Solutions to War Mankind's Failure

 

In the Catholic Times' Eyes of the Believer Column, a director of a Theological Institute gives the readers some thoughts on war and what it does to all of us.

Last January, many people were surprised by the sudden rise in gas rates—the heating bomb— so she opened the bill nervously. Fortunately, thanks to turning on the boiler less, she was relieved to see it was just a little more than the same month of the previous year, but when compared to Jan. 2021 the gas cost increased by 36% when she used a similar amount.
 
In the news, the root cause of the skyrocketing heating bill this winter is the war that broke out on February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia, the world's second-largest producer of crude oil and natural gas, is using its energy resources as a weapon by cutting off natural gas supplies to Europe after unleashing a war.  
 
Korea mainly imports liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar and the US, so there has been no supply/demand problem. The warm weather continued in Europe, so we managed to survive this winter, but the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns that the energy situation after March this year cannot be guaranteed.
 
The energy problem is serious, the war in this region, a world-class granary, has exacerbated food shortages around the world. As the prices of gas, electricity, and food continue to rise, our lives are becoming more and more difficult. The tragedy of war in the faraway countries of Russia and Ukraine has a direct impact on our lives, and once again we realize how closely the global world is truly interconnected.
 
However, no matter how difficult we find it, there is no comparison to the suffering of those who are in the middle of a life-and-death war. According to the announcement of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on January 10, the number of civilian casualties in Ukraine reached 18,657, including 7,110 dead.
 
Russian and Ukrainian military casualties over the past year are estimated to be at least 100,000 each, so it's staggering how many lives are lost in these wars. What's even more terrible is that this war doesn't show signs of ending anytime soon, and many neighboring countries are beginning to focus more on war preparations by increasing defense spending, and there are even signs of escalating the war. Korea also increased its defense budget by 4.4% this year compared to last year, and there are growing concerns that it might be swept away by the winds of war.
 
In this year's 'World Day of Peace' statement, Pope Francis mentioned the reality that a vaccine for the Corona-19 virus that shook our daily lives was found, but the war virus still has not found a solution, not only the parties involved in this war but also mankind. 

In paragraph 261 of the Encyclical 「All Brothers」 published in 2020, Pope Francis also said:  "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."

The words of the  Gospel: "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44), may sound like naive ideals in the context of the complex international political order, but those who look more deeply into the misery of wars taking place around the world today and those that suffer from them, the way of peace is brotherly love and nothing will take its place.

Specifications And Jobs

During the summer, the apple farmers sweat cultivating their orchards. So begins the Peace column in the Catholic Peace Weekly by a entrepreneur now retired.

Fully grown apples fall to the ground with the fierce  autumn  winds. Even when they fall and  are scuffed the farmer knows how sweet and delicious they are no matter the scars they have on the outside.  However, regardless of the farmer's efforts, people pay more for an apple with a a good looking surface.

Are we like that too? Is it not true that they give more generous marks to people who look good on the outside, and on the other hand, are there not many  trying hard to have the kind of look that will be easily chosen.

Even with one or two scars, an apple grows as sweet and full with the efforts expended by the farmers.  Most importantly, apples vary depending on how well they receive the benefits of nature. It is said that the sugar content is determined by how much sunlight it receives. Even if it has flaws on the outside, it is sweet when it receives a lot of sunlight. Even if it is smooth and flawless, an apple that has not been properly exposed to sunlight is not sweet. 

I think that specs determine everything, to have a good apple to look at, will in most cases determine everything. One of the things the writer regrets after leaving the world of business is giving too much importance to specs in the recruitment process.  

There were often more than 10,000 applicants to select a few hundred, so in the end, the first selection is based on specifications from the screening of the documents. He can explain this situation with all kinds of excuses, but if he  made up his mind to find other ways he could have done so but he feels regret that he just took it as a matter of course and didn't change. Looking back, in the end, what really mattered was to find out how good the apple was, without tasting it.

You may say that you are comfortable in a world where it is difficult to find a job these days, and your personality has nothing to do with how others view or evaluate you. Even if others see you as a scared apple, at least when you stand in front of a mirror, being open  and confident depends on how ripe your apple is inside.  

The word of God is like sunlight. If I received a lot of blessings and felt confident that I was a well-grown apple, I would be freer from the  evaluations of others.  Then, in the end, because of that attitude you would have a better chance of getting a good evaluation. Just as the sun shines on an apple, it is only natural that when a person realizes and feels that he is in God's arms, his inner self matures more fully. The problem is that even if you think about inner faithfulness like this, the opportunity itself is fundamentally blocked because of the specifications. In particular, because of the company's selection method and the absolute number of jobs being insufficient, it feels like the qualifications have become a ticket gate to the future of young people.

However, there was a survey by 'Job Korea' that found that even if you were selected to join the company after building specs, the average turnover rate after one year was 70%. Both those who build up specs and those who choose people by immersing themselves in those specs eventually face the truth only after tasting the apple. 

However, the world eventually changes with its natural flow. As the problem of building qualifications and disappointment in the jobs offered by companies continue, it is clear that it will become a natural trend for young people to make other choices. Whether starting a business or self-employment, the trend to step into the world as a non-regular worker, which is relatively easy, is bound to intensify.

No matter the flow of society what is important is how mature and ripe, like the apple I am, and I who am the farmer how do I evaluate what I see? I think about that every time I look in the mirror. "Hey farmer! Am I a delicious apple grown in God's sun?"

Mystery Of Life?

A professor at a Catholic University in the human life department gives the readers of the Catholic Peace Weekly her thoughts on 'genetic scissors' CRISPR. (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)
 
Many have heard or seen the word genetic scissors (hereafter CRISPR) at least once. CRISPR appeared in 2012. Since the second half of the 20th century, technology that can arbitrarily cut and manipulate genes has been popular, but CRISPR is evaluated as superior in accuracy and efficiency to existing technologies.  
 
Recently, Professor Jennifer Daudna, one of the CRISPR developers, published an article in the international academic journal Science, commemorating the 10th anniversary of CRISPR development, research achievements and limitations, and prospects for the next 10 years. If the last 10 years have been a period of developing CRISPR technology, the next 10 years are expected to make it a technology for humans. In particular, it is predicted that the pace of development of life sciences using genetic scissors along with technologies such as artificial intelligence will accelerate.
 
Reading the article gave her a rough idea of how CRISPR technology has evolved over the past decade. Scientists around the world have been working hard to develop more accurate, precise, safe, and efficient technology. Although there are still limitations in terms of technology and many challenges to developing safer and more efficient technology, the achievements achieved so far can now be applied to humans as well as animals and plants to solve food problems in the fields of agriculture, livestock, and aquatic products, as well as to produce highly nutritious crops. (Water)Meat production, organ production for transplantation in the medical field, gene therapy, drug production, etc. The scope of its application seems endless. It's like seeing a future utopia right in front of you.
 
But why does listing the research achievements of scientists seem like a game? This is because there is something unsatisfying about scientists' amazing research achievements and future prospects. To list a few reasons: First, just as the media in Korea communicates with the public in a way that focuses only on the visible results of science, scientists themselves seem to be intoxicated with their achievements. Second, they check the results as they manipulate and transform life like a machine. It can be seen that this understanding of life reduces life only to a simple material or mechanical system, and even considers human life as the subject of its manipulation. A typical example is the genetic manipulation of human embryos. Third, it is an uncomfortable truth hidden behind the splendid achievements. For example, if the genes or genetic traits of animals and plants are modified to be useful to humans, there is no reflection on how this will affect the natural ecosystem. In addition, these studies can be developed in the direction of prioritizing the pursuit of profit, even if the means and methods are unethical, in line with the profit logic of the bio-industry
 
Lastly, the knowledge we know about life and genes is very weak compared to the blueprints shown by scientists and the bio industry. Maybe that's why, at the 17th Mystery of Life Award Ceremony last month, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, who won the main prize in the field of life sciences, his impressions linger in her mind. "I am a scientist who studies life sciences. One of the words often used when introducing life science to the general public is 'the mystery of life'. One of the reasons... Compared to other fields of natural science, understanding of 'life' is relatively lacking, so the word 'mystery' is added to emphasize that there are still many unknown areas."
 
Is the perspective of looking at life as a mystery only required by scientists? Perhaps we too, seduced by the blueprints presented by scientists and the bio-industry, are still looking at life, especially human embryos, as mere tools?

Dictatorship and Democracy

The secretary of the Bishops' Committee for Reconciliation with the  North has some thoughts in the North/South Reconciliation column of the Catholic Times— problems we face in overcoming our prejudices.

The Maryknoll Foreign Mission Society was the first foreign mission society established in the United States in June 1911 and was active in the Pyongyang region of North Korea since the 1920s. However, when the Pacific War broke out in December 1941, the United States became an enemy of Japan, and all members in Joseon (Korea) were forcibly deported to their home countries.  

Syngman Rhee, who was the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea at the time, was engaged in the independence movement on a diplomatic level. Monsignor Carroll, who maintained a close relationship with Syngman Rhee even after the establishment of the government of the Republic of Korea, recalled that he supported Syngman Rhee's independence movement, a "patriot in exile". However, in June 1952, a diary written by the Maryknoll Foreign Mission Society in Pusan reveals the missionaries' changed their views on the Syngman Rhee government.

 

"With election day approaching, people are very anxious. The coercive government arrested members of parliament on uncertain charges. The Constitution calls for (presidential) elections by the National Assembly to be held before June 23rd, of course Assembly members in prison will not be able to vote for a new president."

 

The "Political Upheaval in Pusan" during the Korean War was an event that was difficult for the US government to accept. The US Department of State Information and Investigation Bureau data that recorded this mentions that martial law was declared in Pusan and other areas on May 25, 1952, and that the Syngman Rhee regime arrested some members of the National Assembly and pushed for a constitutional amendment. American missionaries of the Maryknoll Foreign Missions Society looked closely at the ‘Political Upheaval in Pusan’ and compared the situation in Korea, where the government cannot be recklessly criticized, to past totalitarian governments of Europe.

 

Reinhold Niebuhr, a theologian well-known for his  ‘Christian Realism’, expressed the dangers that democracy must be vigilant in his book: Children of Light and Children of Darkness. In this book  he wrote as follows: "In a sense, it can be said that democratic societies are particularly exposed to the dangers of chaos. If this danger is not properly recognized, it can engulf free societies and give rise to the evil of tyranny."

 

Let's pray for the democracy of this land built at the sacrifice of countless people. The writer hopes that we can work together for democracy in the entire Korean Peninsula beyond a rigid anti-communism without dialogue, so that unstable inter-Korean relations do not threaten democracy in the Republic of Korea. 

  

Postscript:  (Taken from  the Maryknoll Archives On Monsignor Carroll)

"At the end of World War II he returned to Korea as acting Society Superior and became Group Superior. In June, 1950 he became chaplain of the United Nations Forces. Later, as the forces under General MacArthur swept north and Pyongyang was recaptured, Rome named Monsignor Carroll as acting administrator of the Pyongyang Diocese previously staffed by Maryknoll. He was thus entitled to be called Monsignor. During this time he helped to establish the U.S.O. in Korea. When the Korean military action ended and Pyongyang returned to the Communists, Monsignor Carroll became involved in relief work of various kinds and eventually was the Catholic Relief Services representative in Korea. He was a good administrator. From 1952 he was full-time in Catholic Relief Services activity and had many opportunities to be of service to the needy. He represented the Korean Bishops’ Conference on a trip to Latin America to ascertain emigration possibilities and was a pillar of strength to fellow Maryknollers in his CRS position."

I MAY BE WRONG!

 

The article in the Catholic Times by a professor in a college Social Welfare Department gives the readers some advice for a happy family. The article begins with the titled words: I must remember I may be wrong.  The premise of Happiness is the realization of one's deep-seated dream.

Anthropologist René Girard has introduced the scapegoat mechanism which he believes humans evolved with— a tendency in difficulty to imitate others in blaming arbitrarily selected others or groups.

 

Humans basically have desires, and the reason for these desires is essentially to imitate the desires of others. What I want, for example, is that I want it more because someone else wanted it before me.

According to this logic, conflict, quarrels, and violence will eventually arise due to the similarity of desires between others and me.

Even in families where violence occurs, conflicts exist due to the similarity of desire. When looking at couples in conflict, both husbands and wives aim for a happy family. However, he says that what he experienced at the beginning of his marriage was unbearable sadness and pain.

Couples who meet through counseling are often in a state where they cannot express healthy emotions. Resentment towards the other person appears with anger, sadness, and despair.

The behavior of such parents also leaves scars on young children. Children who have been deprived of their lives due to domestic discord, violence, and neglect act at times so that their lives are no longer violated by their own self-destructive behavior. In addition, we would like to punish those who cannot be punished directly in the form of extreme self-violence. So what should we do?

First of all, I have to admit and accept that my happiness may not make others happy. I have to accept that what I've been thinking so far can be wrong.

 

I may feel happy to stay up late drinking and waking up my sleeping wife and children and at dawn lamenting my situation, but it is not giving joy to my family but pain and sadness.

 

Is it wise in harsh language to blame the wife for not respecting her husband more, and her children for not being polite to their father? Will the strong emotions and strong words and actions be considered for the happiness of the family, or rather will it not be for long-lasting wounds to the family? 

 

The wife needs to realize that may be constantly pointing out and pushing her husband and children to be more perfect than they are, and considering that her duty and the path to happiness, may not be good for her family but gives pain and unhappiness and feelings of emotional abandonment. 

 

There is always something to learn from suffering. You need to learn that the way you think and the way you want happiness doesn't exist in the world. Happiness in reality depends on how much we can compromise in the way the other person wants and how much we can agree on the way we compromised. The farther away you are from your own thoughts, self-pity, and your own ways, the closer happiness will come.

 

Religion Seperated From Life

In the recent Catholic Peace Weekly's Uncomfortable Talk Column, the writer gives us another place where we have the separation of Religion and Life.

"No talk of politics. Violation will result in expulsion!" This is a warning posted in the social media group chat room with friends. Everyone must have encountered this at least once or twice in a chat room. In some houses, even when family and relatives gather, talking about politics or elections is forbidden. It must be because there are cases where families who have not been together for some time blush and raise their voices when together. The columnist gave up on persuading his family with his political choices. It's because he knew very well that he was marked as a mean son and an ugly brother.

 

'No talk of politics' is a rule used even in churches. Not only at public gatherings of worship but also in district meetings and private meetings, everyone keeps their mouth shut about politics. He's pretty sure he heard that from the priest during the Mass homily. Is it because they are worried that believers will fall away? I don't want to believe that, but it's clear that the church is a political off-limit zone. There is no democracy in the church. It is probably the result of thinking of faith as something that is detached from politics.

 

There are many times when Catholics, not to mention Protestants, feel that their faith is becoming more individualized and internalized. The roots of the substitution of faith as an internal problem that is free from political or social conditions are deep. The anecdote is famous that Luther, a virtuous priest, found pride in his purified heart on his way home after going to confession, and went back to go to confession again.

  

Max Weber explained 'Protestant ethics' by citing the view of salvation that one can obtain temporal salvation called 'wealth' through individual good and sincere efforts. However, did they realize that turning faith into an individual's inner problem like this is also a political attitude? In fact, the logic of modern capitalism was hidden in the establishment of an individual as a 'single person before God'. Such a religious view does harm to those who lived happily in the spirit of community, mutual aid, and close to nature given by God and brings them into the economy of commodity production and exchange. 

 

In his last article, he mentioned the action of the Samaritan who saved a man who was robbed and proposed imitation, but more fundamentally, he wrote, "You must catch the robber." He hopes these words do not sound like a radical political remark, but in an unjust world, even speaking common sense justice and truth is likely to sound radical. When the understanding of this world, the essence of being a human being, the soul, and salvation is achieved without understanding the structural dimension of society, only transcendent emotions remain for us.  

 

There is nothing that is not political in the social doctrine that the church presents. Doctrines of human rights, labor, the socially disadvantaged, capitalism, life, and ecology all require political solutions. Can we solve the issues of disabled people protesting on the subway, meat obtained from an indiscriminate clearing in the Amazon jungle, abortion, and women's rights through our individual inner determination? We believe in the separation of church and state and the political neutrality of the church, so we dismiss the issues of truth and justice as politics and push them aside. 

 

The church should not become an island indifferent to politics and society in the name of faith. He doesn't want to know the inner thinking of the person beside him. He is more curious about what he thinks about this world and how he lives.

From Dust to Life

 

In the Catholic Times, a journalist from the paper gives the readers some thoughts on the meaning and precedent of 'Ash Wednesday' reflecting on the Christian's journey from dust to life.

Ashes in the Bible symbolize repentance. It also implies the need to be purified revealing the frailty of human existence symbolizing the need for salvation through mercy, always greater than sin.
 
This year February 22nd is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent; a time to remember the suffering and death of Jesus. At the same time, it is a gracious time to wash away sins and purify the inside in order to welcome the resurrection of the Lord with a proper attitude.
 
The Jews had a custom of putting ashes on their heads when they sinned against God. Christianity accepted this, and on the Wednesday before the first Sunday of Lent, putting ashes on the head was performed as a penitential ceremony. This is where the name Ash Wednesday comes from. Pope Saint Gregory I (590-604 AD) instituted Ash Wednesday as the first day of the official Lent season of the Catholic Church, and Pope Blessed Urban II recommended that all believers participate in the rite.

Ash has various meanings. Ashes symbolize the 'sorrow' that we have sinned and separated from God. Ash, is the residue left over from burning. This is a remnant of human sins, and it also reminds us of the act of "reparation" for the sins committed. It also means 'passion' to burn ourselves out for God and his kingdom. After everything is burnt, the remaining ashes are free of impurities. Placing ashes on the head also implies that human beings must be purified and clean as when God first created them.
 
In the time of Pope St. Paul VI, the church prescribed fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesday. Believers must keep two things at the same time on this day. Fasting means skipping one meal a day. Abstinence from meat is observed from the age of 14 until death, and fasting from the age of 18 to the day before the age of 60. Fasting and abstinence have the meaning of participating in the Passion of Christ with self-control and self-denial. In addition, it contains practical tasks to practice love by giving and offering to the poor neighbors what is saved through fasting and abstinence.
 
The ashes used in the ceremony of ashes are prepared by collecting, usually, in Korea, the twigs from evergreen trees that are distributed to believers on the Sunday of the Lord's Passion the previous year and burned the following year for the Ash Wednesday Ceremony.
 
After blessing the ashes the priest performs a ceremony in which the sign of the cross is made on the foreheads of the believers or placed on top of the heads. At this time, believers hear from the priest, "Man, you are dust, remember that you will return to dust" or "Repent and believe in the gospel." It reminds us of the fact that human beings are finite, reminds us that life and death are in God's hands, and calls for repentance.
 
Beginning with Ash Wednesday, priests wear purple to symbolize repentance and atonement. From this day, when we meditate on the passion and death of Christ, we do not sing the Glory and Alleluia, which symbolize joy. The Liturgy of the Word is composed of contents emphasizing penitence, fasting, and charity. The first reading (Joel 2:12-18) emphasizes God's mercy and calls for repentance. The second reading (2 Cor 5:20-6:2) calls for reconciliation with God through reflection and conversion. The Gospel (Matthew 6:1-6.16-18) teaches us the right spirit in charity, prayer, and fasting.  
 
"Our wretched ashes are loved by God," Pope Francis said at Mass on Ash Wednesday 2020, calling for "accepting the love of Jesus who hung on the cross, asking him for forgiveness and going through the journey from dust to life."
 
Participation in the Ash Wednesday liturgy is not obligatory,  however, the Church invites us to pass through this day of repentance and solemnly enter the season of Lent, joyfully awaiting the Lord's glorious Resurrection.