Mega-Events

 

In the Eyes of the Clergy column of the Catholic Peace Weekly, we hear about some of the mega-events in our Society.

Large-scale events with enormous ripple effects internationally are called ‘mega-events’. The Olympics, World Cup, and Expo are often called the world's three mega-events. Other events include the Asian Games and the World Athletics Championships. Most of them are centered around sporting events.

Mega-events are often associated with the "Olympic Curse". The ‘Curse of the Olympics’ refers to a country hosting the Olympics, spending a lot of money to leap forward. Instead, it sits in a pile of debts.  The biggest reason for the curse of the Olympics is that the economic return on investment is not very high. Following the Expo, the exhibition hall spaces became useless and some facilities were demolished. In Pyeongchang, where the stadium was built as a temporary building from the beginning, there is only a memorial building. There is no trace of the Winter Olympics.

Therefore, mega events are desired for their publicity effect rather than economic profit. However, it is said that this is not suitable for the 21st century where communication has developed. In an era where you can watch your favorite sports star in a match in London, England, or BTS' performance in Los Angeles, USA, with just a smartphone, mega-events that attract large numbers of people at the cost of a lot of money is said to be unnessary for publicity. Rather, promotion is more effective by nurturing media such as broadcasting stations and the like.

Community unity through mega events is mentioned as one of the benefits.The 2002 World Cup brought Korea together. IMF people gained strength through soccer. We became one by holding hands with strangers and raising our voices to cheer them on. Therefore, the state is trying to use mega-events politically. No free country participated in the 1980 Moscow Olympics and no communist country participated in the 1984 LA Olympics. It is the Cold War pain.

Mega events accompany the expansion of national or regional facilities or the maintenance of outdated facilities. The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France was built for the Paris Exposition in 1889. A KTX station was installed in Yeosu, where the 2012 Expo was held. Facility maintenance and expansion, volunteer recruitment and maintenance, etc. are all the results of these events. 

A lot of money is needed to hold a mega event. That is why mega-events are also called "wars of money". In addition to state budgets, leading companies finance events as sponsors. For companies, a mega event that attracts the world's attention is an excellent market to advertise and sell products. Mega events boost the airline, hotel, and tourism industries.

Catholics also have mega-events. World Youth Day, a gathering of young people from all over the world, is a representative example. World Youth Day, which began in Rome in 1984, attracts hundreds of thousands to millions each year. In 2008, 400,000 people in Melbourne, Australia, were the smallest number of participants in World Youth Day. More than one million people are expected to participate in this year's Lisbon World Youth Day. The economic effect is significant. According to consulting firm PWC Portugal, the added value of hosting the World Youth Day in Lisbon was estimated at 564 million euros (approximately 800 billion won). In terms of productivity, it is predicted that there will be an effect of up to 1.1 billion euros (approximately 1.5 trillion won).

The government is trying to attract the 2030 World Expo to Pusan. The city of Seoul has submitted a bid to host the future Summer Olympics. Local governments organize countless other events. No matter what event they host, if they think it is just a lucrative one-time business, they will fall under the 'Olympic Curse'. Based on the values pursued by mega events, it is important to create events that continue to have an impact on the host country and the world after the event.

Past Problems of Catholic Missions In China

 

In a recent issue of the Kyeongyang magazine a priest seminary professor in the history department and director of the diocesan history research center gives the readers a look into an important issue in the history of the Asian Church.

The professor was present at the Maryknoll Mission Society's 100th anniversary of mission work in Korea. At the ceremony celebrated in the diocese of Cheong Ju, the professor met some of the old missioners still here in Korea.

The society began mission work in China in 1918 and in 1923 they moved beyond the borders of China to the diocese of Pyongyang where the relationship with Korea began.

With the Communist takeover of the North in the Korean War, the society's presence in the North ended, and the beginning of work in the South. For the last 70 years, they have experienced the results of the upheaval from a divided Korea and are now a small group of old and sick missioners. They are slowly disappearing. Extermination is a sad concept to deal with but with the missioners, it has another meaning. Like the wheat seed that has to die to give new life.

Foreign Mission work was not at one time seen as temporary. He mentions a 1935 article that appeared in a mission magazine which stated: if the missioners are so needed in our situation why are they so lukewarm in their mission work? Along with this provocative question, the writer emphasized that missioners should be working to put themselves out of a job. Many of the missioners at that time did not see themself as temporary and the response met with controversy, opposition, and anger among many.

The missioner's excessive sense of ownership of their mission area was a problem that emerged from the early days of world missions that began with the Age of Discovery. More than a person's conviction or attitude the colonialism's structure in which they were involved was more of a problem. The priest gives the readers an understanding of the Padroado, Protectorat, and Concession policies of the times.

The Padroado was the missionary jurisdiction that was given by the Church to a country. Very easy to understand the problems that would arise. Protectorate was another word for 'protected state'. Protectorates are weak territories protected and partly controlled by stronger ones. And we have the Concessions of China: residential areas in China are classed as "settlements" and "concessions," regions set apart by the Chinese Government within which foreigners may reside and lease land. The writer mentions the movie 55 Days at Peking which dramatized the siege of the foreign legations in Peking now Beijing during the Boxer Uprising in the summer of 1900.

Although the movie was made in 1963 it was easy to see the way the Western countries looked upon the Chinese. It was a minority but within that group, we had those with their feelings of superiority and controlling instincts that put the whole work of evangelization in a bad light and incited the Boxer movement in China, and gave rise to those who fought strenuously against this 'protectorate' of the status quo in China. Two such persons were Fr. Vincent Lebbe 1877-1940 and his close friend Fr. Anthony Cotta 1872-1957.

After the Opium War, the great powers slowly influenced the continent greatly and through a series of treaties the church, gained vitality. Skipping over the problems of the time that the professor describes in detail freedom of religion is a modern concept. It was a kind of acquiescence, but the church quickly became a part of imperialism with the help of the powers encroaching deep into China.
 

The church's reputation hit rock bottom. Lebbe's understanding of a Chinese Church of the Chinese went beyond the Jesuit idea of the Accommodation Policy of the Jesuit Missionaries. He wanted to put the yeast into the Chinese flour and let it permeate the whole mass. This was not only external but internal. He wanted to be Chinese not only in food, clothing, and shelter but also in his thoughts and attitudes.
 
This approach to the missions in China at that time was not received well by his own society or the Church established in China.  

In 1915 Lebbe and the Chinese Catholic founded the Catholic newspaper Yishibao which became one of the great Newspapers of that period. It is not necessary to see the heroic efforts of Lebbe as the only reason for changes. Recognizing the harmful effects of mission protection early on, the Vatican also attempted to establish direct diplomatic relations with China despite repeated disturbances by France from the end of the 19th century and completely broke the link with formal diplomatic relations with China in 1946.

On October 28, 1926, the first 6 Chinese bishops ordained in modern times were consecrated by Pope Pius XI in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. At the ceremony in Rome Fr. Vincent Lebbe was present. What is sad was the first Chinese bishop was consecrated in 1685.
 
History is not only the will of a few authoritative people, but also the experience gained by society from the inspiration and awareness of the unknown, and often the dedication of the outcasts like Fr. Vincent Lebbe and Fr. Anthony Cotta, which gradually catch on and become part of our reality.

An Encounter Never to be Forgotten

 

A Catholic Peace Weekly column by a Catholic University professor introduces us to encounters that change us. 

There are various encounters in our lives. Some meetings are of no consequence, and others develop into deep friendships or love. There are significant and decisive encounters that change a person's life. Looking back on our past lives, what encounters have we had? Is there a meeting that deeply impacted my life? 

The Gospel features numerous people who encountered Jesus. Some met him on the street, some came with an illness, some suffered from evil spirits, and some met him while searching for ways to help others. Some people only see him as a member of a crowd. However, others have experienced a new way of living through a face-to-face encounter with his call. 

It was such a meeting with Jesus that changed everything in the apostles' lives. They had diverse backgrounds. People who worked in fishing, persons  who collected taxes, a person who dreamed of liberating a stolen country and preparing for a revolution, etc. 

Their temperament, personality, and ability were different. Jesus made them disciples, nurtured them through community life, and sent them off as apostles. Their meeting with Jesus was crucial. The encounter changed their lives in many new ways. It gave life a decisive meaning and allowed the disciples to give themselves completely to Jesus and his mission. 

Christians are people who have met Jesus and follow him by confessing him as Christ. We meet Jesus in various ways. Different from the  disciples, the meeting between us and Jesus occurs within the church's life. 

Through church community life with believers who follow Jesus (including the clergy and religious), through the word of God proclaimed in the church and liturgy, we hear his words and experience Jesus' existence with us. Also, we try to imitate his life. We realize that he is with us through service to the poorest people and in our adoration practice. The key will be how much we experience his existence in our lives and try to relate to him. 

The Gospel of John details the circumstances of the day when the disciples first met Jesus.  "Jesus said to them, 'Come and see,' and they came together and saw where Jesus was staying, and stayed with him that day. It was about 4 p.m." (John 1, 39) How intense was the meeting with him that one could remember even the time of the encounter?  

Is it still fresh in our minds when we met Jesus and at what time? What was your first impression of meeting him? Are we still conscious of him in our lives? Do you know enough about Jesus to proudly answer when someone asks about him? Do you live in close friendship with him enough to share significant moments in our lives, even the mundane? Do I accept him as a significant person in my life and give him a prominent position? Or is it just someone who gives you a seat when you come to church?

The Weak Suffer the Most

 

The recent Catholic Weekly gave the readers some personal thoughts on life in our society by the priest director of a suicide prevention center.

The baby cried loudly on the plane. The tearful cry, which began with takeoff, sounded intermittently throughout the flight and continued until landing. It is a change in air pressure that gives adults' ears a popping sensation, but unbearable pain to sensitive babies.

The child whose ears hurt could not be soothed or persuaded. While the baby's parents understood everything, they had to deal with the eyes of others. All passengers had no choice but to endure the baby's crying until landing.
 
Such an experience was very tiring and annoying. You realize that it's a change in atmospheric pressure, something you didn't notice before. He remembered being surprised when the same sensation the baby experienced he experienced as a child.

Nevertheless, it is difficult for an adult to understand a child's pain. The pain of the weak from a strong person's point of view can be irritating. As a strong person, he's tempted to say: "It's because of his weak will - Just a little more effort..." It will be over soon, he wants to understand and be with the person but it is irritating.

Moreover, in the world as in airplanes, there is no place to escape from each other. (Of course, the world is developing more and more ways to cover your eyes and not see what is going on)."If the cause of a phenomenon is invisible to a person who observes only individual cases, the cause is outside the individual."
 
About 100 years ago, a scholar named Durkheim established the concept of "suicide as social murder." In coal mines, they put a canary. When toxic gases appeared in the coal mine, sensitive canaries collapsed first, and people evacuated after seeing them.
 
In our society, the weak are the first to collapse when difficulties arise. But the majority close their eyes easily and speak without understanding the weak's difficulties. Everyone in society suffers pain, but the degree differs greatly depending on the situation and environment.

But if many people take their own lives from the pain, it's not just an individual problem. Instead, it's a sign that some part of society is sick and broken. Just because I'm okay doesn't mean the world is problem-free. And it's the society where my family lives. It may be convenient right now to cover our ears to crying voices, but society will become sicker.

Bishop Patrick Byrne Marytyr

 

2023 is the 70th year of the armistice agreement signed on July 27, 1953. Catholic Peace Weekly featured an article on Bishop Patrick Byrne. He was the Apostolic Visitor to Korea from 1947 to 1949 and the first Apostolic Delegate to Korea from 1949 to 1950.

The Korean War, a tragic drama in national history began with North Korea's invasion of the South at dawn on June 25, 1950. The war lasted for three years until the armistice agreement was signed. A war that took the lives of many foreign missionaries. Among the victims was a person who contributed to the recognition of the Republic of Korea as the only legitimate government on the Korean Peninsula. This was in the international community. Bishop Patrick J. Byrne (1888-1950), a Maryknoll Foreign Mission Society member, was the first Apostolic Delegate to Korea.

The St. Louis Review, a weekly magazine run by the Archdiocese of St. Louis, reported June 30, 1950: "There are currently 1,700 Americans left in South Korea, including missionaries from the Maryknoll Society and St. Columban Foreign Missions Society." At the time of publication, the North Korean army had already occupied Seoul. Since there was no way to contact them due to the war, the Church assumed that "Bishop Byrne and the missionaries would remain in Seoul." 

The title of the July 21, 1950 issue of the Catholic Standard and Times (CS&T), a weekly magazine of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was "Bishop Byrne Silent Beyond the Iron Curtain." The title was given to mean that there was no news from Bishop Byrne and his secretary, Father William Booth (Maryknollers), who are in Seoul under the occupation of North Korea. The 'Iron Curtain' refers to the boundary between communist and non-communist blocs.

Towards the end of July of that year, news came that "Bishop Byrne remained in Seoul instead of evacuating." "People who knew Bishop Byrne well said they were 'not at all surprised' to hear the news." This is because, at the height of World War II, there was a precedent of remaining in Japan even though he was an American, in an enemy country. 

 The St. Louis Review reported in its September 29, 1950 newspaper that Bishop Byrne was imprisoned in Pyongyang with information obtained through the U.S. Embassy. He also reported that Bishop Byrne was very weak because he could not digest the North Korean military food. Bishop Byrne and Father Booth were reportedly captured by the North Korean military at the Bishop's residence in the Archdiocese of Seoul on July 11. They were sentenced to death by the People's Court, and transferred to Pyongyang on July 19.

In September 1950, General MacArthur's Incheon Landing Operation was successful, and Korean and U.N. forces entered Pyongyang on October 19. However, no trace of Bishop Byrne.

"We asked South Korean prisoners who were freed from Pyongyang, but all testified that they did not see any foreign prisoners. Pyongyang Catholics also did not know the bishop's whereabouts. In fact, the North Korean military dragged him away a few days before entering Pyongyang.

Abducted by the North Korean army in Seoul, he was taken to Pyongyang where he began the "death march" and died a martyr in a prison camp. The cause of death was pneumonia aggravated by a cold. He was 62 years old. Bishop Byrne's death was kept secret until the missionaries abducted with him were released and testified. His whereabouts and life were of the utmost concern for the Holy See but also to his home country, the American church.

In January 1951, the Vatican’s official news agency, Fides, reported that "Bishop Byrne was taken to Manchuria across the border with other missionaries" saying that it was obtained through a reliable source. 

On November 1, 1952, the Vatican finally announced that "though there is no confirmation, it is presumed that Bishop Byrne is dead". This is because the list of foreign prisoners of war submitted by North Korea to the United Nations includes Father Booth. However, Bishop Byrne was not included. 

Maryknoll Headquarters in New York, USA, held a funeral Mass on the 5th. Maryknoll superior Father Lane wrote a biography of Bishop Byrne that appeared in 1955. It was serialized the same year in the Kyeongyang newspaper run by the Seoul Archdiocese. It was officially published in Korea in 1994, 40 years later.  Ambassador in Chains: The Life of Bishop Patrick Byrne translated into Korean was published by St. Paul's Press.

 

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The Future Parish Communities

 

In the Catholic Times in its Theological Lecture Hall column, the Director of the Catholic Culture and Theology Institute gives readers some helpful advice on how to develop our communities.
 

■ Honest diagnosis of parish reality— Parishes are returning to pre-corona status. Of course, it has not completely returned to its pre-COVID-19 state, and it may not be completely restored.

In the past, many things were done in the parish. Believers spend a lot of time in the parish. It seems that believers spend hardly any time in the parish these days, except attending Sunday Mass. The amount of external time the faithful spend at the parish cannot be a measure of the parish's vitality. However, it would be sad if the parish was just a place to attend Mass.

Individualism and materialism in modern society make people increasingly indifferent to the community. They live for external and material pleasures rather than internal pleasures. In addition, consumerism, the biggest characteristic of modern capitalism, allows even faith to be a matter of consumption. Consequently, the parishioners' life feels like an annoying restriction and restraint. In fact, compared to the past, people's expectations for parishes are much lower. The lowered level of expectations and the parish structure that does not satisfy people's healthy desire and desire for religion are intertwined, further reducing parish vitality.

Is it possible for one priest to pastorally care for hundreds of believers? Could it be that the majority of believers are just participating in the Sunday Mass without a soul? Could it be that we are living a life of faith that seeks only relief and self-consolation rather than community service and dedication? Could it be that the absence of continuous education on faith and spirituality and the operation of a parish centered on a minority are driving believers to lead a passive inactive parish life?
 

Recognized Community of Faith — The church is a community that recognizes and embraces all others in the faith. The healthy interest and recognition of others also give us comfort and strength in the arduous journey of life. As long as we live in relationships with others, we ask for the attention, love, and recognition of others. Healthy attention, love, and recognition make us independent and able to grow.

In all organizations and communities, some form of accreditation system is operating. Sometimes emotional intimacy, sometimes blood ties, and sometimes the depth of various ties affect the recognition system. However, most secular recognition systems are based on capital, power, and ability. To be a church means to be a recognized community of faith. In the early church days, church communities were attractive to people because of their unique recognition system. We practiced interest, love, and recognition for each other only in faith, not in the way of secular recognition. Rich or poor, nobility or slaves, they lived as brothers and sisters in the faith.

What type of accreditation system is operating in today's parish community? Is the recognition of each other only in faith? Is it possible that the secular recognition system is still working in the parish? How do we build a correct recognition system for the Christian faith?

The way the church has pursued large-scale and external growth must change. The life of faith in the future will be centered on small communities. The physical radius within which people can emotionally feel a sense of belonging and intimacy is not very wide. A faith community of intimacy and communion centered on small gatherings is desperately needed.

Faith gatherings in the form of large gatherings will be reduced. Small gatherings can spread and develop into larger gatherings, but it becomes increasingly impossible for strangers to gather and form large gatherings from scratch. Of course, large gatherings that occur in sports and entertainment areas may be possible to some extent in religious events. But events always end at events. Events may provide some stimulation, but no community of faith is formed through events. A true community of faith is always formed based on everyday life.

The experience of the corona pandemic can be a paradoxical medium that promotes the church's small community movement. Faith will be practiced in various places of daily life rather than developing a life of faith centered on a fixed space called a church. The place where we live together will become a community and become a church. The parish of the future will serve as an intermediary to unite and unite these small communities.

The pastoral care of the parish should also take place in the form of a small community. True encounters, dialogue, and communion are always possible only in small groups. If only the celebration of the sacraments takes place in the form of large assemblies, and if the religious spirit of the believers is not transformed into personal faith, that is, if the faith of the believers operates only in the realm of the parish and not in all places of life, then Christianity will simply fall into a cultural religion.
 

In particular, "personal spiritual companionship will be the most important and most necessary pastoral task of the church". The orientation and purpose of spiritual companionship is to cultivate a contemplative attitude toward the world and one's life. To be able to practice spiritual walking, one must become a spiritual and contemplative person. The ministry of spiritual accompaniment must not be reduced to the clergy alone or to the realm of special pastoral care. The duty of spiritual companionship is a duty that all believers must perform.

In modern society, a new type of community is needed to radiate the presence and charisma of faith. The traditional parish community format alone will not respond well to the challenges of modern society. In fact, new interpretations and ideals of the community are re-emerging today. But we will not give up the form of the parish. There is an urgent need for a new form and content of parish composition and management that can revive the essence, purpose, and orientation of the parish. 

A new type of community will emerge, a new center where clergy and laity can jointly share the Gospel. "Centers especially for spirituality and spiritual accompaniment" may become the center of pastoral and religious life. The parish of the future should be a place not only for the celebration of the liturgy and sacraments but also for synodalitas meetings and dialogues between the People of God, true education in the faith, spiritual formation and accompaniment, communion, service, and charity towards the world.

War Orphans Remembered

The News Desk Director of the Catholic Peace Weekly reminds us that July 27th is the 70th Anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

The Korean War lasted for three years and a month. The director mentions how terrible the experience was for him. But two operations reflected a tearful and warm desire for the return of humanity. In December 1950, there was the "Heungnam withdrawal operation" on the sea road and the "Kiddy Car Airlift" on the sky road. This was the 'Miracle of Christmas'.

Captain Leonard LaRue of the Meredith Victory, an American transport ship carrying 14,000 refugees, and Col. Russell Blaisdell, chaplain of the US 5th Air Force, evacuated 1,000 war orphans from Seoul to Jeju Island by truck and C-54 transport. The two went beyond heroes of the Korean War and became symbols of humanism.

Colonel Blazdel, who escaped with the war orphans safely under fire, was handed over to a military trial for disobedience to orders, said: "If my mission is to let children die, I will be discharged immediately." Colonel Dean Hess, a fighter pilot who joined the operation said: "We are fighting for victory, but what's the point of victory if all the children are gone?"

The biggest victims of the war are children. Children do not know what war is or why it is fought. They are separated from their parents by war, taken away from home, hungry and terrified. The right to run and play, study, and dream is taken away. They don't feel the warmth of family life. Pope Francis urges those responsible to stop the shameful and destructive war committed by adults, saying: "The cries of children who have been deprived of basic rights by the war continue to increase.
 
More than 4.5 million soldiers and civilians were killed in the Korean War. More than 10 million separated families and more than 100,000 war orphans were born. The Ukrainian war, which began with the Russian invasion has lasted for a year and five months, and so far exceeded 1.5 million refugees. 500,000 children have fled, and among them, it is estimated that 19,500 Ukrainian children were kidnapped and taken by Russia.

I met a person who lost both his parents in the Korean War and was sent to a  nursery school as an orphan at a young age. He healed the wounds of the war with faith and became a professor through tribulation, and he said this about the hardships of his hard life. "No matter the difficulties, the prejudice that was not recognized by society  because I was an orphan was the heaviest cross." Still, he recalled that he was able to overcome the difficulties with his faith in the Lord.

The desperate efforts of a Ukrainian mother, who wrote her name, date of birth, and contact number on the back of a two-year-old child for fear of becoming an orphan of war, touched the hearts of people around the world. "Even if my husband and I die, my daughter will know who she is." The photo of the child, known on social media, was a tearful cry and pain from parents informing us of the horrors of war and to protect their daughter.

Now, the Vatican is struggling with humanitarian mediation diplomacy (peace mission) to return Ukrainian war orphans who were taken to Russia to their parents. It is an opinion that humanitarian action should come first, whether it is a truce or an end. Pope Francis believes that the war can be stopped only when an environment is created to continue dialogue rather than exchanging shells. "I am willing to do everything that must be done. Peace is made through open channels. Don't say things aren't going well. You can create a situation. Let's stop the battle of destruction. Peace is not a dream, but a way for us to live."

The cries of Korean war orphans 70 years ago are coming from the battlefield far away: "Mom! dad! teacher! friends! Sister! I miss you all." We all hope that the Lord will help the return of these war orphans and add our own prayers to those of so many in the world today.