Waiting With Hope

In His Own Words Fr. John Cioppa Maryknoller in Hong Kong.

In 1972 shortly after he was released from a Chinese prison Bishop James Walsh was at the Kai Tak airport waiting for a plane to take him to the US. He said, "Here I am waiting again. In 1950 I waited to be sentenced to jail, I waited for 20 years to be released, and now I am waiting again. I have spent half of my life waiting." He was not angry. He was just commenting , relaxed and smiling. "Waiting " for Bishop Walsh had become his spirituality. He had integrated waiting into his life. He was not anxious or worried. He had learned that waiting also meant hope.

Some researchers say we spend about 8 years of our life "waiting". A mother waits 9 months for her child to be born, another year waiting for him to walk and five years more before going to school. We wait to see the doctor. We wait to pay bills, wait for exam results, wait for job interviews and wait to get married.We even wait to die. I hope Jesus doesn't keep us waiting at heaven's door. Waiting brings fear and anxiety but it also brings hope and joy: a new child born, release from prison, high exam marks.

The Jews waited 500 years for the Messiah to come; 40 more years with Moses wandering in the desert and 50 years in captivity in Babylon longing to be back home in the Holy Land. Life for the Jews seemed to be one waiting after another. And as we know they are still waiting.

I believe waiting has a very profound meaning. It is a deep-seated longing for our hearts and souls to go home. Waiting is basically homesickness. We are restless and anxious and can never settle down because the place we are standing is not home. Saint Augustine put it well when he said, "Our hearts were made for God and they will not rest until they are again with God."

I thing that is what Advent is all about. It's a reminder that we are on a journey- a long journey back to the Father. We wander in a strange place searching for the road home. We long to be back again with our Father. If you have even been homesick, you know what I mean. Advent is a reminder that we live our lives in ambiguity. We live in the presence of God, yet live in the expectation of His coming again. We celebrate His coming but wait and long for Him to be with us again. Somehow deep in our souls there is a memory of being with God . Advent reminds us that we live in that memory hoping and anxious to be with God again. That was the feeling of Jesus when He was on earth and that is the spirit of Advent. A waiting with hope .That hope also brings peace and joy and that's what we celebrate on Christmas.

Waiting makes us uncomfortable and brings with it feelings of fear, anxiety, loneliness and helpless. But it also brings with it hope, joy and new life. Advent reminds us that we are homesick and our hearts will not be in peace until they are again with the Lord. Advent is not a sad time. It is a time of hope, a time to feel the peace and joy of the Lord who is here, but has yet to come.

The Korean Welfare System

It has been said, and it has the ring of truth, missioners are not the best ones to ask for an understanding of the environment in which they work. We probably identify too closely with the people and do not see the larger context. Be that as may, I have certain feelings about the Korean welfare system from my dealings with the Catholics over the years. I have heard criticism of the welfare system but from my experience in Korea, the welfare system is doing very well.

I can recall in the early 70s when a grandmother who was senile, was dropped off in front of our kindergarten in the town in which we had the parish. I saw her on my trip to the kindergarten and told the catechist to take care of her. The next day she was still there; I was upset but there was little he could do he said. We washed her and brought her to the nearby Catholic Hospital where they said her legs were frost bitten and have to be amputated. We went to the different government offices in the town but they could do nothing. That was one of the reason they moved the street people from one provincial district to another. They did not have the facilities.

What would I be faced with now that I had responsibility for this senile grandmother who couldn't walk? After much worry and gathering of information, the Sisters in the parish told me, if she could walk she would be accepted at House of Hope in Taegu were the Sisters were working. We bought artificial limbs and for a week taught her how to walk. In the end she was accepted and a big worry disappeared. In those days the Korean Welfare system was just not in place.

Today seeing what the welfare system is doing is just marvelous. The government I am told is trying to enhance the quality of life, reduce unemployment, poverty and inequality; what I see is the poor when sick go to the hospital, if they are without family they are given an allowance, the poor children in school are given computers. The Government also helps the private welfare sector once a program has been started with the buildings and personnel, if the conditions are met, they contribute to the operation of the facility. I do not hear any quibbling about it being run by a religious organization or not. The private and religious groups are also very active in this welfare system. I am very much impressed with what the Government has done over the last 30 years. There may be holes in the system but what I see is tremendous improvement over the past. May the treatment of the weak and poorer segments of our society continue to be a concern of those in Government.

Foreigners in KoreaㅡCatholic Missionaries

Back in the early 60s the missioner would ordinarily be the only foreigner walking the streets of the farming area in which he worked. He had one of the better looking houses in the area; one of the few cars travelling the roads seemed to belong to a senior civil servant, police chief or a missioner. The missioner excited widespread interest in those who passed his way. The word you heard was "American American," (미국 사람 미국사람) sometimes with a not too complementary adjective but most of the time just the word "American". I wondered how the other foreigners at that time liked to be called Americans. The Koreans had seen many foreign soldiers right after the Korean War and most of them were Americans.

If in the 60s foreigners where an odd sight to most of the Koreans especially in the country it is not hard to understand why during the years of persecution the Paris Foreign Missioners wore mourning clothes to disguise their appearance.

Coming into recent times the foreigner is no longer a stranger, even the children in the country do not bother to look twice. We have become a part of the Korean way of life. Korea is no longer a hermit kingdom or the home of a racially homogeneous people. This change came quickly and within a few years it will be 2 million foreigners living in Korea.

In the paper yesterday the front page carried an article reporting that the number of foreigners in Korea has topped 1 million. From the last time they made the count back in 2006 the increase was almost double. It seems that all the different groups have had an increase: different national groups, naturalized citizens, children of foreigners, illegal aliens, workers, overseas Koreans residing in Korea, students, and business people. However not mentioned were missionaries. Most of the missionaries that were here before the Korean War would have a decrease in the numbers working in Korea. The Maryknoll Society from the high mark, close to 100 Maryknollers have only 17 that remain in Korea. The Korean Church does not need us and some of the men, who have worked in Korea, have volunteered to go to China, Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia and even Japan. (Click to see where we work) Those of us who remain try to help the Korean Church in areas where they accept us and most hope , health permitting , to remain until we return to our true home country.

Like a Little Child

From our Maryknoller in Hong Kong Fr. John Cioppa.

...I can see why Jesus loved children. He saw them as so genuine. At their stage of life they were still open and sincere and still so trusting. My two nieces gave me a greater appreciation of why Jesus chose a child as a model that we should imitate and learn from. The image He put forward as the ideal to strive for was not an image of a great hero or person of great strength or powerㅡ not even an old wise man or saint from the Old Testament. The image of true greatness was the image of a child and that's the secret of the spirituality of Jesus Himself.

I am sure we have all been moved by a mother holding a child in her arms or a child sleeping on its mother's shoulder. They are so full of trust. They have no reason to mistrust anyone or anything. It is only as we grow older that we learn to mistrust, becoming fearful and suspicious of others. Feelings of fear are natural especially in a situation of danger, and I' m sure Jesus experienced these some feelings of fear., We are told that he sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane when threatened with arrest, torture, and death. But He trusted His Father and prayed that famous prayer, "Your will be done" (Mk 14:36). Jesus experienced fear but His response was one of trust in His Father.

Another remarkable quality of a healthy child is a sense of wonder. Everything is new and surprising. I can still see the expressions on the faces of my nieces when the wind blew the leaves and flower during a rainstorm and when the rain stopped, running out to play in the puddles on the sidewalk. For a child everything is new and magical. As we grow older we lose that sense of wonder.Everything becomes ordinary and taken for granted. When the wind blows the leaves and flowers bend and when the rain is over there are puddles on the sidewalk. But our reaction is," So what?" Not so with the child. One of the ways of staying young is to try to preserve that sense of wonder. Nature is a good place to start. Just take a moment to become conscious of the world around us: the beautiful scenery, mountains, the astronauts living on a space station for three months. Eventually we too begin seeing everything as mysteries: the oceans, flowers, grass, trees. Then there are all the marvels of science, like taking a space ship to the moon. Jesus had a deep sense of wonder. He was enthralled by the beauty of the lilies of the field, the birds of the air (Mt. 6:28), and the wheat that grows quietly and invisibly while the farmer sleeps ( Mk. 4:28). In all these marvels of nature, Jesus shows the mysterious hand of God. He was a mystic and a poet

One final quality we associate with childhood is playfulness, laughter and fun. Children laugh so easily. They pretend they are gown-ups: doctors, nurses, teachers, mother, firemen or policemen. Jesus also noticed the kids playing in the marketplace, some singing the songs of weddings, others the songs of funerals ( Lk. 7:32). Unfortunately we tend to lose this playfulness as we g row up and become more serious.We often think of the saints as serious, humourless, quiet people. Not so. Just consider St. Francis. He used to sing to the birds and flowers and roll in the snow in wintertime. Some even say that Jesus wasn't a joyful person because the Gospels never say He laughed. When we see His great love for children, I am sure He smiled and laughed all the time.

Jesus' choice of a little child as a model provides us with an image of the kind of person we need to become if we are to become like Him. The image of a childlike joyful personality I think gives us a good idea of the person of Jesus Himself. And he told us to imitate His love as He imitates the love of the Father.

The next time you see children playing, or a new born baby or a mother holding an infant in her arms look closely to see if you can see Jesus.

Examination of Consciousness

Fr. John Meehan's points for making a private retreat.


One of the symptoms of addiction to alcohol and other substances is called a blackout. During this period a person seems to be going about their usual activities, working, driving, or anything else but they are not aware of what is happening and they do not remember anything about it afterwards. This happens at a very late state in the addiction, near the time when it becomes life threatening. In a lesser but almost as dangerous a sense, all of us suffer from symptoms similar to blackouts. I go through long periods of time without much awareness of what is going on. All too often I do not even bother to remember what happened today or last evening or anytime. My life goes on with little awareness and even less reflection on what I am doing and what life is doing to me. This life style is destined to lead to boredom, depression, and is perfect training to be the opposite of a wise person.

On the other hand, if I want to grow in wisdom, understanding, and love of life and living, I need to reflect on my own life. To know myself and learn from my own experiences is the beginning of wisdom and healthy living. Reflection and awareness are the most important qualities needed for the growth of my spiritual life.

Self awareness and self knowledge are the strong foundation for any growth in the spirit and for both wholeness and holiness. To aid my self awareness and self-knowledge I will make it a practice twice daily to make such an examination, both during and after my retreat.

This exercise develops awareness and draws my attention to the presence of God in my life. Twice a day for five or ten minutes I will stop whatever I am doing and take a few moments to center myself. I will become quiet and internally alert. Then I will gently place myself in the presence of the Spirit of God, for a minute I will rest quietly and then review my day to that moment. To do this exercise well I need to recall what has taken place in my day up to this time of prayer. I will ask two questions of each happening or activity that I remember: was God present? How was God present? For God's presence and action in my life, I will offer a prayer of thanks; for my lack of awareness and for my sins, I will say " I am sorry".

This is a good prayer to record in my journal . After some time it will be important to reflect back on the various ways in which God has been present in my life and how God has shown love and has influenced my life.

If this discipline is followed daily, several very healthy effects will come into my daily living. The most telling one will be growth in my awareness of the presence of God. This awareness will not only be of past things reflected upon but will also involve my own growing awareness of God's constant activity in my life. I will slowly become more and more conscious of God's actions and learn to be alert to them most of the time. I will with patience become aware of the divine activity in my life by breaking through the various obstacles that I have developed to block out much of God's grace.

Over time this discipline will aid me directly in developing the contemplative openness to see and experience God's working and presence at all levels of human experience. God actually gifts all of us with the graces of contemplation but usually I am too preoccupied and distracted to be aware of the opportunities. My growing awareness of the presence of God, will contribute much to breaking down the barriers that limit my full human development and my experience of the divine.

Finding a Martyr Saint

The discovery of a shallow grave from the 1866 persecution period by an American priest in July 1980, led to the recent dedication of a church in the memory of Saint Luke Sokdu Hwang in May 2009. The saint is one of Korea's 103 martyr saints most who's last resting place are unknown.

Maryknoll Father Robert M. Lilly, former pastor of Su An Bo Church area where the grave was located, placed a relic of the martyr in the new church in Cheong Ju diocese. "I was fortunate to find the ancestral burial ground of the Hwang family in a mission station of my parish," he said. " My desire to find out more about his role in the growth of the Catholic Church in Korea evolved from that discovery."

Luke Sokdu Hwang was martyred with four companions at Kalmaemot on the west coast of Korea in March 1866. Childless, he had adopted his nephew, son of an older brother, some years earlier. At the time of martyrdom, the adoptee no doubt had heard the news,
but waited two months before going to the site. Then secretly at night he retrieved the body and carried it home. Other members of the family had already fled and dispersed in every direction. Only another nephew, Andrea Hwang and the martyr's adopted son John remained to bury the corpse in a temporary grave. They observed that the body still seemed supple and life like in appearance. They then took leave of the village where a number of the family had lived prior to the last great persecution.

Andrew Hwang was martyred that same year in Seoul, while John Hwang underwent the same fate in Seoul In 1867. Previous to that, John Hwang had transferred the remains of Luke Sokdu Hwang, his adoptive parent, to their ancestral roots in Pyeong Pang Kol in north Chung Cheong province. There, one hundred and fourteen years later, on July 9th 1980, the heretofore unknown grave was opened.

Luke Sokdu Hwang's name was on the list of twenty four candidates beatified by Pope Paul VI in Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome, on October 6,1968. Added to the seventy nine already raised to that honor, the total amounted to one hundred and three awaiting canonization. That historic event, conducted by Pope John Paul II, took place in Youido Plaza, Seoul on May 6, 1984.

Meanwhile, through the years local gossip at Pyeong Pang Kol had always rumored that a Christian believer killed for his faith was buried in the mountainside Hwang family grave site. About ten years after the beatification ceremony in Rome and following an extensive search of church and civil records, the quest narrowed.

The grave revealed skeletal remains resting in water only a few feet under the surface. The severed head lay upside down on the chest and the whole scene suggested that the burial had been carried out in a harried and confused fashion, nothing like the usual Korean respect for the dead.

Later , on closer examination at Sou An Bo church the remains showed that the neck had been cut through at the third vertebrae of the spinal column by a blunt instrument, such as a heavy sword, with such force that it had driven the fragmented bone into the skull. The upside down position of the head upon the chest bone would have alerted attention in any subsequent exhumation and the shallowness of a water filled grave again was contrary to rigid Korean custom.

Present through out the procedure were the late Church historian, Father Joseph Kisoun Oh, the Su An Bo pastor, a senior family member and a medical doctor from Saint Mary's hospital in Seoul. The bones remained at Su An Bo for two years before being transferred to Yon Pung martyrs shrine on August 25, 1982, where then retired Korean Archbishop Paul Kinam Ro officiated at the internment ceremony.

Needless to say it had been a long journey for the saint from a mountainside unknown grave to a site of veneration in a beautiful new church of Cheong Ju city and a spiritual trek as well for his persistent companion.

Lastly, it is a fitting postscript to point out that had not the opportunity been seized to seek out and save the relics of a martyr of the Church, a different scenario might have occurred, as it has on many occasions. In the mid nineteen eighties the separate graves of Pyeong Pang village were moved and it became part of a huge public works project, an interchange in the burgeoning Korea superhighway system.

The Catholic Church and the Poor

In the Now Here Catholic New's Site an article asked is the Catholic Church the religion of the elite in our Korean Society?

The point that is being made is the Catholics seem to be gravitating to certain areas where the educational level, the income and place in society is rather high.

One of the graphs showed those over 18 years of age who were graduates of college or junior college: Buddhist 21.7 %, Protestants 34.1%, Catholics 38.0%. In looking over the graph the Catholics are those with the most years of education. The higher numbers of those that have white collar jobs are also the Christians, Catholics and Protestants. The proportion of Buddhists, Confucians and Won Buddhist engaged in agriculture, forestry and fishing on the other hand would be noticeably higher.

It seems that from polls of the past it is easily noticed that those who have a higher educational background are also those who have adapted to the modern life style. This is also becoming true of the Won Buddhists.

The conclusion is one that I have seen expressed over the years by many who have seen the growth of the Catholic Church. The Catholics were the poor but knew they were part of the community and were proud of their role. In certain areas this is no longer true. Also the young people who are not college or junior college students may not feel welcomed in the youth groups.


I have heard it said over the years that some of the poorer Christians do not feel comfortable in a Church were all are better educated and have a better life style. This problem is not easily solved and it may be the reason the poor and uneducated no longer find the Catholic Church as welcoming as in the past.