Compassion In Action

Unlike most Korean dramatic portrayals of Alzheimer victims, which emphasize erratic and often bizarre behavior, a recently concluded soap opera did the opposite. The woman with the condition, played by a well-known actress and acting teacher, was portrayed sympathetically, more like a child needing love and support than as an aging and bothersome adult. When she died at the end of the drama, there was an unexpected outpouring of sadness from many viewers. It's not surprising that the actress selected to play the lead role had a doctorate in the psychology of acting.

After returning from the U.S. with her degree, she began to teach, emphasizing the importance of knowing the lives of the persons actors would have to portray. For her, just as important was to get to know and to help many who were in need of help: those with mental difficulties, unmarried mothers, poor children needing scholarships to continue their education, and in recent years becoming the spokesperson for keeping homeless children from being sent overseas for adoption, encouraging their adoption here in Korea. She was written up recently in the Catholic Peace Weekly as one with great compassion. Difficulties such as these are such that if resisted, persist; if befriended, end--words that well sum up a life dedicated to helping those in need.

In our Catholic tradition, there is a phrase often used to express compassion in action: "Contemplata aliis Tradere." (To hand over to others what we have contemplated.) When we live deeply with awareness, there is much that we can hand over to others as she has done, and continues to do. Passing along what we've learned is certainly important, but she reminds us of what is more important: better than sharing is doing it jointly with those you try to help.

What Leaders Does the Church Need?

A priest from the neighboring diocese, in a newsletter, had some sad words about the partnership movement in the Catholic Church of Korea. In recent years we often hear: team ministry, partnership, common ministry, cooperative ministry, collaboration -- working together as sisters and brothers in the work of the Church, but not infrequently it means only sharing responsibility with other priests. The priest mentions a religious sister who said at the start of the collaborative ministry in her parish, the laypeople of the parish became 'cold rice'-- not needed. The writer of the article sees problems with the understanding of collaboration, team ministry, in the Korean Church.

Talking about collaborative efforts is a healthy step, but it should not only stop with the talk. Not understanding what is expected of a parish priest in partnership with the laypeople is a serious obstacle in moving ahead. If the priest sees the work as his exclusive responsibility he will not be planning to share this responsibility with the laypeople. If the pastor because of work , worries, and the loneliness of the work requires the help of other priests and considers the laypeople only as his object of concern, the whole movement is in for a great deal of trouble. The parish is not only his responsibility but the responsibility of the whole parish, and working only with other priests can distance himself from the laypeople.

Change has to be from the priests doing all the worrying to sharing the worry with the laypeople. If the idea of team ministry only includes other priests we are not getting any closer to where the whole community becomes responsible for the work.

What does the priest do if you take away what he thinks he was ordained to do? For many this may be a problem, but only if the idea of leadership is always being out in front. That type of leadership is at times needed, there is also the type of leadership which walks hand and hand with those led, and you have those who are leaders who lead from the rear. These leaders who lead from the rear are helping to form leaders and in this present world they may be the ones we need.

These are some of the problems we have working together in ministry. We have different meanings for what collaborative ministry entails. In Korea at present, there is a great deal of talk about priests working together, but if it just stops there we are no closer to true team ministry which should include all the disciples. That is the mission we all have been given at baptism. Working together with fellow priests is important; it should not stop there, however, but should include all the baptized in a common mission. The world needs leaders who can inspire and energize a great flock of fellow workers. The priest in partnership with his fellow disciples is one who can do that, and since the Catholic Church is the largest and oldest organization on the face of the earth once the whole community that is Church works together as one, it will be light and salt to the world.

For One Who Believes All is Possible

Today's Diocesan Sunday Bulletin has a short article by one of the Incheon priests who has a daily blog and wants us to know that with the help of God all is possible. He is a parish priest with a busy parish, but because of the blog his own name is not as well known as the blog's name 'Bbadaking'. (http://www.bbadaking.com). Every morning at 5:00 am for the last 10 years he has a meditation: "Starting the morning with Father Bbadaking."

He started the blog on June 14, 2001. When he started he wondered how long he would be able to continue. He had no gift for writing and was not one with much patience. He had a problem getting his sermons ready every week and here he was working on a daily meditation. He considered it a rash decision on his part.

However, it is now 10 years later and he is still with it. He wonders if he decided not to continue would he be the person he is today?

Ten years ago he could not image the person he has become. A person who could not write or speak is now someone quite different. He has written 6 books, and finds himself invited here and there to give talks. He feels a person with faith has to avoid using the word --I can't. There is nothing that our Lord can not do. The problem is with us. Because we think we can not do it, we shut our hearts to what the Lord wants to give us.

It can be done. He concludes the article by telling us since we believe in God he will help us do what we deem is the right thing to do. We are working for one who can do anything, and we should not forget this reality.

There is another priest Fr. Oh Kyeong-hwan who has retired, but is still giving lectures and writing. We gave some information on Fr. Oh in one of the earlier blogs (click). You can find the information to his blog by going to the previous blog. His blog deals with evolution and existence of God. Both of these blogs are in Korean; I am sure there are other personal blogs in the diocese dealing with Catholicism and faith. The Incheon Diocese is active on this important stage in cyberspace.

Street Urchin to President of Company

Too many have to start off life with two strikes against them. The Chosun Ilbo reported on a young man in yesterday's paper that never was even registered at birth and is now a president of his company at the age of 23. The road was far from easy.

Choi Jong-ho's father died when he was 7 years old . The family lived in the slums around Seoul train station. His mother escaping from the money lenders left her son and older daughter to fend for themselves. Choi's older sister worked in Seoul. When the other children his age where going to school he was in the city markets doing odd jobs and sleeping in an amusement hall.

From 7 to the age of 11 he worked on a farm of relatives. He was in contact, by telephone, with his sister in Seoul. This contact was a great consolation until she was killed by a hit and run driver, a big shock to him in his young life.

He ran away from the home of his relatives taking the few pennies they gave him, and bought a ticket to Seoul. He found his mother who was living with his step father, a blind peddler, who sold fingernail cutters in Seoul station. The mother left the home again a year and half later.

Choi was picked up by the police for thievery and was sent to a home run by the Sisters of St. Paul who had in their care 9 children who had no place to go. This was in the winter of 2000.

Today he is the president of a company selling health products which expanded into selling salt that is baked. Last year he had sales over 300 thousand dollars.

The Sisters retelling his story have a lot to cry about. While at the Center any time he was provoked, he would run away. On his return, the Sister in charge would give him different responsibilities and was very effusive with her praise. The young man mentioned later this praise enabled him to change. He cried a great deal in front of Sister, and this crying made him less afraid of the future. In 2006 he passed the government exam that enabled him to enter the International School of Social Welfare. Sister was overcome with excitement.

After 18 years of age you no longer get funds from the government, so the Sisters were faced with how to help these young men who were having trouble getting and keeping a job. Often they would get into trouble and end up on the street again; this situation prompted her to start the company that is run by President Choi. From the money that they earned they founded the 'St. Paul Nawoori company', and found a place to house the 11 boys between the ages of 20 to 36.

They have received great praise for the product of baked salt that they make, approved for the good mineral content by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). They travel to the different churches on Sunday selling their product, and the income they receive goes into the bank for these young men.

Mr. Choi found his mother and occasionally was in contact. She was found in a small street where she collapsed with terminal cancer, and taken to a hospital. The operators of the ambulance notified the son and on the way to the hospital the mother said to her son she was sorry for what happened in his life because of her. The mother died alone a week later. Her body was still warm when Mr. Choi and the Sister arrived; the Sister told Mr. Choi if you have any words for your mother say them now, she will hear you. Mr. Choi with trembling lips said: "Mother, leave everything behind and go to heaven, and when you meet my older sister without fail tell her that you are sorry."

The desire of Mr. Choi is to find work for all his brothers now living together. He wants a place for a brother to work fixing cars, another to begin a bakery and all have something that will allow them to live an ordinary life. That is his dream.

A Hope That Enthusiasm Will Be Contagious

Enthusiasm is a great gift; too little and you have apathy, too much and you have fanaticism. With the right amount all are energized. The Greek word has the meaning of God within-- a person inspired. Enthusiasm has its own attraction, but it also has been a cause of many problems in Church History. As Catholics we are helped to remain within bounds because of the larger community to which we belong. 'In medio stat virtus' ( virtue is in the middle) a Latin phrase which reminds us that its lack and excess are not good.

Enthusiasm under the control of the intellect has done many wonderful things. As a young church Korea continues to show us a mature enthusiasm with movement on all fronts.

At a recent liturgy the celebrant mentioned the number of new seminarians entering this year. Usually we see a great deal of enthusiasm when seminarians come up for ordination. The newly ordained spend 7 to 9 years to prepare for the priesthood and family and acquaintances want to congratulate the ordinands and thank them for the years of preparation. However, the celebrant mentioned in his diocese there were 19 young men who are beginning their first year in the seminary, and on the first day of the new school year, at the Mass with the bishop, there was a full church to pray and encourage these young men who are just beginning, that is enthusiasm. Not likely seen in too many parts of the Catholic World.


This enthusiasm is seen in many endeavors in Korea, and on August 31st to September 5th, Korea will be sponsoring the Asian Lay Catholic Congress. This will be the second congress in Asia since 1994; Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, President to the Pontifical Council for the Laity,
came to Korea to encourage those who are making the preparations.


There will be 25 countries from Asia that will attend, along with representatives from 200 international lay groups and those from Korea. It will be a very large meeting to discuss: How do we make Jesus known in Asia today ? What do the times tell us? What is the meaning of Asian culture and tradition and what are we called to do?

The Cardinal on his visit said: "The Korean Church, not only in Asia, but to the whole world gives a good example of a dynamic Church, a Church that has cultivated faith and shown a capability in evangelizing that should be a benefit to the other Churches in Asia."

The Korean Church does have an enthusiasm that is conspicuous. They have vocations and continue to increase in numbers. The Catholic Times, this past week, mentioned this meeting and hopes that it will be of help to other countries in Asia. The secret may have nothing to do with methods, procedures or anything that can be conveyed with words, but rather a history that is unique to Korea.

What Makes a Living Martyr?

As in times past we have persons that are different-- they follow a different drummer. They don't listen to the vibes that come from the culture and are seen by some as drop outs: a word we do not like to hear. We want to be in step with those around us and when not, it makes for a difficult situation.

St. Francis of Assisi was one of those who was out of step with his times. St. Francis attracted many to his way of living, and if not attracted to his style of life they admired him as a person, even by those who had little attraction for his religion.

About a hundred years ago a man was born here in Korea who was considered the St. Francis of Korea. He was born into a wealthy family; went to College in Japan, and in Beijing China studying philosophy and languages. He was attracted to socialistic and communistic ideas. Joined the forces for Independence and even toyed with nihilism. It was during this time he picked up a book in Japan on the life of St. Francis which moved him deeply. He was not attracted to Catholicism but to St.Francis. He saw Catholicism as a religion of the Bourgeois, and this did not change until he read a book by St. Thomas Aquinas on the Church's teaching on money. He returned home and was baptized with the name Francis.

He turned all his land over to the tenants; donated the rest of the land to the diocese of Kwangju, and was satisfied with a small house in which to live. He had a family of 7.

With his small salary as a teacher and obligations to his family he continued to help those poorer than himself. On one occasion he didn't have enough money to pay his Denarius Cultus (donations to the church), so the pastor told him he couldn't go to the sacraments at Christmas. This so angered one of his sons that he left the church for many years. The father had no difficulty with what the priest said, and did what he was asked to do. You have many Christians who are more Catholic than their priest.

The daughter writing amount her father mentions that not once did he tell his children to study hard, but rather be an ordinary person. With Kim Francis it was not only material poverty, but poverty of power and honors. Our society needs disciples who have a vision of this type, and it was his daughter who said in reminiscing about her father that she admires her mother even more than her father for the mother was the unspoken martyr of their life style.

Throwing Five Parts of Body to the Ground

'Ochetuji' is a Buddhist type of prostration that some of our Catholic priests with Buddhist monks practiced on long pilgrimages together. One kneels, touches the ground with the elbows and prostrates with the hands out front with the head touching the ground. All done in silence. Distances that one has difficulty imagining are traveled in this way. The Korean translated literally means: throwing five parts of the body to the ground.

These pilgrimages in the eyes of those participating are a matter of prayer, but for many not participating is seen as a means of protest. Catholic Church of Korea, like any other country, has disagreements on the way one should proceed with the mission that Christ has entrusted to the Church. Problems within the Church in the States are serious and not as easily discerned as they are in Korea. In Korea, up until now, it is not difficulty with Catholic teaching but how to deal with the teaching.

Many Korean members of the human rights movement in Korea are doers (activists). "Be a light to the world, be the salt," means for them a mission to change the world for good. The activists see those with a different theology concerned only for their own individual spirituality, asking for blessings-- an individual pursuit.

One group believes by changing the world they will be changed; the other wants to change themselves to change the world. One group maintains that the activists are political and should be more interested in spiritual matters. Activists maintain the other group is blind to what is happening in society, and by doing nothing they are maintaining the present society as is.

A great step forward in Korea would see the differences between the two theologies as one of approach and not dogma. The ones who are active in working with other religions are criticized for it. Why follow a Buddhist custom that is not Catholic? Why do priests leave their communities to participate in pilgrimages when they should be doing their pastoral work? On the other hand you have the criticism of the sacristy priest who is told he is in the world but doesn't see those who are suffering.

It would be a blessing to see the two ways of looking at mission take something from each other's portfolios and see where that would lead. The problem may not be the present position of each, but what each group sees as the ramifications of the position each one is taking.

Is it individual salvation or societal salvation? It is both but we get caught up with words and fight over words when it would be better to do what we are doing and see where we are being led without the criticism of the other.