Society's Need for Volunteers

 

A lawyer in the Diagnosis of the Times of the Catholic Peace Weekly exams the need for volunteering in society.

He doesn't remember well his years in elementary school. but must have volunteered in various ways back then, but it didn't leave much of an impression. While living abroad in middle school, he ran a shoeshine corner with his friends at the Korean Association Bazaar. He learned that volunteering can be rewarding and exhilarating through the experience of making decisions on his own and putting them into practice.
 
When he was in high school, he didn't have a lot of free time. It was not in an atmosphere where everyone had to volunteer for a certain amount of time as it is these days. There is one incident he remembers clearly, although it was more a donation than volunteering. There was a morning check-up for all students in the schoolyard, and the teacher conducting the lecture said a student was hospitalized and urgently needed a blood transfusion. He quickly volunteered almost automatically and headed to the hospital with the other two students. He had a few blood donation experiences, so it didn't feel special. In retrospect, a little courage, a little empathy, and a little familiarity make volunteering possible.
 
When he was in his first or second year of college, he was able to volunteer for various activities. He did help students study in the reading room operated by a local village organization while in high school. He taught catechism to the elementary school students in his parish church and volunteered for summer camp activities during vacations. Heartwarming encounters, conflicts, dilemmas, and limitations were experienced, sometimes difficult to overcome but all helped understand people and society.
 
It is difficult calling student council activities volunteer activities;  it can be viewed as social participation. However, from the point of view of social contribution without payment, it is a volunteer activity. In the future, will we continue to see people dedicate themselves with so much effort, time, and passion without compensation?
 
 It was after he became involved with the volunteer organization he started that he seriously saw volunteering as an important part of life. 'Gonggam', (Empathy) a non-profit corporation that seeks to protect the socially disadvantaged through the law and seek social change, has been operating a volunteer program since the beginning. In the meantime, at least hundreds of people have gone through this program, and they are engaged in various activities in society, including the legal profession, the media, and academia.
 
We had several serious discussions internally while running the program. The free-form application has been replaced by a human rights-friendly application that requires only the minimum necessary information, such as name and contact information. There are still many things to consider for volunteer activities to lead to community change through voluntary social value creation activities.
 
He constantly receives calls from people who want to volunteer. People of all ages and genders even cross borders. It will be one of the roles that society must play to fully capture the hearts of those who want to volunteer. He remembers the moments when he first volunteered and the moments when he was helped through the volunteer work of countless people. He sees hope for tomorrow in the passion and courage of those unforgettable moments of the past.

What The Catholic Church Has Learned!

 

Listening Ear of the Church, Origins of tolerance and the church's listening—  

Who built Thebes with seven gates? A priest history professor, in the Kyeongyang magazine, begins his article using the words of the German playwriter Bertolt Brecht in one of his poems: A Worker Reads History— "The books are filled with names of kings. Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?"

History only remembers the kings who ordered the building of the great cities and not those who did the work. That's the reason they say history is written by the victors. However, this is not exactly the case.

At the end of the 20th century, some historians are leaving the big events of history and picking out small, insignificant incidents, unknown individuals living ordinary lives as their concern. Carlo Ginzburg is a well-known leader in this field of 'micro-history'.

In the article, the professor gives a summary of Ginzburg's famous work: The Cheese and the Worms. It's a story of a 16th-century miller known by his nickname Menocchio, who lived in Northern Italy and in 1584 was imprisoned for heresy, released and returned to prison repeatedly and in 1599 again charged for heresy and burnt at the stake. In the book, Ginzburg follows the miller up to his death in great detail: the inquisition (questioning), trial, and comments in the society of that time. 

As the subtitle of the 16th-century mill owner's view of the universe suggests, cheese and worms are one of the metaphors Menocchio used to express his own understanding and thinking about how the universe was created and operated. At that time most of the village could not read or write. Menocchio could both read and write, and with a great intellectual curiosity trying to explain his thoughts to the illiterate villagers was the reason for these figures of speech.

He did not believe in the creationism taught by the church. The universe, he believed, arose out of primordial chaos, as milk curdled into cheese and worms, rather than voluntarily created by any personality. The Holy Spirit, Son of Man, and even God were born that way. It was a kind of animism and pantheism, built on materialism.

For those of us who have left behind the 'writing down culture,' we are once again surprised by the thoroughness of Europeans who meticulously left a list of books read by ordinary villagers hundreds of years ago. 

 

It is noteworthy that the Bible, which was expensive and written in a language only a few could decipher, was also in his possession. No way to know how faithfully the original source was copied but the miller is now reading the Bible on his own and making up his own theology not following the teachings of priests.

Menocchio did not only have problems with creation but also with the church and especially with the priesthood. In his view, priests lived off the peasants... Of course, at a time when very few people knew how to write, Menocchio, who belonged to the 'literate class' in his own way, was not a good example of the culture of this new literati. But what is clear, a new class of opposition arose because of the printed word bringing many out of their darkness and helping them to see the world in a different light. With the start of Protestantism and Luther the Church was no longer helped by the culture—obediently following its teaching. 

What is surprising is the church's attitude toward the free-spirited thoughts of a villager who made a living as a miller. The questioning of Menocchio lasted for 15 years. The number of preliminary interrogations was many, and the number of documents produced in the process was enormous. However, what we find here is not just the persistence of church power exerted on a powerless individual.

Menocchio is an ambiguous figure who alternated between the oral battles of the medieval lower classes and the culture of the ruling class. However, the attitude of the interrogators who patiently listened to the story reveals the breadth of tolerance embraced by the medieval world. 

 

We know the Middle Ages as an age full of gods de-mythologized into Christianity, but a very rigid world with dramatic images of witch trials and burnings at the stake. However, it was a pretty generous time. 

At that time, the church, drew its sword to correct the chaos and disorder that began with Luther. It was around this time that the Inquisition which had been operating for a long time but only in Spain and part of the American colonies, actually started functioning at the center of the church (1532), and the list of banned books was issued (1559).  

It was clear where the sword of the church was headed. It was the will of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), aimed at both the upper classes (Giordano Bruno) and the lower classes (Menocchio) to crack down on the disruption caused by the Protestant Reformation.  

We all are familiar with the calling of the Second Vatican Council by Pope John XXIII. After receiving the items for discussion from those in the Vatican he sent them back and asked all the different churches for the topics; 2,000 different items were collected. 

The Second Vatican Council was very different from the two Councils that preceded. When they were discussing infallibility, Pope Pius 9 was present during the discussion. After the start of the II Vatican Council Pope John left the assembly. Pope Paul VI abolished the Index of Forbidden Books in 1966. Things were changing.

A half-century ago this is what the church fathers considered the new vision. A church cannot be established only with rules, systems, and rigid authority. Rather, it is woven from the situation of the majority or the few: the micro-historical attitude of listening to countless, varied experiences and thoughts. 

The ideal of our present Synod Journey is to 'listen to the various experiences and crises faced by individual churches first and then identify the path to be taken. In this sense, listening is another name for the tolerance that the church  lost for a while, the ultimate way of being. 

The election here is over, we have a new president. Hopefully, he will not be interested only in specific groups but will listen to the small and unknown people in our society.       

Is the Ukraine Tragedy Another's Problem?

 

A journalist emeritus gives the readers of the Eyes of the Believer's column of the Catholic Times his thoughts on the war in Ukraine. 

 

A woman screaming after losing her beloved family; a mother who can't sleep hugging a child surprised by the airstrike all night; and a father who shed tears of parting with his wife and daughter on a rough evacuation path. 

 

Ukraine, a weak country in Eastern Europe, has been the focus of news around the world since last month. Just 15 days ago, Russian President Putin's ordered a special military operation beginning Ukraine's tragedy. Russian troops stationed around the country's border entered with armored vehicles and airstrikes. It goes without saying that peaceful Ukraine, a granary of wheat and corn, quickly is turned into a wasteland.

When the war broke out, people escaped to neighboring Poland and other places. These unfortunate scenes fill the TV screen every day, showing us the horrors of the war. The tragedy does not stop here. How many innocent civilians are injured and killed after homes and major facilities are destroyed? He remembers the trauma of the Korean War more than 70 years ago? Ukrainians more and more are taking up guns to protect their homeland.

Putin, embarrassed by the formidable resistance, is even mentioning a "nuclear weapon card." Initially, there was a strong tendency to blame the war on Ukrainian comedian-turned-President Zelensky. Is it the ignorance of a beginner in politics; rash and thoughtless behavior of a naive leader turning a blind eye to the weak food of the strong logic?...

 

However, what politicians in this country should emulate is Noblesse Oblige (the moral obligation required of high-ranking social workers). "We are all protecting the independence of our country. Glory to my country!" Former and current presidents of Ukraine set an outstanding example. Instead of fleeing the country they are taking weapons and confronting the intruder.

The war, which started the new Cold War, is due to a clash between Ukraine, which is trying to join NATO (Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization) in search of freedom and economic prosperity, and Russia, which is trying to tie neighboring countries into its own sphere of influence. However, aside from this, the idea that one country invades another sovereign state is absurd. This is why we have no choice but to doubt Putin's mental state. War and violence are only cruel and dirty for any reason. The saying that there can never be a righteous and great war is common sense.

In response, anti-war and anti-Putin protests are spreading like wildfires throughout the world. Emergency relief and support activities are also lined up. It is eloquent that there are no borders in the practice of humanity, peace, and love, with each country imposing sanctions on Russia. Above all, he hopes the Ukrainian people, who are in great sadness and pain, will gain comfort and strength with this sense of brotherhood.

Pope Francis' appeal, saying, "Let's pray for Ukraine" 

"Every war leaves our world worse than it was before. War is a failure of politics and of humanity, a shameful capitulation, a stinging defeat before the forces of evil. Let us not remain mired in theoretical discussions, but touch the wounded flesh of the victims. Let us look once more at all those civilians whose killing was considered 'collateral damage'. Let us ask the victims themselves. Let us think of the refugees and displaced, those who suffered the effects of atomic radiation or chemical attacks, the mothers who lost their children, and the boys and girls maimed or deprived of their childhood. Let us hear the true stories of these victims of violence, look at reality through their eyes, and listen with an open heart to the stories they tell. In this way, we will be able to grasp the abyss of evil at the heart of war. Nor will it trouble us to be deemed naive for choosing peace."  All Brothers #261

 

The fierce 20s presidential election campaign has ended and we have a new president-elect. Looking at the situation in Ukraine we have a lot to learn. As a divided country, we are caught between great powers, so the prevention of wars and the maintenance of peace among our peoples is always a great concern. 

 

A taut balloon will burst when touched. Meticulous crisis management and expansion of inter-Korean exchanges have become the new president's priority.
The winter is over and spring has come when everything comes alive. Now, let's straighten our shoulders that have shrunk during the winter and run to keep true peace.

Hope in the Future Church

A religious sister writes in the recent bulletin for priests on the life she would like to live if she were a priest. And if a bishop the way she would want to take care of the church. She admits to letting her imagination go in these directions at times.

As a pastor of a parish, she would change the operating system of the church community. She would divide the community into different sections. (Possibly something similar to what is done in most parishes at present with division into geographical areas) Support and trust based on the principle of subsidiarity for the community should be given priority.
 

She doesn't know the specific operating system of the diocese for the parishes, but  movement within parishes seems, from the periphery, too cumbersome to make changes. The liturgy and parish life because of the Corona era need to switch to small-group networks. If the liturgy is converted to a small community presence, priests will be busy; no time to play golf or to think about anything else: a reality that needs a lot of creativity.
 
Active support and trust from the diocese are needed. The priest participates with care and mediation to build these communities rather than supervising and managing the basic community. This is also an attitude of trust in the 'here and now' living Spirit. Obviously, there will be disorder, confusion, conflict, and great resistance.
 
The church now has 'stability', but it is far from the missionary journey of the apostles who left without a staff or spare clothes. Jesus Christ is our starting point. We have to bring the life of Jesus into our present reality.  We are invited to walk in his footsteps and not be only in imitation. The apostles began the journey penniless, met excitement and emotion with the sense of achievement of the Gospel, experienced miracles, and grew in spiritual power.
 
The priests dispatched to the parish should form a 'community' and become members of a team that discusses together and shares plans on community issues. The titles pastor and assistant should be dropped and use names as Father Kim, Father Park, etc. A community of priests manifesting the mystery of the Holy Trinity and reborn as a sacrament that shows the mystery of God.
 
In addition, by introducing the active participation of the faithful in the operation of the parish, the priest will be able to focus on preparation for the proclamation of the Word and Sacrament. Now there are no religious to be dispatched to parishes but the religious must return to their prophetic calling. It is to return to the role of showing God's loving face to the world while caring for the poor and marginalized.  

Authority should not be centralized. This is because the clergy are not personally perfect and are not experts in all fields. Not only for this reason but also for the faithful to fulfill their duties as priests, prophets, and their royal mission. Priests need to disperse and transfer some of their authority to the faithful so that they will be able to carry out their main tasks well.
 
If you take care of the lost sheep and the marginalized and bring them into the church, the believers will learn what to do, and what it means to be a follower of Jesus caring for them. The priest is the shepherd of the sheep. They have to risk their lives for them. Those who risk their lives are not afraid. However, today's priests seem to be afraid as if they have a lot to lose. Thinking about their hopes for the church the clergy have a lot of self-reliance. She feels the times have changed and we also need to change. As a nun, she also has the same problem. However, what is certain is that this is not the way of the future

Cardinal Kim Su-hwan and Respect for Life

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Cardinal Kim Su-hwan who left a great mark on the country's democratization and protection of human rights. He was a 'lamp of the times' and a 'living conscience'. Always on the side of the weak. The writer of the Catholic Peace Weekly column, Diagnosis of the Times, mentions the comfort and encouragement she has received from his decisive yet upright defense of human dignity. 

After the 1970s, Korea achieved rapid industrialization and economic growth, but at the same time reduced human beings to political and economic tools and promoted materialistic dehumanization. 

 

According to Cardinal Kim Su-hwan, the biggest cause of dehumanization is the contempt for life. In other words, "the fact that we do not value human life is a phenomenon that occurs because we do not value human existence itself." This verse contains very important information. For Cardinal Kim respect for human life is a respect that must be possessed because of human dignity. The protection of human dignity and human rights without respect for human life is absurd. Let's listen to what Cardinal Kim has to say about this. 

The right to life is the most basic of all human rights. When this is ignored, other human rights cannot be well protected. The lack of ethics and values ​​resulting from abortion threatens the safety of ourselves and our country. We are getting into a very serious situation. 

That is why I am in favor of all life movements. Because only then can we be saved. And all life movements must be fundamentally rooted in the prevention of abortion, which protects the young human life of the unborn child. This is because the true movement of life cannot exist ignoring the life of the fetus, which is the beginning and foundation of human life, and its right to live.  

(Cardinal Kim, Encouragement Speech at Symposium on Prevention of Abortion, 1991) 

In a society that routinely kills, in a political society that not only neglects but rather promotes it, the disrespect for life is prevalent, and all kinds of crimes against humanity and life increase daily. The root cause of human rights violations, ignoring human dignity, is the lack of respect for human life. 

Human dignity is innate. This fact has existed from the beginning of human life and cannot be determined by human standards. The thoughts on 'human life and abortion' of major presidential candidates, recently revealed through the Korean Catholic Bishops Conference, contain a trend of contempt for life that is of great concern. This attitude is prevalent in society, the social consensus, which finds no problem with the routine killing of life, is this not something really unfortunate?

Cardinal Su-hwan Kim, while calling for the protection of human dignity and human rights, strongly criticized the trend of disrespecting life, dehumanizing people in politics and economics. However, the voice of criticism still awakens us. As he said, "The democratization we want is humanization rather than the democratic system itself." That is humanization in which we value all human life, from the beginning, and cherish the very existence of human beings. Therefore, leading this culture should be one of the main responsibilities of the next president.

Patience and Compassion for Peace

A priest member of the National Reconciliation Committee in a column of the Catholic Times writes about the problems in searching for peace on the Korean Peninsula among the citizens.

"Father, Sister, please don’t do this!" It happened on a spring day last year when the COVID-19 situation was not a prominent news item. Priests and nuns participated in the Peace Campaign to End the Korean War as members of the National Reconciliation Committee. They were in front of the Seoul Cathedral getting signatures. One woman passing by could not just ignore the situation. Crying and entreating those gathering the signatures obviously also a believer:  "North Korea should denuclearize first" before declaring the end of the war.
 
When conducting the National Reconciliation School, a major activity of the National Reconciliation Committee, we often run into a barrier called "South-South conflict." Just as you have to look into an affected area to heal a disease, lectures deal with the realities on the peninsula because opinions on the cause and solution are sharply divided among believers. However, we cannot turn away from the hostility and fear of this divided land.
 
Even though Jesus’ disciples were divided and often quarreled, we were able to understand the meaning of reconciliation and peace through the death of the cross. The "South-South conflict" can also be a journey to understand the peace of Christ.
 
The peace of Christ is not 'peace' without conflicts, where the strong are oppressed or the weak are silent. Rather, it may be closer to a process in which each other changes by understanding the conflict we face.
 
Mahatma Gandhi of India, who awakened the value of nonviolent resistance in an era of injustice, emphasized that we must be wary of violence even in the moment of seeking justice and truth. "The pursuit of truth must not be violence to someone's enemy, for what appears to one person as truth may appear to another as an error. Instead, with patience and compassion, we must keep ourselves away from error."
 
With the beginning of Lent, and the coming presidential election we will choose the future of our country. Economic development is important, but the writer hopes that choices will be made for a more just and peaceful society.
 
The belief that one is right is important, but he hopes that a democracy in which different opinions are respected is maintained. Let's pray together as believers who do not lose patience and compassion in a divided world.
 

Meditation And Metanarratives

Humans think. Philosophers discuss it. Opinions on the subject are plentiful, methods easy to difficult are explained. Simply it's what is called meditation, reflection, thought, contemplation, prayer, pondering, trying to make sense of what humans can't help but not do in some form. 

 

Confucius is quoted as saying: "The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large." Christians are familiar with the words of St. Paul: "Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honor, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise" (Phil.4:8).

 

Some meditate, to reduce stress, gain peace of mind and heart, improve health, and other benefits with different forms of meditation. They may be byproducts but not the main reason a Christian meditates. The hope is to deepen their relationship with God using reason, thoughts imagination, emotions, memory.

 

In meditation, eureka moments are often experienced. Some area of life is seen in a different light; judgments made and plans to realize them in daily life. Meditation helps one to grow as a human being and live a fuller, more Christ-like life. 

 

This kind of meditation doesn't dispense with reason, doesn't spend time on the 'how' of meditation but on the 'what': trying to see God as he sees us, getting rid of deceptions, and opening ourselves to God's working in life. This worldview makes the meditation completely different from those who don't have this insight.

 

'Metanarratives' are rarely envisioned in modern life. However, in meditation, these master narratives come to mind and give meaning and a context not clearly seen before the meditation. It's an intuition that lights up dark areas of life. When meditating the vision is not restricted; it's God's world, not our world. A metanarrative (also called grand narrative) is a bigger picture or story that gives context, meaning, to all of life.

 

"Listen Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your neighbor as yourself". (Mk 12:29). In this brief statement, we are presented with a Christian understanding of the self— five areas of concern: body, mind, heart, soul, and social.

 

Life is easily compartmentalized. Life is concerned for the whole person, not body, mind, heart, and soul as unrelated to each other and other human beings. All important in daily life on this earth is harmony among the five aspects of life. Without this harmony peace and joy will not be easily achieved. A metanarrative that meditation helps to achieve.

 

The best should not be an enemy of the good for as GK Chesterton said: "if a thing is worth doing it's worth doing badly" rather than not at all. Metanarratives may be unacceptable to many but a blessed gift in meditation that prepares for the journey of life to the 'Word' and Oneness. The more integrated we become the better for us and the world.

 

May Lent be a blessed and profitable one for all.