. Obviously, the target of the French Revolution was aimed at the feudal dynasty and the Catholic Church.

Citizens shouted "freedom," "equality," and "philanthropy" and attacked the Catholic Church, symbolizing the Ancien Régime (old system) and desiring to destroy the icon of the old system.  The revolutionary leaders, the Jacobin, closed the monasteries, confiscated church property and arrested, imprisoned, exiled and executed some 40,000 Catholic priests. After that, the Catholic Church was lost. Since 1794, France has reached out to the church, and the church has partially normalized.

In France, the power of religion declined irreversibly, the authority of the church was weakened, and the secularization of the state became self-evident. The separation of state and religion in 1905 completed the secularization. During World War II, the Church experienced utter helplessness and incompetence. The church was not united against the Nazis. People who were dissatisfied with the church that had turned away from the changes in the world left the church, and as a result, the Catholic Church in Europe was greatly weakened.

The 2nd Vatican Council opened on October 11, 1962, and closed on December 8, 1965. The main value was to change the Catholic Church in a way that would respond to modern times.
 
The church changed its attitude towards the world, born again, recognizing the mistakes and deficiencies of the past and desiring to see the world as a partner on the road to salvation. By improving the system in which all powers are concentrated on one person, to "solidarity" a community response to the work that was entrusted to the church. Salvation was possible outside the church and the council acknowledged that various religions and ideas in the world contained truth, were ideas that were developed.
 
Humanity is now facing a global crisis. Probably the biggest crisis of our generation. Corona 19 won't go away easily. Now we just have to plan the world to live with the coronavirus. The new world has already come and faced the question, "What life will we live now?" At the end of the Corona 19 pandemic, the world will not be the same as before, and Corona 19 will completely change the world's political, economic, cultural, and religious order.
 
The Catholic Church has more than half the hospital beds in the country and the best medical units with state-of-the-art medical facilities and equipment and the world's best medical staff. And the Catholic Social Welfare Society manages numerous welfare facilities and organizations nationwide. Numerous priests and religious are struggling at the medical and social welfare sites. The church needs to ask for more active solidarity from the world in this crisis. The writer would like to see the Church take a more active roll in helping those that are hurting from the situation in society because of the virus. With the empty churches without liturgy, they could be used for various works to prepare for the future.

The crisis is a risk, but it is also an opportunity. The Catholic (universal) church must play a significant role in the global response to global disease, global warming, and climate crisis, emergencies now faced by global citizenship, and work towards global solidarity. We need to promote, educate, and act to deal with the violence that is nurtured by neoliberalism's control of the world's finances. The Swedish teenage girl is moving around the world with her message. What is the Catholic Church saying as a "universal," Church with its vast and powerful organization and funds worldwide? He is sad that the church is not as active as it should be in preparing the world for the future.

Revival of Trot Music Among the Young

Music is an important ingredient of the Korean culture; a college professor in a column of the Peace Weekly gives the readers some information on what is called 'Trot': usually a two-beat repetitive rhythm, with vocal inflections, Korean pop music.

Trot's popularity was exclusively strong among the middle-aged. Music contests featuring trot singers were always popular compared to similar musical programs but now the young have taken a liking to the music and are becoming fans.

Reasons for the change are the new elements added, new interpretations and arrangement of songs, the participation of young and handsome singers and a popular contestant format. This trend with new interpretations of the old gave birth to a new word: 'Newtro', a reinterpretation of old and familiar styles in fashion, interiors, food, etc. It is a version of the Korean hip culture distinctly Korean in origin and interpretation. The 'Trot' movement may be called the peak of the Newtro trend, Newtro is made up of 'New' and 'Retro'.

This is because everyone remembers the good old times and wants to return to the good feelings of childhood, where mom and dad were in control and life was simple and uncompetitive, most people remember those days, experienced with vague positive emotions. In particular, when you become an adult and placed in a psychological, economically difficult or stressful environment, it is a great comfort to return to the memories and feelings of those good old days.

Young people who were not familiar with 'Trot' would be experiencing something new. It's no longer old fashion music but now with young, great singers on a new stage, they have made it their music. Ironically, the publicity that revived 'Trot' is digital. The technologies that opened the digital age have solved the temporal and spatial limitations that are obstacles to disseminating and enjoying the old. Young people could access the experiences of their parents' generation through computers or smartphones, and over 7 million people from various generations could participate in popular digital platforms at the same time.

Utilizing the good old days, 'Newtro Trend' is a keyword that opens the wallet in the consumers' market. To take advantage of 'Newtro Trend', whether it's food, music or fashion, you have to remind yourself of positive emotions like love, friendship, faith, comfort, joy, stability, intimacy, protection, courage, frustration, and longing. Therefore, it is important for any group to find clues that remind them of their childhood and happy old days. It could be the sound of a bird or rain that awakened them from a nap as a child, the smell of soybean soup that mother boiled, or it could be the music of a game room or roller skating rink. Music, in particular, is a pointer to the good old days. A study that was made showed that in the case of middle-aged women who are big in shopping, the sales increase by 20% if they insert music they were familiar with in their 20s.

How does one add a new taste to the good old experiences and memories to fit our modern taste? Consumers miss the good old days, but not the discomfort and boredom behind the memories. We do not want to give up the convenience, promptness, and treatment we receive as customers. The 'Trot' craze is a result of success by allowing old and young memories to be enjoyed conveniently and elegantly in a new format. What is the next 'old' that will comfort us after the gloomy spring? What will it be after the "Corona Blue Trot"? What will be the new old to return life to our spirits?

Coronavirus Pandemic And Harmony

During the Coronavirus pandemic, many are the opinions on the tactics and strategies to prevent harm caused by the virus. We are still in the learning stage on the pandemic and a doctor writing in the Catholic Digest gives us his personal ideas on the subject.

The Creator borrowed the body of his parents and the living noble person called 'me' was given life. The Creator put the genetic factors for life in the bodies' directory giving direction to a healthy life. Even if we don't know what the directory contains we are programmed to lead a harmonious life.

He believes that the virus does not easily attack those who are living a harmoniously healthy life. We have within ourselves the antibodies that will do battle. Life is always seeking health and fights disease but always at its strongest when we live in harmony with nature. In our thinking, healing comes with the destruction of harmony. However, the infectious nature of the virus comes from the breakdown of the harmony that we should have in nature.

Bats have lived as friends to humankind for a long time eating harmful insects. There are about 130 different viruses that live in a bat body. However, because of the 40-degree body temperature they are not infected and are not the immediate host of the spread to humans. Consequently, bats with the virus can live harmoniously with us.

With the population increase and development continuing within nature the bats have retreated deeper into the wooded areas and domesticated animals and wild animals have come into our habitat; the virus mutating and coming into our lives.

It’s unlikely that bats directly gave the virus to humans is the opinion of many who have studied the subject. Scientists suspect that the bat infected another animal, an 'intermediate host', which transmitted the virus to humans.

All of life has a reason for its existence. Even what we consider useless such as weeds with their strong roots help to prevent landslides after heavy rains and during dry periods filters dust. What would happen if we got rid of all weeds?

In 1872 the United States made Yellow Stone a National Park. In 1926 the wolves living in the park, for fear they would harm the sightseers, were killed. For 70 years they were able to see the changes in the natural habitat of the park and were surprised to see the great harm to nature.

The wolves in one year would have killed 22 deer. After the disappearance of the wolves, the elks began to increase. They grew in great numbers destroying the aspen and willow trees, grasses, and water became scarce. Instead of wolves, the cayotes increased and they began to rule and the number of other animals began to change and little by little the park began to deteriorate.

Without those trees, songbirds began to decline, beavers no longer built their dams and riverbanks started to erode. Without beaver dams and the shade from trees and other plants, water temperatures were too high for cold-water fish.

The natural environment was destroyed. In 1996 the experts seeing the results of their interference in the natural life of the park put back 14 wolves. It was like a miracle. The number of elks decreased, those that remained, to evade the wolves moved to another area. Where the deer vacated the aspen and willow began to appear in great numbers and birds and many different kinds of plants began to grow. The otter, ducks, a variety of fish, rabbits, rats, foxes, and weasels brought badgers and eagles.

What nature desires is harmony and a healthy environment. We have to be conscious of not destroying this harmony in nature. We are a part of nature and the Creator programmed our genes to live harmoniously and in a healthy relationship with nature.

Everything Will be Well

"Everything will go well. Everything will be fine. All manner of things shall be well." (Julian of Norwich) A religious sister in her article in the Catholic Times gives us an idea of the times of this contemplative nun.

Julian of Norwich is a 14th-century mystic and anchoress who lived during the time of the Black Death which brought great confusion to society, at a time when the church was struggling with power squabbles. 

In Julian's autobiography, there is a phrase that says: "everything will be all right" repeated three times. This is her core message, which says, "God is love, and God's love will eventually win." 

These words of Julian, who survived the pain of death and did not lose hope and trust in God, reverberate in the hearts of believers who have to deal with this long period of quarantine and exhaustion from the Coronavirus Infection.

She wants to meditate on these words of infinite affirmation in a time when we on the feast of Easter were not able to meet to celebrate. What are we to take from this unprecedented situation? She wants us to have us remember: "God is love, and God's love will eventually win."

Pope Francis began Holy Week by sending video letters to families worldwide. The Pope's warm advice reminds us to remember many who have worked hard in these difficult times, especially those who are alone, and those isolated with Corona 19, he urges us to find ways with the 'Creativity of Love' to send messages in the spirit of love to those around us.

The hermits of Julian's day were also isolated in small rooms, but spiritual liberty connected them to others, as healers and counselors. 

Recently, unable to meet directly with believers in each parish, priests and religious encouraged believers by phone calls and messages. Besides, various videos of consolation and encouragement introduced by the social media were seen as a new form of communication that showed 'Creativity of Love' beyond the difficulties.

Corona 19 brought many unusual phenomena, both good and bad to our attention. As the world pauses for a while, we see how the outcome of some development for human convenience, not for our good, is being restored to a healthier state. As industrial activities decrease, the atmospheric environment improves, the sky opens transparently, and in the homes, families spend a lot of time together and relationships are recovering. 

The virus doesn't discriminate it infects anyone, but the structure of inequality that has been established in human society has a sad phenomenon that results in a more letal mortality rate for the socially disadvantaged. 

However, because of this, the 'public health system' is better maintained, 'basic income' so that everyone can evenly maintain human dignity is systematically introduced, and a 'social safety net' is established so that socially disadvantaged people are helped. Also, structural and institutional alternatives have been proposed to overcome the 'climate crisis', a major cause of the corona problem.

Human pride has done much harm to creation and 'Corona 19' has shown us why. God will turn crisis into opportunity through our change of heart. 'Post-Corona' should be a time to make a transition to a sustainable society that lives in harmony with all creation. 

"We are in God and God whom we do not see is in us."

 

 

Grace of TV Masses

To prevent new coronaviruses, not only the Korean Catholic Church but also the Vatican has ceased all Masses. Pope Francis, says Mass daily without believers, broadcast live on the Internet for the first time. A priest writing in the Eyes of The Believer Column of the Catholic Times gives his ideas on TV Masses.

In Korean churches, the number of Internet YouTube channel Mass inquiries has increased tremendously, and the weekly broadcast Mass from the Catholic Peace Broadcasting TV is on the rise from 3 to 5 times, and the weekly broadcast Mass has increased 10 times. Compared to the days of the past, when only Christmas or the Easter Mass were celebrated by the Pope. We have a big change.

The main audience of TV Mass is composed of believers. Among the believers, the elderly, the sick, pregnant women, and those who are unable to participate in Mass due to travel or business. Of course, TV Mass viewers can actively participate in the liturgy of the Word, but cannot receive Holy Communion. It's not the same as attending Mass in church but the second-best.

TV Mass has the effect of conditionally substituting for the obligation of attending Sunday Mass but there are other advantages. First, provide opportunities for evangelization, directly or indirectly. TV Mass plays an important role in encouraging the religious life of Catholics belonging to the community, mission stations, various groups, foreign migrants, etc. Also, TV Mass contributes to the evangelization of the culture by informing society that the Catholic Church exists in this culture impregnated with materialism and individualism.

As a second advantage, it makes the Mass more intimate; the viewers see the actions of the priest at the altar from different angles and closer than would be the case in church. The third advantage is that TV Mass helps spiritual life. As individualism becomes more prevalent, young married people, elderly people living alone, those disconnected from their neighbors, many are experiencing human alienation, consequently, the deeper need for spirituality to find meaning, to bring inner calm. In this situation, TV Mass can fill one's spiritual thirst and remind the viewer they are members of a community of faith. The church should develop and expand these TV Masses in a way that makes them more effective.

As a pastor of a community, the writer mentions how he notices over time that the numbers attending Mass continue to decrease. The increase in apathy plays a part, but also travel, weekend leisure, or work, aging, etc. However, according to a survey conducted by the US Pew Research Center in 2019, Korea's smartphone penetration rate was 95%, ranking first in the world. In a situation where the majority of people spend a day with their smartphones, it would be good to emphasize the benefits of religious life through more active promotion and use of TV Masses. 

God works through the media. In the Encyclical Communio et Progressio: The Church sees the media as 'gifts of God' by His providential design, unite men in brotherhood and so help them to cooperate with His plan for their salvation. "It is the mission of those with responsible positions in the Church to announce without fail the full truth by the means of social communication, to give a true picture of the Church and her life. Since the media are often the only channels of information that exist between the Church and the world, a failure to use them amounts to "burying the talent given by God" (#123).

Therefore, the church needs a more active attitude towards the media suitable for mission and ministry. God's grace comes in many ways. Those who watch TV Masses will be open to grace. Sometimes, comforted, renewing one's identity as a believer, and the feeling of belonging to the church community.

Freedom Needs to Have Limits

We continue to be flooded with news, special video reports, articles, all kinds of media keeping us updated with what is happening here and the rest of the world with Corona 19. The Peace Column of the Peace Weekly gives the readers some thoughts to reflect on during this time.

The articles the writer reads about the corona 19 outbreak, are messages to him coming from the earth to humankind.  He understands them coming from the 'Creator God' and related to global warming.

Updating to [April 12, in the United States, a world's superpower, the number of deaths from corona has exceeded 20,000] so the global village is panicking. In Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom, the death toll could range from thousands to tens of thousands. It is not an exaggeration to say that the corona crisis will result in the largest number of deaths since World War II. 
The bigger problem is that we don't know how serious and long-lasting this crisis will be. Even if in June and July with the temperature rising and we see a change, without a vaccine, it can recur at any time. The various effects such as economic, social and political are difficult to measure. It is also predicted that the U.S. unemployment rate will exceed 30%, the highest since the Great Depression.

In Korea, the decrease in demand has led to an increase in the closure of businesses dealing with travel, flights, food, furniture, clothing, and electronics. This leads to unemployment. The service industry is more than 60% of Korea's industrial output. It doesn't sound ridiculous to say that economic paralysis is more frightening than more deaths.

Corona 19 is said to be a common infectious disease such as SARS, swine flu, and MERS. It is caused by pathogens that spread between animals and humans. The habitat of wild animals has been greatly reduced due to the destruction of the human ecosystem and contact with humans has increased. More than 70% of the new infectious diseases that occurred in the last 20 years are common animal/human infections.  They can develop more often in the future.

Ecosystem destruction is known to have the greatest impact on global warming. This is due to greenhouse gases from excessive use of fossil fuels such as oil and coal. Because of this, wetlands are disappearing and dry areas and desertification are increasing. Due to extreme weather conditions, the frequency and intensity of drought, flood, typhoons have also increased.

Human ethical corruption is always present. The neoliberal system is the foundation for unlimited growth and consumer desire. Neo-liberalism promotes free markets, deregulation, and minimization of state intervention in the market because of reduced efficiency.
 
"Everything that is as vulnerable as the natural environment in front of the interests of the market, which has become an absolute rule, must be defenseless. In the meantime, economic powers continue to justify the current global system where priority tends to be given to speculation and the pursuit of financial gain, which fail to take the context into account, let alone the effects on human dignity and the natural environment. Here we see how environmental deterioration and human and ethical degradation are closely linked. Many people will deny doing anything wrong because distractions constantly dull our consciousness of just how limited and finite our world really is" (Laudatio Si #56).

Pain is said to be a school of love. The Corona event can be God's way of instructing us that the way we are living needs to be changed. If we demand to be free to do what we want when we want, life in the global village will suffer. We need to respect God's creative order, respect all creatures in the global ecosystem as well as people, and live a life of solidarity.
 
This period after the Resurrection is to be freed internally to continue to refrain from the unhealthy desires we gave up in Lent. The church, which has postponed offline Mass indefinitely, should be a sign of the times and suggest new standards and new ways of spreading the good news of new life.

Searching For Happiness

In the Weekend Letter column of the Catholic Times, a novelist introduces us to a four-letter Chinese expression 邯鄲之步, (Citizens of Handan were admired for their walking style). Lesson learned: Beware of being enamored by what we see and forget what we can't see).  

A young man in the time of the Yuan Dynasty (BC 403~BC 221) admired the way those in another area of the country walked. He leaves his own country and goes to Handan to learn but before he succeeds in learning the new gait, he forgets his own way of walking and crawls back home. 

As a believer in God, our spiritual life often imitates this way of acting. Humans constantly want happiness, but, inevitably, we never find what we seek. In search of happiness, we are filled with many false ideas and forget that for Christians happiness is a gift—grace.

Anxiety is a component of the human condition. It afflicts humans in many forms: deficiencies, demands, sadness, suffering, and death. We can't give up our human desire for earthly happiness even if we know it will not be realized; this effort is the essence of will, even when goals are reached, other aspects of our desires will appear for the will to pursue. 

So, while trying to expel anxiety you can't do anything other than try to change the appearance of the anguish bothering us. This anxiety is inevitable, and one pain is expelled by another, and when one pain disappears, new pain appears. 

When we don't get what we want, its value seems to surpass everything, but once we get it, it looks different and a similar desire captures us and we hunger for it. In other words, lack is a prerequisite for all joy. Hence, satisfaction or happiness is nothing more than emancipation from what we lack.

Therefore, even if we strive tirelessly from hope to hope we may never end satisfying ourselves. This is because we don't realize we are pouring water into a bottomless jar. In this way, even if it is not realized, it leads to desire that cannot be given up, and this desire ends only by being blocked; if left alone, it goes on infinitely.

These desires appear differently to the lower and the upper classes in society. Poverty is the scourge of the lower classes but the upper classes have a more severe scourge, boredom, the search for sensory stimuli to be rewarded with pleasure. At this time anxiety is the choice between truth or pleasure. 

With a strange type of vanity, I try to be happy in this life with my own powers, but I cannot live properly with these powers. With faith and prayer, we need to realize that without the help of the one who gave us these powers we will not achieve what we desire.

We should accept the difficulties of life that we can't change; a true believer is not uneasy about life but has gratitude for graces received and responds in prayer.