The Cardinal's Feelings On Keeping Peace

Cardinal Chong Jin-suk of Seoul was interviewed by the Chosun Ilbo as part of the series on the Korean War, "I and the Korean War." "Just seeing the title of the series," said the Cardinal, made me recollect the past. Ordinarily, I don't even want to think about it... the whole thing was so tragic I thought I had forgotten, but no, reading the series, I experienced it all over again."

At the start of the war, the Cardinal was studying at Seoul National in the Enginering Department. He wanted to be an inventor. Experiencing the cruelty of the war, he changed his mind and decided to become a priest.

Those who have experienced war have an understanding quite different from others. For them, he said, justice and peace are necessary for forgiveness. The interviewer mentioned that the Cardinal rarely speaks about personal matters, but felt that the matter being discussed here was important enough to prompt the Cardinal to share some of his feelings.

When the interviewer asked the Cardinal for his understanding of forgiveness in Catholicism, he replied, "Since I am a religious person, there are those who will want me to say that I should forgive unconditionally, but forgiveness has conditions. In the Catholic's understanding of confession, there are five steps. Reflecting on what was done, expressing sorrow, resolving not do it again, confessing publicly, and compensating for what was done. If one does not have these requisites, it shows no real desire to be forgiven and the forgiveness is without meaning.

For young people who have not experienced war but want peace, the Cardinal quotes the Latin phrase: Si vis pacem para bellum (If you want peace be ready for war). Peace does not come naturally, he said. Our history shows us if we can't defend ourselves, we will lose both freedom and peace; we have to be able to defend ourselves. Preparations for self defense are necessary.

In speaking of war and peace, it is easy to make it sound very complicated with all kinds of conditions. The Cardinal was very blunt and clear in what he expressed, but with so many variables on this issue it is difficult to come to a consensus. Over the centuries, the Church has developed the just war theory and until something better comes along it is a good starting point. War should only be a last resort when all conceivable alternatives have been tried and have failed. Hopefully, the recent Chon An incident will have the input of the United Nations before any unilateral action is taken. We can dream and pray for a different world order, but until we have a consensus on disarmament, it's good to keep in mind the Cardinal's Latin phrase: "If you want peace be ready for war"-- defense will always be part of the present wisdom.

"Two Temptations Faced By Lay People"

Catholic lay people are beginning to show an interest in the social principles of the Church, and showing this in their actions. Three years ago they started their own web site, Civil Action for Social Justice: www.casj.or.kr, showing concern for the powerless and working for the common good.

Since the end of the Second Vatican Council, we have a better understanding of what Christians are expected to do in society: work for dignity, freedom, peace, justice and solidarity. We also have the standards to examine our actions, and judge where to act.

An article in the Catholic Times by a member of the bishops' committee of Peace and Justice mentions that the Church had a great deal to do in bringing democracy back to Korea. All of us have the job to work for democratization of society and human development. And he stresses this is not only the work of the leaders in the church.

This is the work of the laity. We need the participation of lay people in groups and as individuals to work for justice. There is a place for the leaders of the Church and those in groups of service to foster this work, but it will be the lay people with their expertise working concretely in the many areas of society that will bring about the change.

Pope John Paul II in Christifideles Laici: " two temptations can be cited which they (lay people) have not always known how to avoid: the temptation of being so strongly interested in Church services and tasks that some fail to become actively engaged in their responsibilities in the professional, social, cultural and political world; and the temptation of legitimizing the unwarranted separation of faith from life, that is, a separation of the Gospel's acceptance from the actual living of the Gospel in various situations in the world."

The Church in Korea has become conscious that many of our lay people are very much involved in the work of the Church but are forgetting that their work is mainly to be in society and in the transformation of society. We are beginning to see more lay people activity in cyberspace and groups that are trying to bring about a change in society. There are more books and seminars on Catholic social teaching, which should cause a change in the participation of Catholics in the work of justice and peace.

The efforts of Korean priests in works dealing with human rights has been very clear, but it may have convinced the laity that the leadership will be working in that area, and they can continue with the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. The works of mercy are important, but it is not the only work that is expected of our laity.

What Is The Aim of Education?

This past week was Catholic Education Week in Korea. Over 4000 gathered together to renew their mission as educators and to reaffirm the principles in the National Charter of Education.

Bishop Choi Boniface, who gave the opening remarks, said "Are we satisfied with the present education situation in Korea? Do the parents see smiles on the faces of their children? He was making clear that the current approach for achieving grades and preparing for college is not what education should be.

The attendees were of one mind, stressing education for the whole person and appreciating the value of life. Teachers should also be an example to students on how to live. This was well expressed by a speaker who said the aim of Catholic education is the "body, mind, emotions and the spirit, by which you are forming the whole person. A person who relates well with others, a virtuous person, is the fruit of that education."

In Korea, as in any society, the desires of those who are trying to do their job well are very much influenced by the society they live in. Parents, like all parents everywhere, are interested in getting their children to be successful, to go to the best schools and associate with those who will be of help to their children. But it may be too much to ask them to sacrifice their children's future for an ideal our society doesn't think important and doesn't encourage. Society has to change, the Church has to change, each of us has to change.

In years past, Incheon Diocese had a wonderful program, the YCS (the Young Christian Student Movement) that trained students for leadership and to be salt and light in society. "See, Judge and Act" was how it described the goals of the program. It was very successful and you could see a change in the children but parents thought it was taking too much time away from school studies and the program was discontinued. Understandably, parents do not want their children to be drop outs from society no matter how mature and virtuous they become. Until this attitude changes, effort and programs, like the YCS, will not have the results we would like. As noted in a Peace Weekly editorial, there is still the quest to be number one, and studying solely to get a better job.

The editorial goes on to suggest that this tunnel vision approach to education could change. It compares the educator who is Catholic to the 3 percent salt in the sea that keeps the sea from putrefying. If more Catholic educators, despite their numbers, lived the Christian life exemplified by Jesus, we can then expect a change, as well, in the classroom.

What Is Really Insignificant?

A writer for the Catholic Times describes her reactions when she saw a one million, four hundred thousand dollar car on her way home in a taxi. As the car passed by, the taxi driver gave her some facts on the car and mentioned there are two such cars in the country. (I went to the internet to see what such a car looked like and the first reference that came up was, if it can be believed, an eight million dollar car a German company is planning to introduce soon.) The driver, seeing her expression of doubt, added that the owner of the car probably doesn't have time to go home and relax. The taxi driver thought it was time for some humor. It was like seeing, she said, one of the most expensive homes in Seoul passing by. She was busy trying to calm herself; anything else the driver continued to say about the car was not registering. When she arrived at her destination and paid her taxi fare, she remembered later, that she forgot to get the change.

She wanted to know why she was getting angry about something she knew was unimportant. Why were small things upsetting her while the serious things tended not to? It reminded her of the shepherd boy calling out wolf so many times that when the wolf did come, no one listened. Having heard so many lies over many years, she believes it becomes difficult to respond properly even when hearing matters of import. She had become apathetic, or, more accurately, wanted to be. The latent anger she has buried within tends to appear at trifles that are the common fate of most of us.

Organic lettuce, two days after purchase, became mush; the dry cleaner made her pay the price of a coat for a jumber; the bus she waited for a half hour passed by because no one was getting off; the printer was jamming; she had no oil to prepare her fried rice. She was getting upset at these trifles, and blamed her reactions to a lack of virtue.

She mentions the well-known Zen story about the university professor who goes to a master of the spiritual life to ask for some help in living with wisdom. They sat down at a table and the master offered him tea, and as he poured the tea he didn't stop. The tea fell from the cup onto the floor and the professor protested, "What are you doing? The cup is full isn't it?" The master said, "Like this cup, you are filled with all kinds of thoughts, desires, plans and convictions. To accept what I want to give, you have to empty your cup, otherwise, like the tea, what I say will be wasted." The writer wonders if she also is too "filled up" to see what is important in life.

She concludes with the hope that she will come to see what is important and not be sidetracked with the purely inconvenient. However, she admits that separating the significant from the insignificant is not always easy. She is not sure that the feeling aroused by the car she saw was something insignificant.

Not All That Glitters Is Precious

It is refreshing to hear stories of persons who don't follow mainstream thinking. The managing director of the Catholic Peace Weekly and Peace Broadcasting, celebrating 22 years of service to the Catholic community, in the anniversary editorial proclaimed this direction for the paper--a very bold statement in today's world.

Twenty-two years is not a long time, but he says they have seen, heard and learned a great deal during that time. The introduction of smart phones to the Korean society has brought in many changes, affecting not only the way we act but the way we think.

He also notes that computers, without discounting their enormous benefits, are in some ways a mixed blessing to our children. Having been introduced to the imaginary world of computers at an early age, children are having difficulty distinguishing the real from the imaginary. These same children will become the adults of tomorrow. By putting ourselves in their shoes, we might begin to understand the scope of the problem and what can be done to help solve it.

When these technological advances begin to lose their charm, we will, he feels, get back to the things of God, but when that day comes, he worries that it may be too late. We have to contend with the success and widespread use of the new technologies by all levels of society, which can distort the way our society sees many of the values of the past. If listening to God in our hearts means not following the crowd, then we will not unthinkingly accept everything that is new.

He was encouraged to hear a writer say he was not going to write with his eyes on the audience rating; his writing will be determined by what he thinks is good. It's a position the director has expressed many times, though it's not considered good business practice. To keep the values of the past and not be influenced by the distortions of the present, he is willing to take a step into the past. There are, after all, values in life besides material success. What we need now are more successful examples of those who are swimming against the current to maintain their integrity and honor, not only for themselves but for the society they live in.

Fewer Words And Desire For More Meaning

A Korean novelist who writes for the Catholic Times has a desire for mini- fiction. Being a novelist she gets quite a few books each month from her acquaintances-- on average over 10. Besides the books she acquires on her own, her work as a novelist, and age, which makes it harder to read and concentrate, she cannot continue as in the past, and so the desire for mini-fiction.

Reading a novel takes time; a short novel probably half a morning, and then there's the time involved in writing --all the while thinking about the novel in her own mind that she wants to write. She wonders at such times, whether her efforts on a novel are worthwhile. Will the novel be of interest and of value to anyone? What will they gain by reading what she has written? These thoughts paralyze her--the dreaded writer's block--and she is not able to continue.

At these times, as a way out of the problem, she plays with the idea of mini-fiction.
A new area of literature in which one writes very briefly, a scene or page-- a novel. In a few lines, you expose exquisitely the core of your story. She mentions South America, where this genre first developed, and the writer Borges.

Going way back in Korean history there were many who succeeded in writing short stories. Spanish novelist, Augusto Monterroso, who was known for his short stories, especially the mini-fiction (complete in seven words): "Upon waking, the dinosaur was still there." And, Hemingway gives us his six word mini-fiction: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

She tells us that Jesus' short stories, his parables, are hard to beat. They were oral stories that have been compiled by the authors of the Gospels and have entertained and instructed many over the last 2,000 years. They are filled with great meaning for all, even with the passage of time.

With the internet and the small bytes that we are getting accustomed to, the future is going to demand fewer words and more meaning. Newspapers are having a difficult time, and we will probably see the impact of the internet on the fiction-reading public in the years to come. Her desire for less pages with more meaning is easily understood.

Where Do We Look For Love?

" Where do we find love?" was an article I recently read. The writer, as a young boy, remembered attending a small Protestant Church in his neighborhood. The service had ended and it was time for snacks. The minister asked the children for questions; the young boy raised his hand and boldly asked, "They say we have a soul. Where is it?"

The minister, laughing, asked him: "Do your parents love you?" The boy answered yes, and the minister asked again: "Where is that love?"

The writer tells us that it was the first time in his life that he was introduced to abstract concepts; on that day, he became conscious of the unseen world.

If our heads do not understand, we tend not to believe, he writes, and what we cannot verify with our eyes we put on the back burner. We see and believe what we want to, and in most cases we depend on things that are not certain. We often follow mistaken certainty, and our actions follow suit.

We hear, notes the writer, that we only use a small part of our brains--true. But we've also heard that listening to Mozart will increase a child's IQ. This is not true and has been generally recognized as such for sometime. It was once thought that venting your feelings was good for you; now they tell us differently.

In Korea, we were captivated by the idea of EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) that came in from the States. Parents of perfectly normal children, with no need for this exposure, were sending their children to academies to learn all about it, spending thousands of dollars. It was the thing to do.

Instead of too quickly accepting what is being passed around as the truth, we have to begin by getting rid of what is covering our eyes, getting down humbly on our knees and clasping our hands. Knowledge that is not ripe, mistaken convictions, mass thinking and unquestioning belief should be discarded. He concludes the article: "We do not fix our gaze on what is seen but on what is unseen. What is seen is transitory: what is unseen lasts forever" (II Cor. 4:18).

"A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep or taste not..." is a saying we are familiar with and know to be true. There are many things that we think we know but are deceiving us. This may be a blessing in many cases, as we sometimes struggle to know the truth, but it should also humble us and enable us to be open to truth that may come into our lives in different ways, grace not the least.