Addiction to Advertising All Too Possible

A priest,  in  public relations in his diocese, writes for the Kyeongyang magazine this month on the business of advertising: its influence  on society and the moral implications for a business that profoundly affects all of us. It is an ever present reality in our lives and from the time we get up to the time we go to bed, we are exposed to its influence. There is little that we can do to eliminate it from our lives, and he goes on to explain why.
 
Advertising is information about products and services that most of us use daily, communicated, he reminds us, in the most persuasive manner possible to convince us to acquire these products and services. It has been called an aspect of art, speech in service to the public, a sign of  healthy capitalism, a necessary evil, and the stuff that makes the commercial world go around. It has been part of our reality from the time the printed world came on the scene, both in the East and in the West.
 
To find how much influence advertising has on our actions, a small city in Europe attempted an experiment. Specialists in advertising gathered together to plan an imaginary shopping mall. After studying the most successful strategies that have been used to interest the public in buying a product or service, they went ahead and advertised in local media, announcing the many good and inexpensive items that were available at the "new shopping mall." 
   
The result, the priest says, was a great success. On the day of the opening, over half the population of the city came to a very large field without any buildings, just a placard identifying the place as the location of the shopping mall. The citizens knew they had been fooled. The reaction was varied. Some were angry and considered themselves conned; others were thankful for being made to see how powerful advertising is.  It was an example that makes clear how easily influenced we are by advertising.
 
The priest goes on to tell us the four principal concerns that are most often brought to mind when any advertising is being planned: Attention, Interest, Desire and Action (AIDA as it is known in the industry). The attempt to get the public's attention so that they will delve into the content of the advertisement enough to arouse their interest, spark desire and motivate them to a buying action requires an attention stopper. Here is where many of the moral concerns come to light: using sex, violence, and fraudulent claims to grab the consumer's attention.
 
He finishes the article with the instructions from the Pontifical Council for Social Communication:

 Truth in advertising

Even today, some advertising is simply and deliberately untrue. Generally speaking, though, the problem of truth in advertising is somewhat more subtle: it is not that advertising says what is overtly false, but that it can distort the truth by implying things that are not so or withholding relevant facts (#15)

  Human dignity

          There is an "imperative requirement" that advertising respect the human person, his interior freedom, his right and his duty to make a responsible choice; all of these would be violated if man's lower inclinations  were to be exploited, or his capacity to reflect and decide compromised. (#16)

          Social responsibility...

          Advertising that fosters a lavish lifestyle, which wastes resources and despoils the environment, offends against important ecological concerns.   Advertising that reduces human progress to acquiring material goods expresses a false vision of the human person that is harmful to individuals and society alike.

       When people fail to practice a rigorous respect for moral, cultural and spiritual requirements--based on the dignity of the person and on the proper identity of each community, beginning with the family and religious  societies-- then even material abundance and the conveniences that technology makes available will prove unsatisfying and in the end contemptible. (#17)

Consequently, there is the obligation on the part of all of us to discern the often corrupting influence of advertising from its legitimate uses, and have the courage and wisdom not to be overcome by it.

Where do we find Lazarus today?

The Korean Catholic press is showing an  interest in the Social Gospel that many feel should have been stressed more in the catechumenate. The teaching on spirituality may have been overly stressed so that the social aspects of the Gospel were not appreciated as much as the private devotional aspects. Effort is now being made to see the whole of the Gospel, looking beyond the personal and individual spirituality to the community and the world.

A newsletter for priests ran an article that asked a question many young people ask concerning the teaching of the Church on the morality of acquiring as much wealth as possible. What should we think of persons who through their own efforts and ability have large and beautiful houses, expensive cars, and have the material comforts that most of us do not have? Is there any degree of wealth accumulation that we can say is too much? Is it merely jealousy on the part of those without these benefits, a discrimination by the not-wealthy against the wealthy?

The writer claims the Church is also helping to propagate acceptance of this inequality by having parishes that are wealthy and can afford to have many and varied programs while having parishes that, for lack of funds, even have to cut back on snacks for students. It's an unjust situation that the writer feels should be corrected.

The Catholic Kyeongyang magazine last year reported how Bolivia has been trying to correct a long-standing injustice in that country. A member of the  Bishop's committee of Korea  described how the president of Bolivia  took land, 150 times the size of Yoido, away from five cattle farmers and gave it to those who were working in slave-like conditions for the cattle farmers; now the land was theirs. But much of the inequality  that is sanctioned by the government is still in place: The wealth of 100 Bolivian families is five times the wealth of 2 million of their poor. Most of the rich and powerful,  those responsible for the injustice in that country, the writer surmises, are undoubtedly Catholics going to Mass in their best attire, in their expensive automobiles, and asking for salvation.

This may seem like a parody of the reality, but it is the situation in many parts of the world. The Church has a very elaborate  teaching on the issues of social justice, but it is not always easy to speak on issues of this type when the government of a country is solidly in the hands of the perpetrators of the injustice. There are two extremes with which the Church has to contend when dealing with  injustice: Those who want to correct the problem as soon as possible, which brings up the question of possible violence--although violence is not an  option for a Christian, preparing the ground for change appears to many to foster violence, the feared consequences, some believed, of Liberation Theology--and, at the other extreme, those who want to change the unjust conditions with prayer, good works and alms.


This past week we heard many sermons on Lazarus the beggar. The rich are thought not to need others, while Lazarus needed  the crumbs from the rich man's table.  It is rather clear from the different parables that the rich have the temptation to go it alone,  they may even forget God, while the poor cannot so easily forget they are dependent on others. Acknowledging our dependence on others can lead to a healthy spirituality which will, hopefully, sensitize us to the plight of the poor and motivate us to change the conditions leading to poverty, or at least to lesson the burden until conditions can be changed.

Some countries, according to a recent news report, are doing this already by asking for a tax that will be earmarked for the poor. And here in our country, yesterday's newspaper reported that the government has earmarked 28 percent of the budget, the highest in history, for welfare.  We are, as a nation, becoming more conscious of those who do not partake of the good life. It's a healthy sign for the future.

True Story-- continued from yesterday

                                    First Communion in the Palace

A year later, September fifth, 1897, the princess sent a messenger to ask me to see her that evening, that I  might hear her confession and, if possible, give her  First Communion. This time it was arranged that I should go to her at the palace. In a chair not unlike the one she had used, I left my house about nine o'clock in the evening, carrying the Blessed Sacrament on my breast was taken through a side-door to the room of a Christian servant. The porters having been dismissed, I was led across several courts to the apartments of a court lady who was in the secret.  On the way I narrowly escaped running into one of the guards who make the round of the palace during the entire night. Each of them is armed with a long stick, bound  with iron, with which he strikes the ground, making a horrible noise. We stood aside in the shadow until he passed, and continued on our way.

A very old lady of the court received me in her  room, where I found also the lady who had been present at Princess Mary's baptism. I laid the Blessed Sacrament on a table which had been made ready for it, lit a candle, and awaited the coming of the princess. At half past eleven I heard a slight noise  and rose quickly. It was indeed the king's mother who approached, having profited by a moment when all her attendants were asleep to have herself carried on the back of a slave to the room in which I awaited her. After our greetings and some little conversation Princess Mary asked me to hear her confession. I did so at once, and afterwards prayers were read to her in preparation for Holy Communion. Shortly after midnight I put on my surplice and stole and gave her Holy Communion. I can still see the whole scene: the aged princess kneeling before me to receive Our Lord, and behind her two pagan ladies of the palace with a humble Christian servant between them, all three reverently  bent low. Such was the First Communion of Princess Mary in the early morning of the sixth of September, 1897, when she was eighty years of age. It was her last communion as well as her first. I was obliged to interrupt her thanksgiving to take leave of her, and never saw her again.

                                    Pagan Rites Over a Christian Body

Towards the end of the year she fell ill, but profited by a day on which she was better to send me messages, recommending herself to my prayers and begging me, if possible to see her husband, the old regent, Heung-song-koun, who was also very ill. She hoped that I might be able to bring him into the Church. I had no further news of her until the morning of January ninth, when word was brought me that she had died the evening before. In any case it would have been impossible for me to be with her at the last. Knowing this, she had told a Christian servant to stay beside her, and in words agreed between them to suggest pious thoughts until the end came.

I felt it my duty to seek an audience with the king, that I might offer my condolence and tell him that his mother had died a Christian. Some one's indiscretion had already appraised him of the fact, and fearing that I should mention it before the assembled court he refused to see me, sending word that he was unusually busy and would summon me later.

I asked also, for an interview with Heung-song-koun, as the princess had asked me to do. He sent me effusive messages of thanks, but explained that he was not on friendly terms with his son and a visit from me at that moment might get us both into trouble. Perhaps this, too, was but an excuse.

Obliged by ill health to go to Shanghai for two months' rest, it was there that I learned of the regent's death on the twenty-second  of February. National obsequies-entirely pagan of course- were held at the same time for him and for Princess Mary. For her soul she had only the portion of the poor: the generous suffrages of the Church and a few Masses said at the request of some humble Christian servants.

A True Story by Bishop Mutel, Bishop of Seoul, 1890

Back in August of 1919 in the Field Afar, Maryknoll Magazine, there was an article captioned:  A True Story by Bishop Mutel of Seoul. The article as it appeared in the Field Afar magazine will be divided into two blogs, one for today and one for  tomorrow. This is a  story known to the Catholics of Korea, but for those not acquainted with  Korean Catholic history may find this of  interest. The story  as related by Bishop Mutel  to the Superior of Maryknoll is  told below: 
                                       
                                       Christianity in the Court

The prince whom the Japanese call Prince Ri Senior, occupied the throne of Korea, first as king, from 1864 until 1897; then as emperor, from 1897 until 1907; when he abdicated in favor of his son, who was dethroned in 1910 and has since been known as Prince Ri Junior.

Born of a noble family in 1852, Prince Ri senior was only twelve years of age when he was chosen to succeed a childless king, and the regency placed in the hands of his father, Heung-song-koun, principal author of the terrible persecution of 1866, which gave us so many martyrs. Little as the regent suspected it, Christianity had even then won its way not only into the court, but into his household. The nurse of the boy-king was a devout Catholic, and his own wife loved the Church and  believed in it. Shortly before Bishop Berneux's martyrdom she sent a message, begging him to offer a number of Masses for the prosperity of the kingdom, and while her husband was torturing priests and thousands of native Christians, she was secretly studying the catechism and preparing herself for baptism.

                                     Empress Seeks Baptism

She was a Christian at heart for many years, and when, in 1890, I returned to Korea as Bishop, she sent to me, begging for baptism. It was impossible for me to grant her petition, for notwithstanding her great age she still acted as mistress of the royal family and among her duties were the preparation of the pagan sacrifices and the defraying of whatever expense pertained to them. I was obliged to reply that she could not be baptized until she renounced all  participation in the false worship of the court.

In the spring of 1896, giving her advanced age as excuse, she resigned her place as head of the   royal household, and once more asked for baptism. The eleventh of  October was the day chosen, the place a Christian maid-servant's unpretentious home, outside the grounds of the palace, but not far from it. I was the first to reach the house and hid behind the door of its one room. Soon the princess came, carried in a kind of chair which is in general use among the ladies of the palace. The bearers did not know her and suspected nothing. A pagan woman of the court, to whom the princess had confided the secret, accompanied her on foot. When the princess alighted she was greeted as Koreans greet an aged relative; only after she entered the house, and the door had been closed, was more profound  respect shown her.

                                    The Secret Ceremony

The princess was immediately presented to me. She was simply dressed, and very simple in manner. Her sight had grown dim, but her hearing was perfect and her mind was alert and keen. We had much to say to each other, but there was little time for anything  but the serious matter for which we had met. I asked her to repeat our ordinary prayers, and she said them fluently, as one does who recited them often. I examined her in Christian Doctrine, and she readily answered all my questions. I then baptized her with as much solemnity as time and place permitted. A Christian, the daughter of the king's nurse, was godmother. All went well, although during the ceremony we could hear the bearers of the princess' chair wrangling over a few pennies just outside the door. Evidently they had too much wine.

When I poured the baptismal water on the forehead of Princess Mary, I saw a look of unutterable joy illumine her face- a look which I have seen a thousand times on the countenances of humbler converts. Immediately afterward I confirmed her, and this time a Christian servant was godmother. The ceremonies had lasted about an hour and we could not tarry longer without danger. I said good-bye to Princess Mary and hid behind the door while she went to her chair. When it passed out of sight I also left the  house.

The following day Princess Mary sent someone  to thank me, to tell me that she had re-entered the palace without being see, and also to ask for a dispensation from abstinence, which it would have been almost impossible for her to observe.

Second part will continue tomorrow.

Forgiving is a Sign that We Have Been Graced

Forgiveness and reconciliation are popular topics for discussion because they are so difficult to  define and yet so necessary for living well.  A columnist on the opinion page of the Catholic Times revisits the discussion with his  reflections.

He begins with the experience of a mother with two sons, one year apart. The mother tried everything to get the two boys to stop fighting. On one occasion, after reprimanding them for fighting, she asked them how much they loved each other. The younger one said, " I will love my brother as much as he loves me and  forgives me." The older brother, angry and making a fist, said, "He is again making me the excuse for his behavior." Even though we expect brothers--and sisters--to naturally love each other, we know that sometimes the closer the relationship the more difficult it is to live in harmony.

And then there are the senseless killings of others with whom there is no personal relationship. The columnist gives the example of the horrible killing of a man's wife, mother and  son by a person who killed to revenge himself against society for not making it easier for him to get the things he felt he was entitled to. The father of the slain members of his family blamed himself for not taking better care of his family and tried on many occasions to kill himself. During this struggle, he met the godmother, a Religious Sister, who was attending to the needs of those on death row. To rid himself of the pain he was feeling, he turned to the Church and was baptized; the feelings of hatred and anger soon disappeared. He even wrote an appeal not to execute the killer.

All of us, the columnist says, inflict pain on others and are pained by others. Unknowingly, our words or acts can leave scars. If the discord and scars are not discussed openly, there can be no reconciliation. By forgiving, and persisting in the effort to forgive, as in the example of Joseph in the Genesis story who turned  his brothers away five times before he could  forgive, we regain peace.

The Dalai Lama explains forgiveness in this way. "If we remember that all existence wants to have happiness, and that  the one who has inflicted pain on us, no matter the reason, also wants happiness, then we can go the way of forgiveness and reconciliation. The one who is the victor in life is the one who has overcome his hate and anger."

In the words of Jesus: "If you forgive the faults of others, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours, If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you" (Matt.6:14-15).

The importance of forgiveness in our lives is often difficult to appreciate for it always includes questions of truth, goodness and beauty. We easily say, "hate the sin and love the sinner."  But many find this distinction difficult to make. Living a life of integrity and listening to our inner voice helps us to know what to do in these circumstances. We will then come to recognize that the whole question of forgiveness has more to do with the harm we do to ourselves than to others. When we fail to love and forgive, choosing hate, refusing to forgive, it distorts the way we see life. Moved by grace, all of us can forgive and love.  Our response should be gratitude.

How the Early Christians Nurtured the Church in Korea

An article written for the Kyeongyang magazine by a historian sometime ago describes what it was like in the mission stations during the early days of  persecution, and up to the early 60s when society began to change.

He mentions that when St. Bishop Imbert traveled to the home of St.  Nam Myong-hyok, orders were given not to have more than a certain number of Christians come to the house, but this was ignored. The large numbers of visitors attracted the attention of local authorities who searched the house after the bishop left; the saint was arrested and  his road to martyrdom began.

On another occasion, Choi Yang-op, after visiting one of the mission stations, hearing confessions and saying Mass, left with the owner of the house to return to the city. Non-Catholics in the area then came and destroyed the house and expelled the Catholics.

Because of the potential problems of having so many people show up at these gatherings, it was decided to restrict the numbers that could  come in one day for  Mass and exams.  With these restrictions, it meant that a priest would stay at a mission station for as many days as necessary to take  care of the needs of the mission. The mission stations would then be called two-Mass or three-Mass mission stations, or whatever number would be needed to take care of the Christians.

This required sending the mission stations a list of what would be necessary before arriving. Some of the mission stations, for example, would not have adequate bedding so this was brought along with the Mass kit. An important part of each visit would be the exams of all the Christians, including questions on prayers and  teaching.  When the children were not able to give the correct answers, it was known that their fathers, at times, would be punished for not having parented correctly.

When Korea opened up to the West these mission visits turned into holidays. Even during the  busy farming season around Easter all work would stop, and children would not be sent to school. It was a holiday atmosphere. When the priest arrived, he would be treated to refreshments and during the meals his bowl of rice was piled  high. It was expected that he would leave part of the blessed rice in his bowl for others to eat. This would be considered by the Christians as better than any medicine, and mothers would encourage their children to eat what was left over.

The writer of the article mentions that it was not a few who saw the way the priest was treated with the best food available being the motivation for some of the boys  to want to go to the seminary. He even mentions that one of the archbishops of Korea often mentioned this as being his motivation for entering the seminary.


These trials  and tribulations of the early Church the writer says made for a strong nucleus. The sacrifice of these early priests  nourished  strong Christians like a brave commander would make  brave soldiers. The zealous Christians also nurtured  the missioners,  martyrs and saints as a strong  army makes for strong soldiers. They are the foundation of the Church in Korea.

---

Establishing a Healthy Medical Culture

An editorial and articles  in recent Catholic newspapers profile a new network of workers who seek to encourage organ donations. The  groups that up until now have worked separately, Catholics, Buddhists and Medical Transplantation Specialists have  teamed up to change the climate of opinion in Korea toward the donation of organs.

The Confucian understanding of death and the feelings one naturally has about having a  loved one's body cut up after death, all have negatively influenced the efforts to increase the number of donors. After the death of Cardinal Stephen Kim and his donation of his cornea, there has been a noticeable increase in donations, but it is still far below the level of  donations in developed countries.

Spain has a very high percentage of organ donors; Korea has one of the lowest. There are also problems with determining when brain-death occurs,and procedural requirements in Korea making it more difficult than in other countries.

Many Koreans have been waiting for transplants for years, and many have died waiting. According to a government agency, some 17,000 were awaiting organ transplants in 2009 but only 261 organs from 261 brain-dead patients were available. It was this problem that prompted the three groups to form the network. For Catholics, it would be another opportunity to put into practice the culture of life issues the Church works hard to promote in society.

Publicity, the editorial stresses, will have a great deal to do with how successful the network will be. They have the know-how, now with the three groups together they hope to see many changes in how society responds to requests for organ donations. Their plans include the following:

-Set up donation centers throughout the country where people can go to make known their desire to donate.

-Educate children in grammar, middle and high school on organ donations and sharing-of-life programs.

-Select a day for organ donations throughout the country.

-Work with media to publicize the movement.

-Prepare promotional material in common to distribute.

The president of the medical specialists in his speech at the inauguration of the movement said, "What the different groups did sporadically and on their own we will try to   develop and activate within the movement...And among the patients looking for organs, there will be no waiting and the flame of love will be seen and the quality of life of the  terminally sick will be enhanced. This will give life to many and we will be establishing a sound medical culture for the future."