Survey Of Catholic Parishioners During Pandemic

In the recent Catholic Times, an article featured the results of a Believers' Survey in one of the dioceses, conducted online from May 20 to 27. Over 6,000 parishioners responded and a seminar was held to discuss the results of the survey and the future of the Korean church after the corona 19.

According to the survey, because of the Corona 19, there was the increased use of the 'Internet and smartphone, 84.2%, and 53% of respondents mentioned the discontinuing of the Mass was at first uncomfortable, but gradually improved.

Complicated were the answers to the prospect of a change in religious life after Corona 19. As for the positive outlook, 86.6% of respondents said, they will spend more time with family and 81.6%, will be more devoted to their spiritual life than before. The negative outlook: 69.3% thought there would be a decrease in Mass attendance and 54% thought the apostolic groups will not be the same even if the daily life recovers. Also, 58.7% saw the prospects that non-face-to-face online meetings will be increased.

Based on the results of the investigation, one of the members of the diocesan pastoral council said we should move on to the practice of faith centered on daily life. It is difficult to go back and there is a concern that those who are not able to adapt and give sufficient thought to the situation, will leave the community.

Believers who do come back may show higher loyalty than in the past, but those who were more passive will prefer non-facing methods. Therefore, he emphasized that what we do now is important. The reason for conducting this survey was also to change the pastoral direction and method for the foreseeable future. In particular, he commented that as a representative of the lay faithful, it is necessary to establish and implement countermeasures in line with the primary responsibility of the diocesan council

How do pastors see this phenomenon? The head of the  Pastoral Research Institute noted the many responses to the subjective questions. The respondents had a lot to say and had strong opinions. If you accept the opinions of the positive believers, you will have the opportunity to transform into a consensus church again. Otherwise, your understanding of the Catholic Church will be largely turned into disappointment and helplessness.

Another pastor mentioned an American diocese with a long history of democracy and cooperation with the laypeople. At this point, the church should be used as an opportunity for church reformation and renewal in the light of a timely consensus.

The bishop of the diocese was happy to see that the investigation has been conducted with the diocesan pastoral council. According to the findings, it will be difficult to return to the pre-Corona 19 situation. And hopes that the gathering together of the priests and the diocesan council will continue to meet and produce good fruit.

Participants expressed various opinions on the workings of the diocese The opinion that the church should take one step closer to young people and marginalized people was outstanding. The church needs to reach out to the places where young people are and communicate directly.

One participant wondered what the church would look like in 30 years if we don't pay attention to young people.

The article concludes with the head of the diocesan research institute who thought that the young people would join in great numbers because the investigation was conducted online. Instead, it was the parishioners in their 50s and 60s, the zealous workers in the church. We need to help these parishioners to participate more in-depth but also need to make efforts to reach out to the passive and marginalized. At present, the Mass has been reopened, but the marginalization of those who cannot attend the Mass because of age and health is growing. She wants the parish to think of ways the church is to reach those who are marginalized.

Mansions Without Toilets

Writing in the Believers' Column of the Catholic Times a religious sister talks about a village in which she was assigned many years ago, It was a petrochemical and industrial complex where many migrant workers lived in the 1990s.

The migrant workers have left and it has become a place for people living in poverty: the elderly, disabled, the poor without credit, in difficult economic conditions, coming in search of cheap rent. Also, the old houses are being destroyed and small and medium factories entering, the place, is somewhat desolate, but it is also a place where the voice of seniors sharing warmth in the small gardens separating the houses.

However, there are dangers with which the residents are not familiar. Greenhouse gas emitted daily from nearby industrial complexes, not only has poor air quality but also within the 30km radius of this village, we have nuclear power plants and are always exposed to the danger of nuclear accidents. After 6 pm, this area with little electricity usage carries the risk of nuclear radiation from high-voltage electricity production to Seoul and other large cities.

Currently, the convent where the sister lives is located in the most central area in Seoul, and the surrounding large buildings and street lights are on all night, and the light is so bright that she can live a basic life with the light of the next building without turning on the lights in her room. Ironically, the place with the most electricity use is more than 300 km from the nuclear power. Living in such circumstances for a year allowed her to think about energy and electricity.

She quotes a Japanese nuclear chemist who said that nuclear waste cannot be processed within the earth's limited time, a pioneer against nuclear expansion. Nuclear energy was likened to 'a mansion apartment without a toilet'. Nuclear power is a technology that attempts to destroy the stability of the atomic nucleus with the introduction of foreign matter. It is essentially incompatible with the principles of life on earth. We have seen the results in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Chernobyl.

In this way, a nuclear power plant can be considered as the epitome of generational egoism making the future generations deal with nuclear waste for more than 100,000 years. During a visit to Japan in 2019, Pope Francis said, "Humanity should not go against the natural rules set by God." He compared the "Nuclear Power Plant" to the "Babel Tower," a symbol of self-destruction caused by human greed. In a meeting with victims of the nuclear accident in Fukushima in January, he said, "We must realize that we have a great responsibility for future generations."

By the time this article was submitted, the results of the referendum in the Ulsan area of the country were not known but it was recently released and the citizens voted overwhelmingly against building more nuclear waste disposal systems ('macstor' systems) in the Ulsan area. The present government has gone on record to gradually decrease the dependence on nuclear energy.

Lastly, she appeals to the villagers who have little electricity."We, Seoul citizens with a lot of electricity, are eager to join you in halting the construction of the nuclear dump site!!!"

Care For the Elderly

Human life at all its stages is to be respected. The Catholic Times in a lead article discussed the respect for the elderly. In modern society, the elderly are not always seen as objects of respect and support.

The article quotes one professor: "Previously, filial piety, the respect for parents and the elderly, was the main value of society, but now it is no longer accepted because of changes in family structure, functions, and values. It has become difficult. Looking over the information on the elderly he sees discrimination and alienation occurring often among the elderly. The worst results are neglect and abuse.

The violation of dignity toward the elderly comes from a lack of awareness of their rights. This means cases of dignity infringement occur when an elderly person is perceived as a controllable entity. Looking at the cases of elder abuse they were perceived as possessions, not as persons who had decision-making rights.

A study on the concept of elderly human rights and experience of their infringement is perceived as an emotional human rights violation: when one doesn't do what they want or forced to do what they don't want to do—dignity has been violated when not respected.
 
The problem is that the lack of awareness of elderly human rights can produce more victims of abuse. This is because, in a society where the responsibility for caring for the elderly is given first to the family, people feel the burden of caring for the elderly due to aging, and as a result, stress and anger may accumulate, fostering aggression of people who lack the awareness of human rights.

According to the '2017 Report on the Abuse of the Aged' by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Center for the Protection of the Aged, more than half (58.8%) of the 8,415 cases of abuse occurred due to internal and external problems of supporting the elderly. Individuals' internal problems such as anger and impulsive personality were 34.5%, external problems such as stress, unemployment, and divorce were 17.8%, and the burden of supporting the victim was 6.5%, accounting for the majority of the causes of abusers.

In the 2018 Comprehensive Report on the Rights of the Aged, published by the National Human Rights Commission of 2018, 85.6% of respondents from young and matured adults said that "the care of the elderly should be the responsibility of the state or local governments." Only 57.6% answered 'yes' to the question of whether adult children should take care of the elderly in the family.

Experts advise that "elderly human rights awareness" and "care for socialization" are necessary to prevent their infringement. This means that the people who care for the elderly should be trained and the burden should be shared by society.
 
An Elder Abuse Response Plan to Enhance Human Rights in the Elderly recommends the need to expand the target of those to be helped: the importance of support programs for the elderly and families and a network to secure coping resources.

The  priest chairman of a Social Welfare Committee said: "The church has emphasized the precious value of life' as in the past." The changing perception of the elderly is the result of the changing value toward life. The reality of today, of ignoring and feeling disgusted toward the elderly, who are helpless, weak, and unable to do productive economic activities, is a sign of how far we have come in a materialistic outlook on life. "The church should continue to make efforts to awaken the precious value of life and spread the culture of life through solidarity with interested parties, experts, and field practitioners in society.

Synodality and the New Way of Being Church

Synodality is a word seen often in Korean Catholic circles. We had two articles in a bulletin addressed to priests recently on the subject. In the past we would talk about partnership, team ministry, working together, they were just words but it seems there is a change in the way the words are heard recently. I wonder if the coronavirus is not the catalyst that is bringing a change. 

One of the priests writes about a two-day training program on Synodality on the theme of 'God to the Church of the Third Millennium,' 'Synodality, a journey. It may seem like a new thing today, but in fact, it was there from the beginning in the long tradition of the Bible and the church. The two days spent together was to find ways to apply and practice it in the diocese and parish ministry.

Because of the coronavirus, there was some uncomfortableness among the group. However, after listening to the two lectures and sharing, the atmosphere was just right for dinner. Humans are made to live together and this is again experienced with the two-day program. The younger ones more so than the older. 

 In his room, he read quietly the Constitution of the Church of the Second Vatican Council. Particularly noticeable were Chapter 5, "The Church's Universal Call" and Chapter 7: "Pilgrim Church." Not only the clergy and religious but all the members of the Church are one— God does not drag us, unconditionally, but invites us with his strength and gifts.

The "sense of the faith of believers" is a gift of guidance by the Holy Spirit and the foundation of the Synodality we are called to. The writer has heard the good news of salvation, but since still in the world, he realized why co-consensus is critical as a 'road together' in an incomplete and uncertain community that wavers and moves forward.

The words he has heard most since becoming a pastor was: "Father, we want you to give us direction." Priests need to change, but the change of believers who have lived with "tell me what to do" will not be easy.

The Korean Catholic Church developed its faith from an intellectual group of seekers who were making "efforts to get the truth and seeking the right" (實事求是). Besides, those who saw the new world of equality and friendliness beyond social status were the leading players. It was a pioneering church. Society has changed, and the Church is now trying to change.

In joint participation and shared responsibility, the number of people and procedures are more complicated, but the 'moment of decision' starting from "everybody-some people-one person" is a church tradition familiar and not beyond our strength.

He concludes the article reminiscing having lived actively and with enthusiasm. But now that he has arrived at his middle 50s: "I want my fellow priests to help me, and the believers rather than respecting me to share my burden."

The Korean Real Doll Controversy

'Real Doll'  controversy was a news item in the Catholic Times. What’s the problem? Commercialization of women for sexual purposes. Where is human dignity?
 

On July 8, last year, a citizen posted a message on the bulletin board of the Blue House: "Please prohibit importing and selling 'real dolls'."  [The Blue House communication platform to communicate directly with the People, officials will respond if the petition has over 200,000 who agree]  The Supreme Court said that it was not considered to have seriously damaged or distorted human dignity, and permitted the import of the 'real dolls'. ['Real Dolls' are life-size sex dolls]
 

In doing so, the petitioner pointed out: "Will people who use a tool that has a woman's face and body without movement for their sexual satisfaction see women as a fellow human being?" No was his answer and within a month, 260,000 people agreed with him.

Despite the fact that the Supreme Court gave permission to import some of the 'real dolls' last year, objections continued because the product targets women as a sexual object, and appeals to male-oriented thinking. It's a sex tool.

In 2017, a company filed a lawsuit to cancel the pending suspension of 'real-doll' imports. The first trial denied the right: It expresses a specific sexual part of a person so that it can be said to seriously damage and distort human dignity and value.  People are more concerned about infringement of dignity and the male-centered structure of society than that "the state should minimize entrance in the private and hidden sphere of the individual." However, in the second trial, the first trial decision was overturned and allowed the import.

A professor is quoted as saying: "the verdict in the second trial does not deal with any possible sexual harm to women. The ruling on the license to import and sell 'real  doll' is a male-biased and unequal decision that completely eliminated the position of female citizens."

The problem is that the promotion of human rights and protection of dignity will be made more difficult for women if 'real dolls' are imported, sold, and used. This was seen in a recent scandal where over 200,000 people 'in nth rooms' (chat rooms) where users of illegally produced sexually dehumanizing footage of women, where real-life assaults became online content.


On May 17, a professional soccer team was criticized for using real-dolls in the stadium because of the coronavirus. It showed how an organization accustomed to women's sexual targeting could be satisfied with the infringement of women's dignity. In fact, 28 out of 30 life-size dolls were female mannequins. The problem of sexualizing women itself was not recognized.
 
Therefore, it is pointed out that the production of 'real dolls'  should be prohibited. Protests were held to condemn the import of 'real dolls', their production, sales, and imports. The government audit said, "It can provoke more sexual targeting of women."

Above all, the church also forbids the sexual instrumentalization of women and the need for self-discipline when it comes to matters of sex. Masturbation is not only an immoral act that harms human dignity, but sex and sexual relations outside of marriage, openness to childbirth, and love of the spouses are no longer a sign of a healthy society and a harbinger of many future problems.

A priest is quoted in the conclusion of the article: "Masturbation is adultery committed by the sexual imagination; the mind and  habitual masturbation can cause a complete abandonment of sexual control and maybe the rehearsal of sexual crime."

Living Close to the Poor

In a bulletin written for the clergy, a priest mentions how in each new assignment he goes with many resolutions. Some are particularly memorable. He mentions his desire to imitate Jesus in the way he related to the poor.

30 years ago he was assigned to work with young workers. At the time, he lived with the workers, eating and relating closely with them. He heard the words of many of the poor in society. His eyes were opened to the world in a new way. Words, of justice and love no longer theory and began understanding Jesus differently.

The words of the Gospel touched his heart at a deeper level. When he returned again to parish work he tried to do things together with the poor, but it was difficult: the poor and marginalized people work on Sundays and find it difficult to come to church. The poor rarely come to the parish to talk with the priest. Those that come are those active in the church community and not poor.

People who invite him out to meals and with whom he converses are usually those with a certain amount of leisure. People who are wealthy meet and talk easily; poor people require that we go to them.

People instinctively like to converse and meet with others and it is the way we grow close. The poor and marginalized are those with whom the encounter is usually burdensome and rare. Consequently, it requires effort and desire to make contact. He has often resolved to find the poor and marginalized during his assignments, at least once a week, but it never lasts very long.
                                                       
Some agree we need to love all without discrimination. However, when assigned to a parish they say to the nun, "Please write down a list of people who are capable and economically free," to promote various things in the parish. Talented people to do the work is necessary but it is not the proper pastoral attitude.

Jesus emphasized the love of others especially the marginalized, more than any of the holy sages in history. Even in the teaching of the church, there is a famous saying: "Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable." Although there were strong counter-arguments that we should love all equally the church held firmly to this teaching of Jesus as being in the spirit of Jesus. And if we reject the poor and marginalized and stay away from them, we are not living in God's love.

He admits that he was not an example of what to do but did make efforts to keep them in mind. He didn't talk about donations that would be a burden to them, and conscious of them tried to operate the parish simply.

Many believers and churches have been financially challenged because of coronavirus and the parishioners have dropped off from what it was making the running of the parish difficult. Because of the financial difficulty, some parishes are pressuring the parishioners to pay their denarius cultus. The poor who have become poorer find this a great burden.

After the Korean War, everybody was poor and there were little financial burdens attending church. At that time he was a teenager and he frequented many churches during those years but doesn't recall any financial burdens on the poor. The church communities were poor but were considerate of the poor. The church was a church for the poor and one that loved the poor.

Responsibility to Others

When hundreds of corona19 patients were diagnosed every day in Daegu, the hardest-hit city in Korea, it was difficult for the citizens to control their emotions, hearing about the infections in nursing and mental hospitals. The death of people without defense was terrible. So begins an article in the Peace Column of the Catholic Peace weekly by a university professor whose field is Slavic Literature.

She recalls the day, the words of a teacher struck her like a lightning bolt. "The reason why we are laughing happily at this moment is because of the tears someone cried somewhere. We are healthy because of patients, sick somewhere."

Having a relatively stable daily life except for big and small discomforts, she felt like sitting on a comfortable sofa and crying as she watched the scene of the pain reflected on the TV screen —a scene of absurdity.

Remembering that someone suffered does not mean you felt sorry for them. Using the words of a philosopher— we need to feel responsible for the sufferer. Compassion is not the same as feeling responsible. Responsibility is the attitude we must have towards the suffering of others.

"How can I enjoy the light that nobody else can see, and how can I enjoy the sound that nobody else can hear? I feel responsible for the darkness of others and I feel as if I am a thief stealing light." (Emil Cioran 1911-1995)

 We live in a world where no one is responsible for anything. Whether it's time or money, it's people who cry out for charity without sacrificing anything, people who think that large empty slogans change the world, people who sit at their desks, and discuss justice with flowery vocabulary. I wonder where responsibility enters the picture in their discussions. Obviously, it's surreal, beyond the possible, that persons responsible for their faults and mistakes are so rare, is it possible to find persons who feel responsible for the misfortunes of others?

But Corona19 showed us that there are people who actually exist, and feel responsible for the sufferings of others. They are medical staff struggling with viruses all over the country including Daegu Hospital. Unless they were willing to risk their time, stamina, family, and even life to save the lives of others, all of us would have felt helpless with the idea that all humans, were ultimately trapped in the survival of the fittest. Not everyone can be a hero. However, one needs to discriminate between those who take all kinds of risks and those who do not.

Emmanuel Levinas saw human beings as ethical subjects only when they responded to the call of others in pain. Here, the response is much more profound than simple interest.  It means that I recognize the existence and consciousness of others as my own and ultimately accept others' suffering as mine.

This is neither a matter of legal justice nor an ethical issue. It is a conclusion that can never be reached by calculation or analysis. But if this is not possible, where can we resist the evils of the world? She concludes in paying tribute to the medical staff who risk their lives and fight viruses from all over the world.