LIES

This story and reflection appeared in the Pastoral Newsletter sent to the priests in Korea. The following story taken from the daily paper was followed by his reflection.

A father took his son to the movies.
The man at the ticket booth asked : " how old is the boy?"
The father lying about the age of the boy was able to enter
without a ticket. The boy said to his father: "when I grow up
I am going to be as shrewd as you."

The problem here is honesty of the elder. At home and at school we teach
children not to lie. But in this case we have the father, who the son respects, without any shame, lying in front of the child. And with the lie
he enters without buying a ticket.The son learns from the father that to be honest you are going to lose out. The boy when grown up
is not going to have any qualms of conscience in lying and deceiving others.

The priest mentions that in our society there are too many lies.
On television we hear politicians lying brazenly.
Those in finance lie very naturally.
It seems that few see anything wrong with lying.
Neither do we have difficulty in lying.
To live without lying is difficult.
If we speak only the truth then things become difficult for us and others.
So even without a second thought we come out with a lie.
Even renowned leaders when something is disadvantageous come out with a lie.
Some one deceiving himself and others is a serious problem.
People for the most part do not think well of liers and avoid them.
On the other hand we like those who are honest and open.
In countries in which lying is prevalent we have lack of trust, progress and disunity.
It is not good for society. 'Do not lie' is not only part of the ten commandments but appears in many parts of Scripture: "Delight not in telling lie after lie, for it never results in good."
Sirach 7:13
The article ends with a quote from Nobel Prize winner Solzhenitsyn, " a simple person with
simple courage will always refuse to lie. "

It seems that transparency is a value that we all admire but fine very difficult to incorporate into our daily living.

The Retired Life of Priest Scholar

There was an article in the recent Catholic Paper about Father O Kyeong Hwan ,a retired priest of the Incheon Diocese, who has in his seventies started a new life. He has always been a scholar but in the last 4 years he has begun the study of Science and Religion. He spends from 5 to 6 hours a day in the study of the relationship between the two.He feels somewhat frustrated that no Korean scholar or priest has entered this field to give us a lucid explanation of the relation between the two. This is the reason he has begun the study.

Fr. O thinks that the deeper we get into the study of the Natural Sciences there are many who are beginning to face many doubts. A great number of the scientist and intellectuals who rely on Science are denying the 'Existence of God'. The famous biologist Richard Dawkins puts forward evolution to deny the 'Existence of God.' The Catholic Church back in 1633 condemned Galileo for his holding the heliocentric theory. There has been from that time a conflict between the two fields of study. Fr. O feels very strongly this is no longer necessary and mentions this is also the direction of the Vatican. Evolution and Religion are both compatible and compliment each other. There is no conflict between the Church's idea of Creation and Evolution.

Father has his own website which is in Korean but he also has links in English to Theology and Natural Science, Vatican Observatory, and the International Society for Science and Religion. For those who are interested they may enter his website by going to:http://ohkh.net/

The Seoul Incheon Canal And Its Opposition

Work began on the Gyeongin canal in 2001. It is a canal that will stretch from Seoul to Incheon. The construction of the 18-kilometer waterway linking the Han River and the Yellow Sea was suspended because of opposition. Many found it lacking basic economic feasablity along with serious damage to the eco-systems. It started again this past month. ``Once the canal is completed, it will serve multiple purposes, ranging from flood control, cruise tours and logistics, to serving as an artery between Seoul and a new city built in Seongdo, Incheon, bringing change to the industrial and geographical map of the western regions of the nation,'' an official said.

There was a plan to build a canal from Seoul to Pusan but this plan because of intense opposition was scraped. This project from Seoul to Incheon is not of that scope but is still getting a great deal of opposition from an alliance of civic groups that includes many priests from the Incheon Diocese. Even the Bishop of the Diocese is very much concerned because of the prayer meetings and fasting that many of the priests have been involved in for some time. It was a project pushed not by the needs of the people but as the Bishop says in his Easter Letter more concern with those with power and influence. The Bishop mentions a project that was suppose to be an example of what can be done with a polluted lake; there was all kinds of false publicity concerning the project only to have no one around to defend it after it turned out to be a disaster. The lake became filled with polluted water from the ocean. The bishop's desire was a hope that projects would begin with plans well thought out, with the citizens to benefit from the project, and to have their support. He hopes that the Government will not side with those with power but be interested in the welfare of the poor and their needs.

We have had problems in recent years with the conflict between development and environment. It is something that we are being faced with more and more. The Church’s
Social Teaching has a number of principles and I would understand the Bishop to be stressing some of these in his brief comments on the Seoul Incheon Canal:
The Common Good
Solidarity
Subsidiarity
And to Stand with the poor.

The Cardinal's Message

Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan left us yesterday, but what has been taking place in Myeong-dong was nothing short of a miracle.

Endless streams of mourners visited Seoul’s Myeong- dong Cathedral where the cardinal lay before his burial, an unusual scene even in a Catholic state.
Choi Jong-tai, a sculptor and the member of the National Academy of Arts, said,” I feel he was a saint like Mother Teresa.”

The cardinal indeed led a noble life. In 1966, when he became a bishop, he decided that he would be guided by the motto “For you and all the people,” and urged followers to do the same.
The motto came from his conviction that a believer must devote himself to other people, as Jesus did. And Cardinal Kim’s life was lived out according to this principle.

This is why 400,000 mourners waited in cold weather for three hours to see his face one last time.

What took place in Myeong-dong is just the beginning. Cardinal Kim’s lasting message was about love, and he ignited the flame of love not just in the 400,000 mourners who visited the cathedral, but in millions of people across the country.

On the Web sit of the Korean Organ Donor Program, the number of people who have promised to donate their organs after death had surged drastically.

The average number of people who sign up for organ donation is 25 per day. This surged six times on Feb.17, the day after the cardinal's death, 10 times on Feb. 18 and 30 times on Feb. 19.

More people promised to adopt abandoned babies and donate money to scholarship foundations.

The flame of love must spread and continue to blaze far and wide. Cardinal Kim’s message of love, sacrifice, volunteer work and reconciliation must reach every corner of our society.

His message must help politicians and leaders of our society, who m must work to fix their confrontation and division, and open themselves to reconciliation and cooperation. The message must give hope and courage to youths who feel frustrated because of the economic crises, and underprivileged people who life in hardship.

The cardinal must keep on living in our hearts. Even if we cannot live as he did, we must make an effort to carry out his message. His message of love has already created a miracle. The miracle must continue to cure Korea’s chronic disease.

Taken from JoogAng Daily 2/21 2009

North Korea Visitation Report of 2006

Because the Maryknoll Superior Jerry Hammond was busy doing what he does best (keeping busy), he asked me to fill-for him and go to North Korea. (This report by Richard Rolewicz) goes back to Nov. 3-18 06. I thought the section on the Church in North Korea would be interesting.) I traveled through the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea as a member of the EugenBell Foundation delegation. Among several other health-care projects, this interdenominational NGO has been providing medical & farming equipment, medicines and supplies for T.B. hospitals and care-centers at 40+ locations over the past 12 years. Skip…

Sr. Mary, Fr. Stan and I would get together early each morning for Mass privately in one of the rooms wherever we happened to be. On the two weekends of the trip we were in Pyong Yang so the whole group also attended Church services. The first Sunday at the Protestant Church, the second Sunday at the Catholic Church. In both places our group was ushered into the front pews with other foreign visitors. Skip…

At the Catholic Church the Blessed Sacrament is not reserved. Fr. Stan and I were asked to come up into the sanctuary but we both respectfully declined. North Korea has no resident Catholic priest and there is a question as to just who the "Catholics" attending services are. As a result the Cardinal Archbishop of Seoul asks visiting priests not to offer Mass publicly. For the service three young men in their 30s wearing white albs (no stoles) stood behind the altar facing the people. The man in the center led the service. He used the prayer from the Missal which was placed on the altar. The service followed the usual format for Mass: Penitential rite, Scripture readings of the proper Sunday; a sermon was read; creed recited and prayers of the faithful offered. But there was no offertory rite (collection yes). Then into the Preface. When we all were reciting the "Holy-Holy..." I began to wonder what kind of Mass this was turning into. However once we finished the "Holy-Holy..." the leader introduced the "Our Father" per usual (no Canon or consecration). Finally, with no last blessing, came the dismissal. So there was no attempt to offer Mass, although all the prayers, minus the canon and last blessing, were from the Mass Missal. Under the given circumstances I was expecting the “Out-station service without a priest” format to be used.

As happened the previous Sunday, we foreigners were ushered out of the church first. Except for an elderly gentleman who mentioned that he remembers Bishop Patrick Byrne, M.M., there was no contact with the local faithful. Bishop Byrne is buried somewhere just south of the Yalu River in North Korea. How that came to pass is recorded by F. Philip Crosbie, S.S.C. in March Till They Die.

Fr. Stan and I wore our Roman collars for both Sunday services, entering and leaving North Korea, while sightseeing and at the banquet with concerned government officials the last evening in the country. I'm also wearing it in the picture of my U.S Passport. I'm proud of it.But I must confess that while in the north I wore the collar with a somewhat in-your -face attitude.

More knowledgeable people might easily take issue with these superficial observations. I'll be the first to admit my ignorance of the North's Military First Politics and the social, economic, quasi-religious underpinnings of their system, i.e., their own homegrown Juche (self reliance) interpretation of communism. But by and large, I was pleasantly surprised during this trip mainly because of people of good will on both sides. These people of good will are the raw material out of which the Christmas message of "Peace on earth" (Lk2:14) becomes a reality. Their efforts are helping people in need and making this a more perfect world. The alternative to this is the gloom and doom of the Korean proverb: "When whales fight, the the shrimp get crushed."

Overlooked Catholic Patriot

One of the patriots in our Korean History is Ahn Jung-geun. He is the man who assassinated the first Prime Minister of Japan Ito Hirobumi in Harbin, Manchuria in 1909. This is the centenary of the assassination and next year of Ahn’s death. Japan’s imperialist oppression was causing a great deal of suffering to not only Korea but to all of Asia. His action had repercussion all over the world.

The Catholic Church is beginning to take a much deeper look at Ahn. In the past he did not always receive the interest that one would expect from such a patriot. This however has all changed. There are elements to the story of Thomas Ahn that are somewhat embarrassing for the Korean Church. He was obviously a very serious Christian Catholic. The editorial in a recent Catholic Paper mentioned:

Even though one says he knows about patriot Ahn and his act:

for the most part it is that he engraved a cross on the bullet

prayed for success and when in prison heard

of the death of Ito he made the sign of the cross and thanked

God. It is only fragmentary bits and pieces. It is clear that despite the

part in our history we were indifferent and negligent of this.

The editorial went on to say in conclusion that he is a good symbol of a Christian who did not take the suffering of his country lightly. He is an important asset to have for the Korean Catholic spirituality of the future.

There is a good article in the Wikipedia on An Jung-geun which will give you a good idea of the man and his ideals.

An Opinion on Catholic Church Buildings

One of the professors at the School of Fine Arts in the Diocese was asked to write an article on the artistry of our Catholic Churches in Korea. The article would be printed in the Pastoral Letter sent out to the priests in Korea. He tried his best not to get involved but with repeated requests for an opinion he finally said yes.

The Church Culture here in Korea he says has influenced all of us and he was not pleased with the prospects of upsetting his fellow priests. His feeling was that what we have internalized will show itself in what we do with our Churches. He thinks the atmosphere of our Churches is in disorder and confused. He quotes Meister Eckhart to say that God works in our Souls not by addition but by subtraction. He would be for less distractions when it comes to the interior of the Church.The picture beginning this post would probably get a good grade but could be wrong.

One of our very familiar sayings in Latin is: De Gustibus non est disputandum, which means:“there is no disputing about tastes.”Judgments that for the most part are subjective will always be refuted by those that have a different set of values. I do not think there are any firm objective norms on how to judge the appropriateness of a Church's construction, its interior and its furnishings. I consider what he had to say very daring and my sympathies would be with him.