Justice Versus Ideological Bias

The Catholic Times gives the readers some pros and cons  on the National Catholic Priests' Association for the Realization of Justice  which has been  holding Prayer Meetings for the restoration  of democracy and peace in society.

When it is judged there is political or social confusion or a serious problem in society, intellectuals, such as professors and religious figures gather at a designated place at the same time to express concern about the current issues and urge a solutions.

 

Members of the  religious world continue to bring news to society of the state of affairs one after another. The National Catholic Priests' Association for the Realization of Justice is offering weekly Masses.

  

The priests’ association explained the reason for the prayer meetings in a statement released recently: "I pray to you at the time of desperation." The priests' association pointed recent government proposals with which they didn't agree that they thought violated the Constitution. 

 

Depending on the location, hundreds to 2,000 people participate in the priests' prayer meetings. However, the eyes of the believers who look at the prayer meetings are largely divided into two categories. We have those who see priests reading the signs of the times and speaking out ‘bitterly’ about the current situation, and the negative position that the priesthood, which shows a biased political ideology, and see the clergy involved in politics. 

 

A believer in Inchon, who requested anonymity, said: "Rather than alleviating the pain of farmers and workers, the current regime intimidates the people by rejecting the Grain Law and announcing the suppression of protests against the government by force, and in particular, threatens the country’s existence with faulty diplomacy. The priests are properly rebuking the current regime with the eyes of the gospel and that the government should listen to the voice of the priests."

 

However, a priest from another diocese said: "The priests did not say a word about the government's incompetence or the situation that took place during the the past administration, but only exposes the situation of the present government"  He also pointed out:  "Clergy should participate in politics as members of society, but in order to 'realize justice', the priests must first be righteous."

 There is also an opinion that the terms "prosecutor’s dictatorship" and “regime resignation" used by the priests were objectionable. A lay leader in Seoul said: "It is understandable that the priests congregate to offer a Mass for the state of affairs and point out the government's realities, but they need to choose  language that the believers can relate to."

The Need for Concern of Others

 

A university professor writes in the Catholic Times Column 'We Are All One' about persons who can't live by just living: the difficulties of life that don't change no matter how hard one tries.

In the preface to the novel 「Life」written by Chinese writer Yu Hua there is an expression— "People live for the sake of living, not for anything else." Sometimes, when counseling persons, there are times when I think of the novelist's expression and desire to fully convey the meaning to the person who is thinking about death."
 
When the professor first met K, he felt that her eyes were very beautiful. Her bright smile was charming and had the ability to express situations in a funny and pleasant way. She found it easy to socialize and drink, creating a festive atmosphere around her. But when she returned home alone from her hustle and bustle, she felt an uncontrollable feeling of emptiness and bitterness. Maybe she was laughing at a situation she was having trouble coping with.
 
She was born with gorgeous looks, into a poor family. "Both her mother and her father were indifferent to their children, lethargic with their lives, and financially incompetent," she said. It's common for children in a similar situation to graduate from high school and enter society, but she herself was gifted in studies and entered a good university. K had dreams of becoming a humanities scholar, but her family only expected financial support for the house rather than concern for K's talent. K continued her arduous schoolwork while supporting her family as the main provider.
 
In the meantime, K met a man from a wealthy family and they began living together, and it developed into a relationship that promised her marriage. There were moments of happiness, but things changed when K became pregnant. Her boyfriend's demeanor changed and he demanded that she have an abortion and left her. Eventually, she had the abortion and returned to living alone. Even under these circumstances, K continued her graduate studies and provided money for her family.
 
There are only a few ways for a humanities major to earn money while studying. Even if she works as a teaching assistant or research assistant, it is difficult to pay the tuition fees. She can't afford to set aside time for an outside part-time job.
 
After K entered graduate school, she secretly worked at a bar. She said: "As a child. Kids like me, who have pleasant faces but were born into poor families, end up doing things like this... I didn't believe that. No, I didn’t think I would live that kind of life." As time passed, K's appearance became more glamorous and the smell of her cosmetics grew stronger. Still, she felt comfortable when she came for counseling. She slept on the sofa in the waiting room, although she said sleep did not come easy and was able to present a comfortable and stable appearance during the consultation. Was she able to read the professor's mind? By the time the counseling was over, K said that she would live thinking only of living without thinking about anything else for the time being.
 
And after nearly a year, he heard that K had taken her own life. Maybe K thought it was no longer possible to get over the situation with a smile. He doesn't know. She apparently thought she was no longer able to sustain life just by living. Every year around this time, he fondly remembers K's bright smile.

Reasons for the Study of Drug Use In Korea

A Catholic University professor in the Department of Social Welfare and Addiction gives readers in the Diagnosis of the Times column his opinion that it's time to study drug use in Korean society.

There have been many articles about drugs lately. He doesn't think he has ever seen drug-related articles as often as these days. The news that a famous celebrity who played a leading role in a popular movie took various types of drugs surprised and disappointed many.

Articles about drug use by ordinary people and celebrities often appear in the media. A seven-car collision caused by a drugged driver driving in a hallucinatory state was a terrible accident you would only expect in a movie. It was difficult to believe it had occurred in Korea.

Another article reported the use of drugs by teenagers in an area where academies were located and also the threatening of parents. Another article mentions a mother reporting drug selling and use among middle school children.

According to data from the Prosecutor’s Office, teenage drug offenders increased about 4 times in 5 years from 119 in 2017 to 481 in 2022. 

Drug use causes enormous socio-economic loss to the individual who uses drugs and to our society. Therefore, it is time to recognize the seriousness of the drug problem and come up with effective measures to prevent the spread of drugs.  The government is also aware of the increase in drug use and is preparing various countermeasures, but it does not seem to focus mainly on cracking down on drug smuggling and strengthening punishment for drug offenders and preparing policies based on an accurate understanding of drug use.

In fact, there has never been a nationwide survey of drug users in the country. We are still at the level of estimating the number of drug users based on the number of drug sellers detected. For example, with 18,395 drug offenders arrested in 2022, one can surmise that 10 times or 30 times these numbers would be those selling drugs.

To come up with a proper policy, an accurate understanding of the actual situation should be prioritized. It is self-evident that policies can be effective when the size of the drug user population, the characteristics of those who have experienced drug use, the types of drugs commonly used, and the purchase route are properly identified and policies are prepared accordingly.

In the United States, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health has been conducted annually since 1971. This survey includes not only alcohol and tobacco, but also other drugs, and about 70,000 people aged 12 and over participate in the survey. The survey provides up-to-date information on drug use in the US population, and agencies and researchers use the findings to develop prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation programs. In Japan, since 1995, a nationwide survey of drug use has been conducted targeting adults.

These countries have more serious drug problems than Korea, so they conducted fact-finding surveys on drug use early on. It is necessary to design and conduct a nationwide survey by referring to the experiences of these countries. This is to accurately determine the actual state of drug use in Korea.  Adding drug-related items to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Mental Health Survey, and Adolescent Health Behavior Survey would be an effective method.

In particular, in a survey of adolescents who have yet to experience drug use, it is necessary to identify attitudes toward drug use, protection, and risk factors related to drug use in addition to what was experienced. It is hoped that a fact-finding survey targeting representative samples will be conducted as soon as possible to accurately diagnose the actual state of drug use in Korea. Based on the results, effective drug prevention education and drug addiction treatment and rehabilitation policies will hopefully begin to appear.

μερκι 'Meraki'

 

In the Catholic Peace Weekly Peace Column, a university professor gives us a beautiful meditation on the Greek word μερκι 'Meraki' which is difficult to translate into Korean. However, the professor sees the Korean words: to the utmost, utter devotion, heartily, and treating another with utmost courtesy as coming close to the meaning. Putting yourself into the action and melting into it.

'Meraki' is not a word applied only to important matters. The daily act of brewing hot coffee for a guest from afar or arranging the messy collection box to reduce cleaning workers' trouble is also ‘Meraki’ if you do it wholeheartedly.

 Loving someone becomes ‘Meraki’. In all the countless acts and moments of love you show and feel—holding your parents' wrinkled and bereaved hands, choosing a gift for a friend you haven't seen for a long time, in feeding your pet animal, or simply doing something for another, we do 'Meraki'. ‘Meraki’ is not an act of seeking rewards or recognizing consequences. It's enough because I can immerse myself in the action and the moment and be devoted. 

The reason why every moment of love is ‘Meraki’ is because love— wanting the good of the other— is irreplaceable and unique. You cannot do 'Meraki' with a dispersed mind. You can't be replaced by anyone. It is to live in the moment that can't return. If I say I love you because of your appearance or ability, I do not love you. The moment I am with you does not become 'Meraki'. 

 

Many moments in Jesus' life would have been filled with this 'Meraki'. Jesus taught us to love God "with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength" (Mark 12:30), but he first loved us that way. When he declared the Hebrew people to be his people, it was 'Meraki'. When he bent down to defend the woman who had committed adultery and put his head down to write something on the earth it was 'Meraki'. When he visited the house of Maria and Martha who were in sorrow, again we have 'Meraki'. Before his death, when he broke bread with his disciples and said, 'Receive and eat my body', it was 'Meraki' with a heart ready to explode.

 

That is what it means to say that God loves us. It means that each of us has been chosen by God and that he loves us as irreplaceable beings. Rich or poor, highly educated or not, disabled or not, heterosexual or sexual minority, left or right, God embraces us without conditions or reasons. For you and me, who are the only unique beings in the world created in his image, it's should be ‘Meraki’ every moment we breathe. There is therefore no life in the world where God's 'Meraki' hasn't entered.

 

When we confess that God is 'one God', we confess this kind of love for God. In other words, monotheistic faith does not deny or reject other religions. Instead, it means to confess that the God I believe in is the only irreplaceable love for me. It is not that we love God because He is the Almighty who controls everything in heaven and on earth. We do not love God because He blesses us when we live and prepares a place for us to enjoy eternal life when we die. 

Regardless of conditions, reasons, and purposes, God first opens his heart to embrace me, and my heart returns that love. That's how  God's 'Meraki' enters my life and I return it to my neighbors.

Handwriting And Computer

In the Catholic Times column: Are you at peace today? the nun in her weekly column gives the readers some thoughts on our use of computers and our losing the need for handwriting.
 
"When I write with a pencil, I feel my body is pushing the writing." These are the words of a Korean novelist. If you write with a pencil, your body feels the writing, what does this feel like? Does it feel like I'm telling the story of life and soul engraved on my body?

" … This father has been praying for you and will continue to pray every day for you to become a great disciple and a true disciple for the poor people in this society for the rest of your life. All I can do for you is this."  

One day, while cleaning out the bookshelves, she found the above letter written by her father a long time ago. It was heartbreaking to the point of tears. It was a letter mixed with Chinese characters in an old fashion handwriting style that came from an old man, easily imagining her father's dim eyes and trembling hands. The letters were yellow and old, but the handwriting was alive and moving. As the years passed and she got older her father's handwriting returned to her with greater meaning.
 
When she first received this letter, she thought only of the contents. However, now she senses her father's breath from each of the strokes of the letters. Is it not said that the script is the "mirror of the heart"? The warm heart of her father found it difficult to express his love but was conveyed warmly in the handwriting. Then, she thought: "What if this letter was printed on a computer?" She wondered if her heart would be so moved. If so, it would have been a letter that would have been concluded by reading the contents.  
 
Computers are described as an 'a tool that extends the body and sensory functions' (Marshall McLuhan). The computer, which handles work faster than the speed of her body, has become a part of her body. As she repeats writing, erasing, searching, copying, and pasting at high speed, the computer becomes one with her. Sometimes the computer becomes the owner and she is dragged along. Otherwise, when she leaves the computer, she doesn't even remember what she was doing.  
 
There is a line from a poem by William Stafford, "When I close the book, I see that I have left my head in the book." I think the expression 'I left my head on the computer after I turned it off' would be correct. The moment you work hard on something and save it to your computer, your brain doesn't want to remember it anymore. So, is the brain resting?
 
When she was studying abroad in the United States, she wrote a diary with a pencil almost every day. It was a diary that was turned into prayer while struggling to learn English and trying to overcome cultural barriers. While writing a diary with a pencil, she passionately met God. On days of pain, she wrote down her anger, on days of solitude, on loneliness, and on days of sadness, she wrote down her sorrow. Sometimes like a raging wave, sometimes like a soft flower petal. Looking back now, she wonders if she had ever introspected and faced the Lord as deeply as she did back then. The diary was her sincere confession of faith, and at the same time, she received the joy of being purified as a gift. Although now the hand holding the pencil has moved to the computer. Still, traces of her handwriting days remain in her hands and return to her in memory. A new change does not erase all of the old. What is stored in the body cannot be erased.




 

Let's Share Our Bread With Others

 

In the Eyes of the Believer column of the Catholic Times, a director of a Theological Institute gives us her opinion on concern for the young people of our society.

Not long ago, a woman in her 20s murdered a woman of her age whom she had not even met because she "wanted to kill" was reported shocking many.  
 
Analyzing her psychology it was revealed she was a 'loner' who had been unemployed for 5 years after graduating from high school and was cut off from society to the extent that there was no trace of contact with others on her cell phone. She lived in a state of complete isolation from the world, searched for 'Murder' on the Internet,  for crime novels and programs, and finally put her plan into action.
 
Once a month, the director's reading group meets to read and talk about classical literature and this month's topic book was the Russian novelist Dostoevsky's novel 「Crime and Punishment」. This is a novel about what happens after the main character, a young man who was a student of law, plans to murder an old pawnbroker who he judged to be unjust and wealthy.  
 
While discussing various stories about this novel, which raises moral questions about the main character's motive for the murder and depicts the psychology of anxiety and fear after the crime, one person suddenly said that the main character Raskolnikov looks like the young woman in the above case. Raskolnikov dropped out of school due to his difficult family circumstances and locked himself in a cramped room like a coffin before committing the murder he had envisioned in his head. Just as the story of the main character in the novel, was in a miserable situation, and begins with a murder case, she pondered the fact that the existence of a lonely young woman in a violent way took the life of another who was living in similar circumstances.
 
A "loner" generally refers to a person who does not engage in outside or social activities and lives in a confined space, such as a house or room, for more than three months. According to the results of a fact-finding survey by the Seoul Metropolitan Government last year, about 130,000 young people in Seoul alone did not come out of their homes and were isolated or secluded.
 
This is a phenomenon that has appeared in Japan since the 1970s, and these people called 'hikikomori', increased further in the early 1990s as Japan's economic downturn began, and young hikikomori remain isolated even after reaching middle-aged and old age, becoming serious social problem.
 
The hermit-type loner phenomenon is mainly found in adolescents and young adults who are starting to enter social life, and fear of a highly competitive society and feelings of isolation at school or work are cited as the causes. The number of secluded loners will gradually increase in a competitive society that justifies discrimination in which differences are regarded as wrong rather than diverse, and bullying and isolation are prevalent.
 
Looking at this serious reality, what can we believers do? Last month, the institute's monthly Zoom seminar dealt with the topic of spirituality in old age, and during the sharing, one participant said that it would be nice if the church could lead the elderly to share their experience, wisdom, time, and money with the young people in need.  We shared the idea of setting up a youth apartment in each parish for young single-person households who are experiencing difficulties. It was not a dreamy story, but a proposal by an Anglican priest who was present that day and was preparing to do that very thing.
 
In this week of contemplation on Corpus Christi and our life with the Eucharist, she proposes that we members of the Church break the bread that we have, and share it with young people who are prone to isolation. 

Holiness And What It Means

 

In the Apostolic Exhortation Rejoice and Be Glad, Pope Francis shows us the path to holiness in today's world. Sadly holiness is a word that has little meaning in our world's culture.

The pope describes a world in 2018 in the exhortation as one filled with gloom and anxiety, a reality that today has only increased greatly: satisfaction in consumerism, individualism the lack of connection with others in the community, and strange forms of spirituality.

He does give us his remedy that has been present from the teachings of Christianity from the beginning. We live in a noisy aggressive world and he gives us five signs to judge ourselves on our progress in holiness. First is the practice of the virtues of perseverance, patience, and meekness when we experience anxiety and distress. 

He gives us the words of St. John of the Cross: "Always prefer to be taught by all, rather than to desire to teach even the least of all...Rejoice in the good of others as if it were your own, and desire that they be given precedence over you in all things; this you should do wholeheartedly."

 

Secondly, he challenges us to live with joy and a sense of humor. The life of charity brings joy to our lives. We know we are infinitely loved.

Thirdly boldness and passion should be in our lives. We need to proclaim a different narrative than that which the world presents. Pope Francis wants us to exercise boldness and passion beyond our comfort zone and at the fringes of society. It is there that we will find Jesus.

The fourth sign of holiness is growth in community. When we do not live in community "we can grow too isolated, and lose our sense of reality and inner clarity and easily succumb."

Finally in constant prayer. "For each disciple, it is essential to spend time with the Master, to listen to his words, and to learn from him always. Unless we listen, all our words will be nothing but useless chatter."

 

In the path towards holiness, virtue has an important part to play. The Catechism has defined virtue as a "habitual and firm disposition to do good". The virtues help us habitually do what is good. They are the building blocks for Christian moral living— habits that are cultivated that become part of us. 

In Korean the word translated virtue can also mean a gift from another a blessing, consequently the possibility of confusion as a disposition that one needs to cultivate with effort and not only a blessing that comes from the exterior.

"All of us can attain Christian virtue and holiness, no matter in what condition of life we live and no matter what our life work may be"— St Francis de Sales.