The Fetus and Artificial Intelligence

In the recent Catholic Peace Weekly Peace column, a Korean researcher living in the States gives us his thoughts on the fetus and artificial intelligence. 

The Pro-Choice camp, which advocates allowing abortion, emphasizes a woman’s right to choose an abortion and argues that a woman’s individual “right to decide on her own body” takes precedence over the “right of the fetus to survive.” Although they view social, economic, or other reasons as grounds that can justify abortion, they do not believe that the same reasons are justifiable reasons for depriving a born, breathing child of life. Everyone agrees that humans have special values and rights and that these basic rights must be protected. Ultimately, the key difference between the pro-choice camp and those with opposing views is whether or not the fetus is considered a full human being.

The basis of the pro-choice camp's argument is the idea that a fetus cannot be considered a human being because it does not possess the abilities that a full human being should have. In fact, from the ‘perspective of ability’, a fetus before a certain period has no brain activity, no ability to express itself, and no ability to survive on its own outside the womb.

In contrast, looking at the rapid development of artificial intelligence, there are more and more examples of artificial intelligence that achieves performance similar to or better than that of humans. Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly advanced, with the ability to understand and create language, test knowledge in specialized fields, and even mimic emotions. Artificial intelligence is now able to accomplish areas of art that were thought to be something only humans could do. The pace of development is so fast that you can almost feel the difference between artificial intelligence from just a few months ago. 

Looking at a fetus that can't do anything and an artificial intelligence that can do things better than humans; we must ask what are human values based on? So, does artificial intelligence have greater ‘human value’?

Suppose we claim that brain activity, cognitive abilities, and the ability to survive on our own are essential elements of human value, which the fetus lacks. In that case, we will denigrate the human value of people with severe disabilities and the many people who cannot survive without help. Suppose you argue that a being that can create and speak language is valuable. In that case, an artificial intelligence that can freely speak dozens of languages and draw anything in the drawing style of every artist in the world now has greater human value than a child who cannot speak. 

Human value comes from the existence God gives us, not from ability. No matter what other standards you set, you will fall into the error of denigrating human value or giving human value to non-human things.

The fetus is God's creation created in God's image, and artificial intelligence is a creation created by humans to assist human life. Therefore, the human fetus, God's creation, has infinitely greater value than artificial intelligence created by humans. The fetus is not only a valuable being in itself because it is a human being, but it is also the weakest being without the ability to survive, so it needs greater protection. The Bible teaches that we must protect the weak.  

In the future, we will increasingly encounter artificial intelligence with abilities similar to humans or superior to most humans. There will be positive changes that artificial intelligence will bring to the world, and there is no need to unconditionally be hostile to or fear artificial intelligence. However, more than ever, it is a time when we need to reflect on where the source of human dignity and value come, and time to see changes in the world through the eyes of faith.

Importance of Trust in Life

What do people live by? Some people will hear this question and ask: But isn’t this a question we must seriously ask ourselves at some point in our lives? People will give various answers to this question, but ‘trust’ is as important as anything else in a person’s life. This is the beginning of My Faith Like Gold column of the Catholic Peace Weekly by a priest professor.

Trust, in its dictionary meaning, is ‘belief and reliance.’ This may contain the meaning that humans are inherently trustworthy beings. For believers, trust is the basic attitude they have toward God, but trust is also a basic principle of all human life. Human beings are born and grow up, form a family, live in society, and live until the end, although it is invisible, trust acts as a greater force than anything else in human life.

First of all, trust is the fundamental foundation of family life. During the wedding ceremony, the newlyweds put on rings and the words they exchange with each other show that marriage is achieved not only through love but also through faith and loyalty. “Please accept this ring I offer you as a token of my love and faithfulness.” Trust relationships between spouses and parents, children, and siblings are the foundation that supports a family. Of course, human trust is indeed very fragile and easily broken. As family members have deep trust in each other, the wounds suffered when trust is broken are deep and great. Repairing a broken relationship requires a lot of time, patience, and sacrifice.

Trust is also important in interpersonal relationships at school or in society. Where trust abounds, every day is a joy and celebration, but there is no place more hellish than a place where distrust prevails. When people trust and wait for others, they grow and achieve a lot by making full use of their capabilities, but in the opposite case, they lose confidence and become intimidated and unable to do what they can. It is said that ‘praise makes even whales dance,’ but wouldn’t it be possible to say that trust makes people dance and even revives dying people?

On the other hand, it is an irony of human life that we realize the important value of trust only later. In particular, when you go through a big crisis or trial in life, you realize how much trust you have received in your life. A person who has lived his whole life as he pleases, but reaches the end of his life, realizes that his life has been meaningless and that he has been searching for something in vain all his life and regrets it. And as he recognizes how much trust his family and acquaintances placed in him, and how much he has lived betraying that trust, he beats his chest and regrets it.

Many years ago, the columnist's brother, who was suffering from a serious illness and was about to undergo major surgery, asked him for prayer. He said that he had lived confidently all his life without bowing his head in front of anyone, but when he fell ill and was nearing death, he experienced his life completely falling apart and realized how futile he had been living his life. And he said that he realized how much love he had received from his family and how badly he had treated that love. He added that surgery is just around the corner, and if he survives, he will live the rest of his life with gratitude and repayment for the love he has received.

Trust and love are connected like two sides of a coin. Trust and love are passed on to each other and make each other live. Before it's too late, let's consider how much trust and love we receive from our family and acquaintances. Let's think of the people who pray for us, cheer us on, and support us. If we could realize that we couldn't live even a moment without their trust and love, wouldn't our lives be completely different?

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.