Proposals for Seminary Education

The Korean Church has 7 major seminaries. The number of seminarians in these seven seminaries is 1,413 as of 2008. Just this year the Seoul seminary decided to extend its priestly formation by six months to facilitate work for the graduate program.



The Suwon Diocese Seminary had a recent academic symposium in commemoration of its 25th year with an examination of the past, present and plans for the future. Both Catholic Papers had articles on the symposium. Those present on the panel were very candid in what they had to say: not much change from pre-Vatican II ways of thinking. One panelist mentioned there has to be subjects that will enable the students to be messengers of the Gospel to the society in which they live.



The making of the man was also stressed as being very important. One of the panelist mentioned there has been complaints of pride , authoritarianism and other character faults that come from a lack of interest in character formation of our students. Shouldn't the very public thinking of what are considered faults of the clergy be taken into account in the education of our seminarians?



The faculty unlike those in outside colleges do not see the results of their training for they are often changed to other assignments in the diocese. The faculty should be full time, devoted to study, and the recruitment should transcend the diocese , the provinceses and even the country. We should get the best available.



Another panelist mentioned that the changes in knowledge, and teaching has been extraordinary over the last 30 years but he thought the seminary has not kept pace. An effort should be made to form a committee working on the improvement of the curriculum. He stressed that if the education is to been successful, the faculty , the students and the the teaching process has to be first-rate. It is important to have stability in the recruitment of the professors, improve the research meetings and work to get better students. He also mentioned that the number of subjects should be reduced to make room for other areas of study.



Time has to be spend in character building and getting spirits of the Seminarians to shine. Another one thought it was not right to just think that seminarians are waiting to be formed, they also have the obligation to work to form themselves.



The president of the Seminary thanked all present and mentioned the seminary can not be oblivious to the demands of the times and the symposium will do a great deal to prepare the ground for reforming the seminary education program.



The Church in Korea is open to new ideas and better ways of doing things. They are extremely well organized and once they see a need results do follow.

Communion and Communication

Korea has seven Catholic seminaries, and although this helped to open the way for more vocations it has also divided the clergy into different groups. When they had only the Seoul seminary they all new each other and when the Kwangju seminary was built it was the first division but now we have seven and for some, in a very homogeneous and well organized society, hard to accept.

For the religious this is a bigger problem for they have experienced community and are not easily able to fraternize with their fellow Korean religious-divided as they are in formation, among the different seminaries.

One of the religious in an article thought that (communio and communicatio) communion and communication are two very important elements in the life of priests. He would recommend a proposal that has been around for some time that after the course of studies for the priesthood is finished, all end up at one place for the final year for communion and communication. He feels that this is necessary for renewal, they have a need to build community and through communication to work towards renewal, an ongoing sign of the health of the Church.

Although this has many approving of the idea he acknowledges that it does not seem feasible. There are just too many obstacles to overcome to have it see the light of day.

The whole idea of communion and communication does present one with a good blueprint for life in the Church. A problem that we have is a failure to communicate and possibly the first step is communion. Unless we know one another and make an effort to understand and talk to one another from the heart, divisions that we have will continue.

Cardinal Avery Dulles had one of the models of Church as a Community. The six that he proposed need not be independent of each other but help to make for an integral vision of Church. The problems we have in parishes, dioceses and communities is the absence of a desire to talk to one another at a deeper level. The communio is missing and the lack of communication naturally follows.

Here in Korea where we still have a very uniform society it is still noteworthy to see some in the Church desiring an almost impossible dream. It is is a beautiful dream but the obstacles are just too many to overcome - having more communion , however, is not something that we should ignore because of the difficulty.

Seeing in a Different Way

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (after this therefore because of this) thinking is very common and one of the fallacies which we are prone to commit. The Post Hoc Fallacy is committed whenever one reasons to a causal connection between two events merely because they follow one another in the order of time.

A columnist in the Catholic Weekly had some thoughts on this fallacy for our enlightenment. He is not using our Latin words but Korean equivalents and asking us not to confuse before and after with cause and effect. Just because something precedes doesn't mean it is the cause. Because I lit a candle in the house and the house burnt down doesn't mean the lighting of the candle was the cause. When I have sinned the punishment that may follow was not necessarily caused by my sin. It could be the instrument for my glory.

Often when help is given to others in difficult straits many think they will get grace or be blessed. This is not correct. The very fact that you have helped others means that you were helped by grace.

When some of the Catholics in the parish have returned from some work or service to the poor many expect some kind words from the pastor and if they don't receive it they are dejected. Even when we do a good work we want that recognized , encouraged by words of compensation.

It is thought that for the parish to be revitalized it is necessary to have a great pastor. Take the example of a class in school, learning is more dependent on the quality of the students than the teacher. That would be true also in a parish.

When we criticize others it is more a reflection on us than on the person who is criticized. Little is really ever accomplished. Let us try to see things differently. We have to get away from our ego centrism and empty ourselves for that is what our life of faith is all about.

Let us see things differently. Get rid of selfishness and stubbornness. Ask for the Spirit and move ahead. No pretence in our laughter, no severity in our service, no meanness in our kindness, not desiring compensation in our concern for the other, no ostentation in our justice, no showing off in our giving , no self admiration in working for justice. This is only possible with the help of grace and maturity of mind, the starting point is humility.

If we have been looking ahead in haste let us now stop for awhile, look both on the right and left and see if we can see something different. Our lives will be happier.

Evangelization Jesus' Way

In continuation of yesterday's blog there is a great deal to be said about evangelization:what to do and what not to do. We are not good carriers of the message that Jesus gave us. Catholics are not united as we should be, although in Korea we do have a certain type of unity; there are serious divisions among Protestants, and in recent times, not obvious in the past, fundemental issues separating Christians in the different Churches. The unity a very important part of Jesus' message is not considered important enough to make it central to our thinking.


This lack of unity is no help in the work of evangelizing that Jesus gave us to do. One has little difficulty seeing how mystified are those without religion looking upon us with religion. In Korea as in other parts of the world the numbers of those without religion is becoming one of the largest segments of society very likely most of the blame belongs to us.

In the presentation that was made at the symposium on Evagelization the conclusion was to do a better job in presenting our message. One of the suggestions was to use the three Cs approach to evangelization which is taken from the business world: Content, Community and Commerce. The case was made that in our world it is no longer duty that speaks but grace, gift. One has to experience the gift of grace or else we get nowhere. We have to use the operating methods of the market. The competition to bring people to Jesus is great, there are just too many out there doing what we do and those who do a better job in the marketing will get more followers, we are dealing with consumers.


The conclusion was to have a diverse spiritual product that fits the culture. We have to draw plans that fit the mental world of our people and build the future community.

This reminds me of Maryknoll's own attempt many years ago to use some of the know how from the business world to do a better job as missioners. I have forgotten the order but some of the words we were using were: aim, plans , targets and goals. We can learn a great deal from business and other areas of life but grace will always be what it is all about.

Catholics have to be the example of what it means to be persons of grace. The life of grace has to be seen: persons of joy, peace love... the gifts of the Spirit. The future will have the product speak for itself. It will not be words or our selling but the attraction of what we are. What we need is saints who can show us the way of grace. That will be attraction enough. It was Jesus' way.

Religion and Politics in Present Day Korea

An academic meeting on 'the relationship of the state and religion in the present society' was reported on by the Catholic Peace Weekly. Professor Kang of Hanshin University maintained in his delivery that the influence of any religion decreases in proportion to the growth of its political influence.

The professor mentioned that many who are of the conservative bent in religion feel that it will be profitable for them to get involved in politics but in doing so lose the confidence of the people and the good feelings toward the religion decreases.

He showed how this has worked out for the Protestants from the 1940s on. There was a decrease in the number of Protestants from 1940-1945. At this time many of the upper classes of Protestant society favored the Japanese: there was a drop in the number of Protestants.

In 1955-62 when Syngman Rhee was in control many of the Protestants who had studied overseas were given places in the government and again a decrease in the number of Protestants. In the United States Provisional Government of the 50 Koreans who were given high positions 35 were Protestants.

Again from 1995-2005 there was another drop in the numbers. President Kim Yong Sam an elder in the Protestant Church was followed by Kim Tae-chung and the Sunshine Policy and Roh Moo-hyun who continued that policy but most of the conservative Protestants were against the policy and we had another drop in the numbers.

The professor has cited two principles that he feels are necessary for a religion to get involved successfully in politics. One is the trust of society, the society has to acknowledged the virtue of the leaders of the religion. Secondly, mutual understanding between the society and the religion. They have to use words that both understand, and in harmony. The professor feels without this the religion is going to receive a death blow.

The Professor feels that President Lee Myung -bak as an elder of the Somang Church has involved the conservative element of Protestants and given the impression of selfish interest instead of the common good. He has also divided the conservative and progressive elements in Protestantism and brought division between religions and within groups in society.

There was a very serious period when the the Buddhist took to the streets which is not their way, after they felt and rightly so, that they were being discriminated against. There was a very noticeable pro- Christian bias in the selection of his cabinet and filling places in government, along with slights to the Buddhists. He has publicly apologised and has attended a Buddhist event for the first time since in office. It seemed to be a reconciliatory gesture aimed at mending the bridges. Korea has had a fairly good history of toleration and the President, belatedly has acknowledge the results of his actions and taken measures to remedy the situation.

Proposals for Korean Catholic Church

The Catholic Press this week gave good coverage on what transpired at the symposium on Evangelization sponsored by the Korean Bishops' committee on Evangelization. It was an honest appraisal of what is happening and the signs are far from positive. It seemed clear that we are going the way of the West . In the headline for the article in the Catholic Peace Weekly, the grade they gave the Catholic Church was, " external splendor internally empty".

Here are a number of proposals that were offered by the head of the Woori Theology Institute:

1) The program that we have for the military should be strengthened so that those who are baptized know what they are doing and are led to a change in life before baptism.

2) Those in the upper middle class should be an example of Catholic Morality and share their time and material goods with others.

3) Help those who are entering the Church to continue to renew their faith life.

4) The family has to make their faith life part of the family life and stress this with the children.

5) The Church has to emphasize its activity in the larger society.

6) The older Catholics have to be inspired to become interested in participating in the work of the Church

7) Help the woman between the ages of 30 and 40 to get involved by being more concerned with them and changing the way this group was approached.

8) Take note that the polarization does not increase in the Church between those who have and those who don't. The Church should be concerned for those who feel alienated and get involved in society to help them.


The head of the Institute mentioned the parish is not the possession of the priest and this thinking has to be eliminated . The pastoral care of the parish is not to be run according to the likes and dislikes of the pastor but according to the short and long term plans of the community.

These thoughts have been heard and in print for some years but it is getting heard now by an even larger audience. The contents of the symposium was reported in both the Catholic papers this past week. This will no doubt be the concern of the Bishops' Committee for years to come.

There was in the same issue of the Catholic Peace Weekly a press report that the Bishops will be taking a greater interest in those from other cultures who have immigrated to Korea. There will be a meeting of priests from the different dioceses in Masan in the middle of the month, to discuss the pastoral approach to these immigrant groups. This will continue for the future.

Chuseokㅡ Remembering the Dead

Today is the 15th of the 8th month of the Lunar Calendar, the August Moon Festival known by the name Chuseok or Hangawi. It is one of the more popular festivals deserving of three days of rest from work to be with family. Since we have the older generation here in the mission station there isn't the exodus to the country that you would have in the city parishes.


The morning of Chuseok there is the memorial service for the ancestors and if nearby the visit to the grave. The phrase is often used in English of ancestor worship but for a Catholic more correctly would be respect or veneration for the dead . It is a beautiful custom and although arrived at late by the Church , by many torturous paths, the Church has accepted this into the liturgy as the inculturation that is part and parcel of the teaching of Vatican II


Before Vatican II the National Holidays were not celebrated in the liturgy but since the 1960s we have a Chuseok liturgy in all the Churches of Korea. This morning at 10:30 am, during the Mass, the Catholics approached the altar, putting a stick of incense in a cup filled with rice to remember and pray for their ancestors. After the sermon we also had the short office for the dead. All those who have died are remembered in the Mass. To celebrate the day we also had a meal together to exchange our joy in a more material way.


The Church has decided that the Gospel of the day would be Luke 12:15-22. It is about the foolish rich farmer who was perplexed on what to do with the great harvest. One of the points of the parable is to be rich but of things that count and do not end with death. We are blessed in Korea to have a number of these festivals remembering the dead, that have become part of our liturgy. We still have the Feast of All Souls on November 2nd but the Feast of New Year and Chuseok does give Koreans more time to reflect on the most important aspect of life which is death.