Mixed Signals From a Mixed Up Regime

North Korea has declared all religious activity to be subversive, an attack on their governing principles. And yet they maintain there is religious freedom in the country. An article in the Chosun Ilbo mentions that before "liberation" came to Korea, there were (in addition to the many Buddhist temples in the mountainous regions) 2600 churches. In Pyongyang alone there were 270 churches, which led to the city being called the 2nd Jerusalem.

Information on the situation of Christians in North Korea is sketchy. We do know that the government considers Christians "crazy" and part of an underground movement to overthrow the regime. The Open Doors Movement is committed to helping these persecuted Christians, but it's a difficult task. Again this year, North Korea was listed--8th year in a row--as having the severest persecutions of Christians among all nations of the world.

In 2009 Kim Jong-il is reported giving orders that resulted in the mass arrests, torture and killings of many Christians in an attempt to eradicate all Christian activities. Of the estimated 200,000 in prison for political activities considered hostile to the regime, 40,000 to 60,000 are Christians.

Protestants have been very active in trying to help all persecuted Christians. Each year they send balloons to North Korea with leaflets and make efforts to get Bibles into the hands of the Christians using words commonly in use in North Korea.

An American Protestant Missionary, Robert Park, in an attempt to bring the plight of persecuted Christians in Korea to the attention of the world, recently "...crossed the China-North Korea border into North Korea...carrying with him a letter addressed to the North Korean leadership in which he wrote: Please open your borders so that we may bring food, provisions, medicine, necessities and assistance to those who are struggling to survive. Please close down all concentration camps (gulags) and release all political prisoners therein, and allow care teams to enter to minister healing to those who have been tortured and traumatized." (as reported by Pax Koreana)

North Korean authorities acknowledged, indirectly, the existence of an underground Church when they reported catching some spies. Their official news agency reported that "They broke up a hostile radical group that was using the mask of religion in the underground church to ferment conspiracy."

How long this tyrannical regime can continue to exist, with its abysmal human rights record, without provoking more discontent from its citizens is puzzling to many. Some day in the near future there will come a day when the history of this country will be written and, maybe then, we'll have the answer many are asking: How could such a proud people have put up with this hellish life for so long?

A Journey From Inferiority to Acceptance

One of the priests in the diocese writes, in the Pastoral newsletter, of a young man he knew some 10 years ago who worked in a sewing factory. Because his family was poor, he had to drop out of high school and go to work. He hated the work and worried what others would think of him if they found out he was a menial laborer. Not wanting anyone to know, he left his house each morning with a brief case and dressed as a college student. Living this lie greatly affected the man's appearance and character, the daily stress showing on his face and in his demeanor. He wanted to find a better job but did not have the strength of will to make the changes.In the evenings he would go to a discotheque to forget his problems and dull the pain.

An overwhelming feeling of inferiority was his daily torment, and now with the desire to change his life only a faint memory, he felt chained to a life without the zest and joy he had once hoped for.

One day he became friends with another young man working at the sewing factory.This friend invited him to a meeting of the JOC (Young Christian Workers) in the parish. By attending their meetings and participating in the readings of the Scriptures, he felt his feelings of inferiority begin to disappear and learned to have a proper appreciation for the value of manual labor.

There is no denying that many young people today are embarrassed at their lot in life. They are poor, worn out, and tired, becoming dropouts in society. They are overcome by many of the evils of society: dependence on liqueur, pornography, gambling etc.--having lost, it seems, the freedom to say no to these temptations of society. Because of peer pressure, it is becoming difficult for them to avoid these temptations.

In my early years in Korea, I can recall the times when I would pick up a shovel and start to use it--but not for long. There was always someone there to take it from me. College students returning home for the holidays would not want to be seen working like a farm laborer, or be seen carrying an A-Frame (a wooden rack for carrying a load on one´s back). After all, they were now college students. This has changed as traditional values disappear and a more egalitarian society starts to appear. It's not unusual now to find many who enjoy working with their hands without any feelings of embarrassment. How much of this is due to Christianity is hard to judge. But for many Christians, knowing that Jesus had been a carpenter undoubtedly helped remove the stigma commonly attached to those who worked for a living using their hands in hard labor.

---

From Receiving To Giving

Before the 1980s, the Catholic Church in Korea had been for many years on the receiving end of the giving and receiving divide. She has wisely used the resources received and now, since the '80s, has been supporting other countries that are facing hardships. No data had been gathered on the amount of money given out until this past year when Caritas Coreana made a study detailing what had been given. Outside of aid given for evangelization and to North Korea, they have on average given a million dollars annually for overseas aid.

To help collect the data, 16 dioceses, 1,542 parishes, 165 religious societies, 28 apostolates, and other organizations participated. This survey, the first of its kind initiated by the Church, will be of great help in building a network of helper organizations to facilitate the work of overseas aid in the years to come, without any overlapping.

If we count the total number of Korean Catholics, the amount each donated annually comes to about two dollars. If we count only those who go to Sunday Mass regularly, the figure jumps to eight dollars per Catholic. About 60 percent of this aid is from collections in support of different projects. It's not very much but it is the beginning of an outreach to others now going through what Korea had to suffer for many years.

In 1980, the outreach found its way into only four areas of the world. In ten years, this figure went up to 12; in ten more years, the year 2000, there were 33 areas of the world being served.

Catholic Korea, like the country as a whole, has come a long way in a very short time. From being a Church on the receiving end of assistance, it now is an outreach Church involved in giving to those around the world who are most in need of assistance.

This outreach will continue, and guided by the data collected by Caritas Coreana the Church intends to be of more service to more people. Where the data reveals shortcomings in outreach performance, there is no doubt that they will be corrected.

In the beginning of our work as missioners, after the Korean War, we all were beneficiaries of receiving whatever help we needed from Maryknoll. Enough money was sent to take care of our living expenses, run the parishes, provide for those working in the parish, and to aid the sick and poor. For many years now, this has come to an end and we are now in a giving mode. This is also true of many sectors of the Korean economy. Korea is one of the few countries that have made this transition so quickly from a receiving to a giving country. There is no doubt that the church, and the country, will continue to give, and give even more than before, with each passing year.

Not seeing all of the Culture for Life

The Church in Korea is working to establish a culture for life and showing how we, unknowingly, are often involved in a culture of death. The Catholic papers and articles in Catholic Magazines have begun to acquaint us with what we mean by making a choice for life and not death. The Church has called on the government to ban abortion, human embryonic stem-cell research, and to abolish the death penalty. They are fighting the movement towards euthanasia, suicide, the emphasis on outward appearance, all these areas of life in which we are not choosing life but death. There is one area, in which possibly, we do not think is part of this culture of death and that is smoking and drinking immoderately.

One of the members of the Committee For Life of the Seoul Diocese has mentioned the many ways that we have not been helpful in building a wholistic culture of life in Korea and he picks out the area of smoking and immoderate drinking. These are not considered important enough to merit the interest of the other areas but should.

The World Health Organization recently has reported that smoking causes the death of over 5 million people in the world and 70% of these live in Africa and Asia. In Korea 50,000 die each year from smoking this is 20% of the total of those that die every year. A figure we can not but be surprised to hear.

Drink causes the death of about 20,000 each year in Korea. If we consider those who die driving while intoxicated or are killed by drunk drivers, we get a figure that is similar to that from smoking.

The World Health Organization has made it known the havoc that smoking and drinking has on the health of our citizens. It does not take life quickly but gradually, and of a large percentage of the population.

Speaking very honestly the committee member says the Catholic Church has been very tolerant in comparison to the other religious groups in our society on smoking and drinking. The Protestants have been very much against drinking and smoking in Korea and so the word in society has been that being a Catholic is much easier than being a Protestant.

What ever the past reasons were for the Catholic position this is no longer valid. The writer goes on to say that the Catholic Church should no longer be so indulgent in accepting smoking and drinking immoderately, knowing the havoc this is causing so many people . The Catholic Church has always been very much in the forefront of the movement for life and this indulgence with smoking and drinking should no longer be tolerated.

The Catholic Church should now make this 'no smoking' and 'drinking in moderation' one of its areas of concern in the building up of the culture of life. And Catholics should be out in front living this life as an example to others.

"Either/Or Thinking" in Church Construction

The way we use money is a point of contention in society at large and in the Church. We have those who use the words from Scripture: "What is the point of this extravagant waste...It could have been sold... and the money given to the poor." And then we have the words of Jesus: "The poor you will always have...you will not always have me." We can choose to see one or the other or try to see both. It may be more a matter of a prudential judgement in individual situations rather than a black and white theoretical position for one or the other. A Catholic priest makes his point clear in one of the newsletters:

A prophet with a torch was running towards a new shrine, asked why he was going in the direction of the shrine with a torch he answered to burn the shrine down because the people were more interested in the building than of God.

In Solomon's day while building the temple, he levied taxes on the people and had them do compulsory labor. Representatives of the people went to the King to complain but to no avail: part of the reason for the division of the country into North and South.

The way they collected the funds in the building of St. Peter's Basilica was a trigger to bring about the division in the Church of the West.

The different religions have to build for their communities of believers but if this is not done with moderation and wisely, religion will be criticized and suffer.

In Korea because of the great numbers of Christians it is necessary to build churches and other buildings for parish use. Often when there is not a necessity we seen buildings put up and not used.

The priest mentioned in a recent trip to Europe he saw these large churches that were empty. They have become museums. Many are difficult to maintain. The Christians that do come out are very stingy in what they give go the church, so there are many financial problems.The Christians see that a great deal of money went into the building of the church and rectory and they do not desire to give any more, but choose to give to the poor in society. The priest mentioned that hearing this from the people made him sad, not that they were not giving to the Church but because their hearts were now far from the Church.

Many Koreans still do not own a house. The polarization of our society is taking place with a split between the rich and the poor. More people are getting poorer and many are feeling the burden of giving to the Church and drop out. Those in pastoral position do not want to burden the poor but they have to realize how the poor feel.

We can see from the Scriptures that Jesus was always on the side of the poor. If we distance ourselves from the poor we distance ourselves from Jesus.

In building a church, the church of our hearts can be destroyed. We hear this often and in not a few cases, a fact of life.

Probably there are those who see this as the price we are willing to pay for the growth of Catholicism here in Korea. Hopefully we can find ways to do both.

"Everything is Good" Even Death

Daily we see death in situations that some have difficulty accepting. Why would a good God allow the destruction and death we have seen in Haiti? A question of the ages, one that continues to be asked at the death of a young person, a person who has so much to live for but dies: a question even if not vocalized on the minds of many.

Fr. John Lee Tae Seok 48 years old, worked in the Sudan of the South as a Salesian missionary, a doctor , a teacher, a musician, a man with many talents doing so much good, loved by many, building hospitals, taking care of hundreds of sick daily, started a school , brass band, and died here in Korea of cancer on Jan. 14, after fighting cancer since 2008. In God's providence all things work together for the good and as a Christian this is the hope that we have when seeing the ups and downs of life, the good and the bad. Fr. Lee even at the end, with his family present, was able to say: "Everything is good," consoling those who were at his bedside.

As a child Fr. Lee read the life of Albert Schweitzer and was moved but more so by the words of Jesus: "Whenever you did this to one of the least of my brothers you did it to me." He went on to medical school and after his medical degree entered the Salesians. While in Rome for studies and ordination to the diaconate he spent a few months in the Sudan for exposure to the works of the Salesians in the Sudan. After ordination he returned to the Sudan to begin his work as a doctor, starting dispensaries and working tirelessly helping the sick and those in need. A man of many talents he was instrumental in building a school, and even starting a brass band in the area in which he worked.

He wrote two books during his years in the Sudan: "The Rays of the Sun in Africa are Still Sad" and "Will You Be My friend?" Fr. Lee mentioned in the two books two questions that he often received: "Why did you choose to become a priest for y0u could have helped many people without being a priest ?" "You have many poor people you can help in Korea why come to Africa?" The answer he gave was that he really didn't know, it was the beautiful fragrance of the life he believes was the reason. Beauty is an attraction all by itself, and a life for others had great beauty for Fr. Lee.

They called him Fr. Jolly in the Sudan because his surname was Lee and his Christian name was John, and for the Sudanese putting these together became Jolly. A name which fits him well, since he always had a smile on his face. His life was short just ten years of priesthood but they were years filled with doing good.

There are many ways of preaching; the least effective is using words. Using visual aides and getting to a person's senses we have more success, but the best way is to get persons involved and to experience what is being said. Fr. Jolly was able to live what he preached and his memory of what he did will be an alarm bell to many of us who have not been able to do anything else but use words.

Gutenberg Bible or Buddhist Meditations?

Out of great love, many people spend a whole life time, without any recognition in a work few will ever hear about. Dr. Park Byeong Seon (Lugalda) was such a person until she discovered the oldest extant book, made with movable metal type, in the French National Library.The Catholic Apostolic Lay Council has just recently presented Dr. Park with a plague and monetary award in recognition of her many years working on Korean antiquities in France.

Before she left for France for further study, one of her professors asked her to keep her eyes open for books taken from Kangwha during the French occupation of the island in 1866. In a previous blog we mentioned the sack of Kangwha by the French naval fleet in retaliation for the killing of 7 French missioners and the burning of the royal achieves on the island. One of the books taken was the first printed book with movable type: a very precious part of Korean history. A book that was classified with other Chinese books until Prof. Park's discovery in 1975.

The book is referred to as Jikji printed by a Buddhist monk in 1377. It is an anthology of the teachings of Buddhism for meditation. There were two volumes, one in the French library is the only one found. Prof. Park proved that it was printed 78 years earlier than Gutenberg's Bible printed in 1455. Besides this one volume she discovered the 298 volumes dealing with the rituals and protocols of the Royal Court.

Prof. Park is now battling terminal cancer. She received no help from the Korean government during over 50 years of work in France; it was her work of love for the country and doesn't want any sympathy. She is having difficulty paying her hospital bills and the country is beginning to pitch in to help her during these difficult days. She would like to have one more year in France to finish what she has started but she knows it is in the hands of God.

It is a fact of life that we know a great deal of history written by those with power and financial backing. To the victors belong the spoils and one of the spoils is to tell the rest of the world what they think happened. The Gutenberg Bible is considered in the West to be the first movable metallic type printed book but the Koreans have a Buddhist work of meditation that precedes that by many years.

The attempts to get the books back can be attributed to Prof. Park's persistence. International support is now shown to countries whose cultural treasures have been pillaged. The Korean government will also become involved with the many other citizen groups working for the return of these priceless items. It would be a fitting end to Prof. Park's scholarly life to have this one year in France and see the return of these books to the country in which they belong.