The World Our Common Home

 

A few years ago, a university conducted a survey among students on ‘climate crisis and fast fashion’. More than 70% of respondents said that shopping for fast fashion has an impact on the planet, but fast fashion is sensitive to trends and is cheap. Ultimately, the temptation to consume often goes beyond concern about the climate crisis. So begins the Diagnosis of the Times column in the Catholic Peace Weekly by an author in Environmental Spirituality.

Regarding the change in weather on February 15, a weather broadcaster used the expression: "I was ‘bewildered’ by the weather that went from spring to winter in one day,” but did not explain that the cause was climate warming. As a result of the first greenhouse gas observation at the Daesan Industrial Complex in South Chungcheong Province on January 14, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide was 480 ppm. The Korea Meteorological Science Research Institute only explained this as the level of emission concentration caused by artificial pollutants. If the global average is 480 ppm, this is a threshold that exceeds the global average temperature of 2 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The increase in greenhouse gases is entering an irreversible state. 

There was no response from the media. Whether it has value as main news, or will it make advertisers uncomfortable seems to be a more important criterion for judgment. The media's indifference based on commercial and selective criteria also shows that the climate crisis is just 'changeable weather' for the public.

Preparing for a climate crisis is preparing for natural disasters caused by extreme weather changes that future generations will experience. We should be preparing for the ‘common home’ crisis mentioned by Pope Francis. However, when these countermeasures come up against the problem of reducing the pleasure and happiness of current consumption, most people choose a ‘private home’ where they find happiness through consumption, and the climate here becomes an area that has nothing to do with them. 

The economically wealthy perceive it as a secure personal home for living in an environment unaffected by climate issues. Ultimately, the victims of ‘extreme weather changes’ are the economically poor. However, among climatologists, some do not hesitate to make skeptical remarks that there will be no future damage from extreme weather changes. This is because it is a story about something we have not experienced. Moreover, they also dismiss the climate crisis theory by saying that the increase in greenhouse gases related to climate change is meaningless.

Humans living in a common house only perceive their current home as their personal home. Do current generations still need to take responsibility for future generations? Rather than being concerned with these questions, parents are only interested in the current problems such as the academic competition among children.  

There is controversy among scholars regarding the climate issue but in reality, the current situation is evolving from indifference to climate issues to a nonissue. This is because, in many public discussions related to responsibility for future generations, there is more interest in current happiness rather than the problems future generations may receive.

The current situation is one in which we do not agree with Jeremy Bentham's ‘utilitarian’ understanding that the happiness of the majority is true happiness.  In such a situation, those who believe in God, who created the world, do not recognize the words of St. Paul: For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him (cf. Col 1:16). Are not our parishes also a 'private home' rather than a 'common home'?

Walking For Peace

In early March, people wearing green vests with the inscription ‘Life Peace Pilgrimage’ walked in rows along the riverbanks, fields, mountain paths, and roadsides of the border areas of Paju and Yeoncheon. Paju is located just south of Panmunjeom on the 38th parallel. 

In the  Building Bridges column of the Catholic Times, a Taizé Brother introduces the readers to the ‘2024 DMZ Life and Peace Pilgrimage’ with Catholic and Anglican priests and nuns, Protestant pastors, Buddhist monks, and Won-Buddhist clergy who departed from the Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju on February 29. About 20 people from the four major religions will participate and walk 400km, finishing at the Unification Observatory in Goseong on the east coast on March 21st. Several will walk the entire distance.

On the second day of the pilgrimage, March 1st, about 500 people participated in Imjingak, and events such as bell ringing and reading of the pilgrimage declaration. Many people, including migrant workers, were participants in the pilgrimage.

The pilgrimage group went to Jangpa-ri and spent the night, and on the third day set out for Yeoncheon. After receiving an invitation to lead a prayer meeting that evening, the columnist went with three pastors and joined the pilgrimage group. The temperature in the morning was -10℃, but it warmed up slightly in the afternoon. Among the people walking, he saw many familiar faces. It is all the more meaningful because it is the first time that the four major religious denominations pray and walk together in the border area.

An Anglican priest who served as general secretary and gave directions, said, “We walk together all day and eat together, so even the sound of snoring next to us feels familiar.”  A Japanese monk who has been praying for peace on the Korean Peninsula at the Cheorwon border area for the past 10 years, is also walking the entire route with a young monk practicing in Nepal.

Because it was cold and he walked quickly, he arrived at his destination two hours earlier than scheduled.  The group learned the song of Taizé and immediately began praying. The sound of people from different denominations and religions singing with one voice was loud and beautiful. He read in Korean and one passage in Japanese.

“Each nation will beat its swords into plowshares and its spears into pruning hooks. No nation will raise swords against one another, nor will there be military training anymore. Everyone will sit comfortably under the fig tree and in the shade of the vines that I have planted” ( Micah 4:3-4).

The long period of silence in the middle of prayer brought religious people together even more. We prayed and remembered those who suffered from war and violence not only on the Korean Peninsula but also around the world, including in Palestine, Ukraine, Myanmar, and South Sudan. Since inter-Korean relations have become strained and the spirit of reconciliation has disappeared, this pilgrimage is a prayer exercise by religious people trying to revive the spark of peace.

One participant who introduced himself as "I have no religion" said: "It’s great to see the four major religious denominations coming together and making a pilgrimage in an age of conflict and division. When I go back, I want to spread the word to people around me."The sight of them crossing boundaries and walking together touched him more than any sermon. 

Granfpa Chefs

 

The sight "Would you please taste this? I don't know if the seasoning is right." This is a conversation between grandfather chefs preparing food. 'Grandpa Chef' is a program to support and improve the life skills of male seniors living alone. A religious sister gives the reader of the Catholic Weekly a look into the workings of the program.

Grandpa Chef! A name that is not unfamiliar. Once a month, it is time to transform into a grandpa chef and learn what food to serve to yourself. Most people who spend their days waiting for someone in a dark, humid, single room in the basement are the ones we affectionately call 'grandfathers'. A scene not easily seen in the past. What kind of men learn how to cook? "If you have it, just eat it. If you don’t have it, don’t eat it, right?" This was a program that they rejected with a wave of their hand. 

A man cooking wearing a white chef's hat and an apron is not an uncommon sight. The menu is not of fancy dishes, they are satisfied making the dishes themself. Laughter bloomed along with their happy appearance. "I can live for another month with what I learned today and the menu from last time, so I don’t have to worry anymore."

The chefs recorded a year of memories and published the cookbook 'Grandpa Chef’s Secret Recipes'. Although simple, they held a publication commemorative party and served homemade sandwiches to all who attended. They all had big smiles on their faces.

Currently, the aging of our society is progressing at a rate unprecedented in the world. Unlike in the past, in this era where the number of elderly is increasing, the desire to lead a humane life is increasing. Still, it is also true that families and society feel the burden of the elderly as dependent beings.

When they grow old and live alone, “men are more lonely and depressed” (Seoul National University Nursing Department research team) — This is the title of a report based on in-depth interviews with 1,023 seniors aged 65 or older living alone in Gyeonggi-do between August and October 2018 about their overall quality of life by gender. According to the report, male seniors living alone were more depressed than female seniors living alone. It probably has something to due with men living in a man's culture for a long time and ending up alone. Accordingly, building a social environment to promote independent life and social integration in old age is necessary.

Even healthy people worry about the sudden rush of leisure time as they lose their social and occupational roles. Men due to sociodemographic characteristics, they are much more vulnerable than women who form relationships more easily. 

In many cases, relationships with family and neighbors are severed, and there is a fear of mental illness such as dementia or depression or dying alone, so efforts are needed to establish a social and religious safety net for elderly people living alone, especially male elderly people living alone, who are prone to isolation.

Grandpa Chef seniors go beyond preparing their own food and engage in sharing activities by participating in various local events. They are invited to university festivals every year to operate a food booth and use the profits to expand their activity through sharing, exchange, and meeting within the region. We hope that the elderly will increase their sense of presence, will not stop building emotional relationships in their daily lives, and will be able to contribute to society, even if only in small ways, with the skills they have acquired late in life.

Our society is rushing like a rocket into an aging society, and even those who are not yet in that stage need to imagine themselves in the future and plan how to live. It's already late. At this point, shouldn’t we take a closer look at what welfare is available for the elderly in our society?

Korean Unique Catholic Culture

We are going through the season of Lent. To joyfully welcome the Feast of the Lord's Resurrection, a period of repentance and penance exists in which believers receive a 'Sacrament Ticket' from their parish. Korean believers consider this a long church tradition—the 'Pangong Sacrament' during Lent as well as Advent, which precedes the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. The Catholic Times features an article on the Pangong in their recent issue, unique to the Korean Catholic Church.

'Pangong Sacrament' is a culture formed over a long period in the Korean Church and serves as an opportunity for believers to prepare well for the upcoming feast day.

Even believers who normally feel burdened by the Sacrament of Confession can observe their duties as believers through the Lenten Sacrament.

Any Korean church believer who lives a religious life in a parish will hear the term 'Pangongseongsa'.This is because, before the Advent and Lent seasons, we are told to “receive a Pangong Sacrament ticket” through announcements in the parish bulletin or during Mass.

'Pangongseongsa' is written as ‘判功聖事’ in Chinese characters, it refers to the sacrament of confession practiced by Korean Catholics twice a year, before Easter and Christmas. The term literally means "judging one's merits and demerits" and it implies that the faithful examine their conscience, repent of their sins, and receive absolution.

Believers receive a confessional ticket, go to confession, and then submit the ticket to the parish, and the church records this in the believer's church register. The records of 'Pangongseongsa' recorded in the church register serve as a yardstick for believers to check their own religious life. At the same time, they are used as important data at the church level to determine the condition of the community's spiritual life.

“Every believer, after reaching the age of discernment, must sincerely confess his or her serious sins at least once a year,” which can be interpreted as requiring them to go to the Sacrament of Confession at least once a year. However, in the Korean Church, since the period of persecution, believers who had difficulty meeting priests have formed a tradition of meeting priests twice a year and receiving the Sacrament of Confession.

As priests were not able to meet believers freely during the persecution, they closely examined the believers' religious lives through interviews and home visits before giving them the Holy Sacrament. It was natural for believers to reflect deeply on their faith before going to confession.

To lessen the burden that the Pangong Sacrament places on believers, the Korean Church decided at the 2015 Autumn General Assembly of the Bishops' Conference to recognize believers who go to confession after the Pangong Sacrament period as having received the Pangong Sacrament. This provides flexibility so that you do not feel burdened even if you do not go to confession during the official approval period.

Although believers generally receive the Pangong Sacrament at their own parish, the location of the Pangong Sacrament is wider than the home parish. Since the Pangong Sacrament is for the church to help believers live their faith and identify indicators of their faith life, even if it is not necessarily the parish they belong to, they can go to any parish to receive the sacrament. All they need is to get confirmation with a signature from the relevant parish and submit it to your parish, it will be properly entered in your church register.

The Pangong Sacrament serves as a way for believers to reflect on their own faith and for priests to understand and care for the believers' spiritual lives.

If you don't go to confession for more than 3 years, you are classified as a tepid member. In years before the Second Vatican Council, the community members during the Christmas Pangong period would take an exam on a certain part of the Catechism of the Church and come before the priest as individuals or family for the exam. It would be a way of meeting all the Catholics answering questions and helping the individual in his or her spiritual life. One can see how this part of the 'Pangong culture' did not continue in our modern society.

Korea and Cuba Establish Relations

 

In the Catholic Peace Weekly, a columnist gives the readers an account of the recent establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

With the establishment of relations between Korea and Cuba, the Vatican's mediation diplomacy is once again attracting attention. As it is a diplomatic matter, there is no specific information about what role the Vatican played. 

A former Minister of Foreign Affairs said in an interview that there was a lot of help and lateral support from friendly countries. He mentioned Mexico, the United Nations, and the Vatican as allies who helped. He especially introduced that the Vatican showed special interest in Cuba because it is a Catholic country.

In Cuba, an island nation in Central and South America, 85% of the total population (11.17 million people) are Catholic. Since Fidel Castro took power in 1959, it has not escaped the limitations of socialism. After the revolution, the Castro regime pursued atheistic communism and oppressed the church. However, starting in the late 1980s, Castro acknowledged the existence of the church, and the relationship between the government and the church became considerably smoother than in the past.

However, this fact was revealed in an extremely exceptional situation in the diplomatic history of the Holy See. The former Korean ambassador to the Vatican, said, the Vatican does not issue a single press release even when it accomplishes something that will remain in world history. Therefore, most of the achievements of the Holy See’s diplomacy are only talked about ‘behind the scenes’ stories. This is to thoroughly consider and respect the parties involved in mediation and neighboring countries.

The Vatican pursues universal peace based on justice and love, promotes harmony and cooperation between church and state, and thoroughly emphasizes basic human rights. As a mediator of disputes and conflicts, the Vatican refrains from providing unilateral support and maintains complete neutrality in international organizations. To this end, the Vatican's diplomat candidate priests are dispatched to local churches for a year to gain missionary experience.

The Vatican currently has diplomatic relations with 183 countries. Regardless of religion or ideology, they carefully and persistently build diplomatic and missionary bridges with any country where there are Christians. The diplomatic activities of the Holy See are different from the diplomacy of individual countries that prioritize their own interests. They do not reject requests for mediation for peace and actively mediate between the other countries even without a request.

It cannot be denied that the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Cuba is a great achievement that expanded the horizons of Korean diplomacy through close cooperation and multifaceted efforts of relevant ministries, as explained by the President's Office. 

However, the proposal to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba was first made in the 2000s. Both progressive and conservative regimes attempted to improve relations with Cuba and made great efforts. Therefore, this establishment of diplomatic relations was not a short-term achievement, but rather an accumulated achievement of Korea's diplomacy over the years. 

The establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Cuba was because both countries needed each other for their national interests.

Contagiousness of Loneliness

 

 Charles Darwin wrote a book called “Emotional Expression in Humans and Animals” along with “Origin of Species” laying the foundation for the theory of evolution. The Jesuit director of a human rights center writes in the Catholic Peace Weekly, Diagnosis of the Times column on the contagiousness of loneliness,

Chimpanzees are said to have almost the same level of social attachment as humans, so they express sadness and joy similarly. People experiencing deep grief sometimes find comfort in easing their loss and grief through intense body gestures, and the same goes for bereaved chimpanzees. They may cry out strange noises, slam their bodies against the iron bars, or stick their heads under straw bales and moan as if their hearts will break. It is a way of facing the fear that comes from the loneliness of being left alone.

 Humans are much more social than chimpanzees. We crave intimacy and cannot survive without it. Before the 20th century, only 1% of the world lived alone. But things have changed. Historically, as competition, polarization, and individualism intensify, the need for privacy increases, and the price is loneliness.

Currently, 3 out of 10 people in Korea are one-person households. Six out of ten people feel isolated, but at the same time, many more say they prefer to be alone rather than with family. You can live alone without feeling lonely, and you can be lonely without living alone, but loneliness and ‘living alone’ are connected. 

At this time, loneliness becomes a state of ‘homelessness.’ Feeling a sense of belonging means feeling at home. Anywhere can be a home, but this does not happen to those who experience existential loneliness or those who are homeless. Loneliness is not ‘cultural’ but ‘social’. Living alone is not a choice, but a result of the society in which we live.

Loneliness is not an empty sentiment or a personal emotion, but a state of deep anxiety and worry, both personally and socially. It is expanded sadness. Often the reason for numerous problems such as anxiety, violence, trauma, crime, suicide, depression, political apathy, and even political polarization. Not everything in the world can be reduced to loneliness, but it is one of the important causes and a new social problem.

In 2018, US health authorities declared that loneliness was an ‘epidemic’, and the UK appointed a minister ‘in charge of loneliness’. ‘Social isolation’ and loneliness are also related. The two share common symptoms and results. They are all associated with bereavement, old age, living alone, low levels of education, low income, and childlessness, particularly evident among the vulnerable and sick. If loneliness continues and becomes a chronic condition, it is no different from poverty. 

In Catholic social teaching, poverty is ‘exclusion’. This is because it is not only economic poverty, but also social, political, psychological, and spiritual. The persistent feeling that one's unique value is denied or the suspicion that one cannot share the value in the lives of others is the poverty of relationships and existence. Existence and relationships are everything to humans. 

The causes of loneliness are very complex and multifaceted. Loneliness is now a policy agenda, but also a universal problem so there is something we can all do, no matter how small. Loneliness is one of the deepest pain we can testify to. We can do the work of friendship, the work of being together in places of such deep pain.

These are the words of Henri Nouwen. “When someone listens faithfully to us and shows genuine interest in our difficulties and suffering, we sense something very deep is happening within us. Slowly fear and anxiety disappear. “The experience of being valuable and precious to someone is a tremendous creative force.”

 

 

 

 

 

A Listening Church

 

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The students she teaches come from a variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds, but there is something special about students with Christian backgrounds, both Catholic and Protestant. 

In the past, people went to church with their families, but now many who went to church no longer go. There are cases where people naturally become distant after entering college, but there are also many who are waiting to do so on entering college. For these people, the church is not the place they want to return to.

Young people are often seen as selfish individuals and “a generation that seeks only material goods and enjoyment” based solely on outward appearance, but what she observed was different. Just as much as the older generation, they long for new insights and wisdom beyond the horizon of reality, pursue a community where they share thoughts and experiences, and are interested in the climate crisis and a sustainable future. The way they express themselves, connect with each other and form a community are just different from the older generation.

Young people's spiritual pursuits do not necessarily lead to Christianity. She is more concerned about how the church is seen through the eyes of young people. When discussing with students what role and contribution religion can play in our lives and society, unfortunately, many of them show hostility and indifference. For young people, the church is “a group rife with hypocrisy, exclusion, sexism, hatred, and egoism.” They are no longer even disappointed in the church since they have no expectations. The church not only does not understand the difficulties they face in life, nor willing to listen.

The pain that young people face varies depending on the situation they are in but is usually expressed as depression, anxiety, and isolation. These are issues that the Church has paid pastoral attention to for a long time, and the Church's spiritual tradition also has abundant resources to examine and comfort them. It is not that the church is not interested in young people. Both dioceses and parishes have already made great efforts to retain young people for a long time. Nevertheless, young people still, or increasingly, turn their backs on the church. Where did it go wrong? The problem is not a lack of interest, resources, and effort, but rather the fact that the church is "unwilling to listen?"

Last January, she watched a website discussion hosted by the American Jesuit magazine America. Priests, religious, and female believers who attended the first session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodalitas (October 2023) were invited as panelists to share their experiences. Participants agreed that this general meeting was surprisingly new in terms of methodology and process.  

Since the beginning of Synodalitas, Pope Francis has emphasized that a change in thinking and approach is needed rather than resolving individual issues that have piled up. The Pope's vision was embodied in deep listening, with no interruptions allowed throughout the General Assembly. No one interrupted the participants, including women and young people in their twenties, to fully share their stories. After listening to each other's stories, there was mandatory silence to prevent spontaneous and emotional responses. Participants learned how to listen before speaking, and to express different opinions without breaking the consensus, and discussed how they could work together with different positions. I saw hope in that experience.

Isn't the attitude and skill of listening what the church needs most? In an attitude of learning and accepting rather than teaching and demanding, and in the process of stepping back and making way for the church and creating a space to go together rather than insisting that the church is always right, perhaps young people and the church can meet again.