Korean Basic Christian Communities

The Catholic Church in Korea for many years has been working to energize the small group movement (Basic Christian Communities) within the church but according to the recent editorial in the Catholic Times it faces many problems. The apathy of the priests and the lay people was given as a reason for the difficulty.

Probably the Church has trusted too much on the passive knowledge that the Catholics have received at the liturgy, from the readings and the sermons. The Catholic have to meet together in small groups to discuss and carry over to their daily lives what they have learned. In the country, dealing with country matters in the city with the city matters, those with little education with little education. What is important is that they read the Scripture and see their life in the light of the Scriptures. This requires them getting together in small groups and trying to see, judge and act in company with those they are meeting with.


The 5th General Meeting of AsIPA ended on the 28th of October. There was a delegation that attended from Korea and the program was written up in this weeks Catholic paper. "By AsIPA the initials for Asian, Integral, Pastoral, Approach. Asian, for being part of the local culture, and rooted in the daily lives of the people. Integral, to bring all the various aspects of parish life into the community and mission with Christ. Pastoral, caring for all that live around us by all of God's people, regardless of their race or religion. Approach, the tools must build community, enable participation, and build confidence, using Scripture and acknowledging the presence of Christ in our midst." The AsIPA is an Asian adaptation of a program developed in South Africa for Bible-centered small Christian communities. A desk within the Federation of Asian Bishop's Conferences (FABC) Office of Laity and Family oversees its development.

Korea for many years has tried to develop these small group meeting. They have many different names but they all come down to talking with those they know in the Lord to see if they can come to a way of acting on what they have learned from Jesus. Our Bishop representative from Korea commented that : "We in Korea have remained in the area of sharing our thoughts on the Scripture but we have to go beyond this and tie what we have learned from the Scripture to our daily life. If we are going to have a new vision of Church we have to learn what the success of the Philippine Church is able to teach us. "

The Korean Church has the example of small group meetings in the larger society. The Protestants have their weekly gatherings in the homes which does serve as a stimulus and a prod but society has also in the meantime become more complicated. People have less time and more woman are now working outside the home. It is getting more difficult to find time to meet. There will be attempts to adapt to the situation and if the priests and the laypeople do see a need for it, we will be seeing change in the near future.

The Love of Married Life

One of the columnists in the Catholic Times had an article on marriages in Korea, prompted by the many marriage invitations that she has received . It made her reflect on what is love and what is marriage? Below is a summary of her thoughts.

"When the world gets shrunk to one person and that person is lifted up close God that is love. Those who have been in love understand; marriage on the other hand if not going well can change to where it looks like a loose fitting shoe, with the possibility of turning into hate and weariness."

There are some that say marriage has no meaning. There is no longer any tingly feeling in the relationship, the fantasy has evaporated and the times and daily life have removed the pleasant taste.

During the romance period there was the desire to learn all about the secret part of the partner's life, but you learn that there is no mystery and the illusion has disappeared. The other's defects and shortcoming you did not want to see come to full view and you retreat from the mystery and fantasy of married life.

But marriage is not only this but a beautiful promise and one can see it as the greatest gift that God has given to human kind. The important part of the joining of two people for life is the chance to grow more like the other person, and with the passage of the years like fruit, a ripening. The love hate relationship that the couple has experienced has made them closer and stronger in their relationship.

The relationship of the couple is the school in which they have learned the meaning of love, and the learning will continue until death. The time together is teaching them what love is. With time the love grows stronger from the many difficulties they have to endure. She entreats those who are married to live not according to their own ways but the ways of the other.

The love they experienced during the romance period was just a preparation for the true love in marriage. Do not see marriage as paradise but that is where it is heading . She finishes her reflection with the very meaningful Korean expression: "affection of hate".( There is affection even accompanying the emotion of hate) "Marriage is maturing together with the years, the most beautiful sight there is in the world."

We hear discussions on whether we have outgrown the institution of marriage. There are those who see it as an impossible joining of two people for life. It is sad that for many it does not work but can we say it is the fault of the institution, or that the spiritual growth that was necessary in the living together of two people did not keep pace with their chronological age. In my first years in Korea most of the marriages were arranged . The feeling at that time was that love comes after the marriage. I wonder even today if that is not the better way of looking at married love. The Church should possibly give us more examples of this married love, canonizing more of those who have lived a beautiful saintly married life.

Why a Chrysanthemum Festival?

The small community here in Gyodong came back this afternoon from the Sunday Mass and Chrysanthemum Festival in the parish- the parish day of thanks. All who have been working in growing chrysanthemums brought their masterpieces to be judged by the pastor. It began on the first of November and finishes on Sunday the 8th.

The chrysanthemum flower has many different varieties and colors. It was a very popular flower in China that goes back thousands of years, entered Korea and from Korea to Japan, and the rest of the world. Besides the beauty of the flower, it has medicinal uses, culinary and even insecticidal uses.

The judging of the plants should be interesting. There will be plants with just one big bloom and others with a lot of blooms. I heard that they are judged by form, texture, color size and the condition of the flower.

One priest in a small country parish decided to become a chrysanthemum farmer to make his church known. Most thought that there was so little to do in a small country parish that he began farming. However, he says that after he was assigned to the parish many visitors coming to the parish asking for the whereabouts of the church were told they had never heard of it. The community is not that large and it was hard for the pastor to understand why the parish was not known. He decided that he would make the parish known by having a chrysanthemum festival and invite all those in the community.

Many in the community helped out in getting ready for the festival. He also went out to help others in exchange for their work. Eating by himself was not as pleasant as eating with others who came to help. He realized the worth of labor, the pleasure of working with others, more appreciative of God's designs , and bending his back towards the earth helped him to appreciate humility (humus earth). Also there have been those who have decided to enter the Catholic community.

Our Festival in the parish was a success. There was no need to make the parish known but rather a festival to celebrate the beauty of this earth. Besides the exhibition of the flowers, parishoners' works of calligraphy and art were also exhibited. We enjoyed beautiful music during the Mass and the seminarians after Mass entertained us with 'samulnori' ( four instrument pastime)-the Korean traditional percussion music using the four instruments: bass drum, an hourglass like drum, a small gong and a large gong. All done with a great deal of movement which gets those attending wanting to move their feet and hands to the rhythm. We all left with a deeper appreciation of God's beauty in many different forms.

Perception ..something to think about...

Maryknoll News- Of, For and By the Maryknoll Priests and Brothers had an interesting article in which the editor asked us to apply the experiment to Maryknoll.

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 48 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace, stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and , without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes: A 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.The man collected a total of $32.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from the experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?

Communion and Communication

There are 7 Catholic seminaries in Korea today which have helped to increase the number of vocations but it has also divided the priests into different groups. When the only seminary was in Seoul, all the priests knew each other, and then the Kwangju seminary was built, dividing the priests into two groups. Today we have 7 different places of formation, and for a country that is so homogeneous and organized this is hard for some to accept.


The religious probably have more difficulty with this since they are more accustomed to community. It is not as easy to fraternize with their fellow religious since they are formed in different seminaries.


One religious mentioned that we need "commonio and communicatio", communion and communication if we are going to see renewal in the Church-a sign of health. He would recommend that all the priests in the country after finishing their studies go to the same seminary for a period of "communion and communication". He knows this idea has been around for a long time and does have many who are in favor of the proposal, but he realizes that there are too many obstacles to overcome and in the long run not feasible.


Cardinal Avery Dulles introduced the 5 models of Church in which one was community, (mystical body). These images were not independent of each other but made for an integral approach to what the Church was. All part of our image of Church. A Church where we are all joined together in the body of Christ.


Without our consciousness of communion it would be difficult to communicate on a deeper level . In the Church today there are divisions and misunderstandings; there are problems in parishes , dioceses and communities and most of it comes because of a failure to communicate from the heart, conscious of our oneness in Christ.


The dream of having all the priests go to one seminary for a year of communion and communication is a dream and it will remain so but the desire to see more communion and communicatio in the Church is a very realistic proposal and one that we should all entertain.

Divination in Korea

How many of the Catholics go to fortune tellers is not easy to determine; on the bus you often see adds for fortune tellers mentioning: "Christians welcomed". Some of the Catholic go from curiosity, some with friends, others for entertainment purposes but then you have those who do want some affirmation on what they are doing and knowldege of the future.

When I hear of a Catholic who has gone to a fortune-teller there is a sadness that liberation was not complete. Usually in Korea we here the word ' philosophy hall' which gives it a very erudite feeling . In this day and age we have the Internet which allows you to frequent the tellers with ease and anonymity. The price is right and the desire of human kind to know the future is part of the attraction.

In years past in one of the parishes, a very active and intelligent member of the parish with a good paying job asked me about changing his name. He felt that it was not helping him in his quest for success. I have forgotten what I said but I was surprised at the question and desire to change his name to achieve success. This is probably more common than one would expect even among our Catholics.

The four pillars (Saju) is probably the most common type of fortune-telling where the ' teller' wants to know your date of birth: year, month, day and hour. From there he will procede to give you his prognostication. The whole process seems to be very complicated. Over the years I have heard about the 'tee' which is the Korean zodiac with the 12 animals quite different from the Western Zodiac. They also read your face and work with the yin- yang theory and the five primary elements which appear as the days of the week in the Korean calendar- an import from the west by way of China. The tellers can weave these all together to come up with something that does satisfy those who frequent these diviners.

The Catholic Church has been very clear in its opposition to divination, the Catholic Catechism number 2116 states: "All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone."

In the Christian Initiation of Adults we have the first stage which includes the minor exorcisms. Baptism is a liberation from all that does not give us freedom in Jesus. We get rid of fear and one of the big reasons for fear is the unknown and the sense that we are controlled by it. The truth should make us free and freedom from superstition is a great part of that freedom. Superstition is not reasonable and is harmful.

Accountability Not Always Pleasant

Over the years there has been a number of surveys made of parishes here in Inchon and the results used in the pastoral work. A great deal of time and money was spent in trying to do a very in depth and objective study of the situation, but the time was not ripe in most cases for the implementation of what was discovered. Top- down leadership does have certain benefits, but unless the willingness of those involved is present, little happens.

The effort to become more efficient is part of the Korean organizational ability. We usually have a period of less than six years in a parish, and the continuity with the previous direction is not always present.

One of the parishes in Seoul with the help of the diocese made a study of a parish of 6 000 registered Catholics- considered an ordinary parish in the city of Seoul. This was reported to be the first parish in Seoul that has made the results public. Hopefully, the time is ripe to spread the information to other dioceses and parishes throughout the country and efforts made to implement the findings.

The results were somewhat surprising in that the number one reason for leaving the Church were problems between members of the community, alienation- 30.2%; money and time- 22%, difficulty of confession - 13.5% those who have no interest in religion was 3.9%.

The Peace Weekly mentioned that some of the respondents felt that it was difficult to see the priest; those who were leaders in the parish gave an impression of self- righteousness that militated against expressing one's opinion within the community.

Many feel there is a lack of information on what ails some of the parishes and this information would be of help to those who are interested. In my experience the information is there for those who want it now, but none of us likes criticism.

The Maryknoll Society some years ago wanted all of us involved in Korea to show that we have exercised our powers and discharged our duties properly. A lot of time and effort went into the work but it all became a dead letter. We are too sensitive and do not like to hear bad news. It was an attempt at transparency, answerability, compliance but without results.

Hopefully the efforts expended in the one parish of Seoul will be taken seriously and efforts made to carry out what was learned.