One Person's Reason For Failure in Life

A columnist in the opinion page of the Catholic Times gives us a very helpful lesson in how not to be a failure in life. As the head of a psychological  counseling service, she has helped many, and believes that those who need the most help are the ones who usually refuse it and  bring unhappiness into the lives of  others. They can be considered, she says, 'blind' in their relationships: Seeing what is in their own world, hearing what they want to hear, understanding  what they want to understand. 

Their  problems, they insist, come mostly from unlucky circumstances or are caused by others. When they hurt another by word or action, they defend themselves by saying it was not their intention or--a common retort--they don't remember saying or doing anything hurtful. No matter how much sympathy and empathy we have for those who are caught in these destructive behaviors, it  is difficult, she admits, to continue counseling such persons.

Often in Korea when things don't go the way we want, we use the word nang pae (낭 패) to describe this difficult situation. When we look at the origin of the word, however, we come up with a different understanding of its meaning. Nang and Pae were two imaginary animals.  Nang had no hind legs, and Pae had no front legs. (It is thought that they were similar to wolves.) Nang was courageous but had no cleverness; Pae was very clever but was a coward. When they went walking or hunting, they needed each other. When they were separated, they could do nothing.

A similar relationship usually exists even in the smallest of human groups. When two or more persons are planning to do something, each gives of his strong points, and the weak points are complemented  by the other's strengths. Understanding, concern, communication and tolerance are the elements that allow for harmonious personal interactions and an efficient running of society, but there are many who are blind to this relationship, which brings about this nang pae, 
 
The columnist ends by asking us if we have this relationship with others. Do we strive always for understanding and magnanimity?

Accidents and the Culture of Life

The statistics show that in Korea deaths from traffic accidents are one of the highest in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) with twice the number of deaths than the average. A professor at the Suwon seminary writing in the Catholic Times says this is a sign of callous indifference to traffic safety.

One  of the reasons for traffic accidents is driving while intoxicated. All  know it should not be done. It is accepted as a basic principle of morality that we are to do good and avoid evil. If one drives while intoxicated and foresees the possibility of something going wrong, he then is morally responsible for the results.

This holds true for the owner of a factory who out of carelessness pollutes the surrounding rivers; owners of coal mines who don't show care for the safety of miners, and the makers of medicines who are not attentive to the adverse reaction of their products. When the results of these actions are evil, we must try to avoid the action itself.

Does this mean, the professor asks, that we must avoid any action when there is a  possibility that the results of our action may be evil?  Should we not use electricity because of the potential danger of a short circuit? Should we not drive because of the fear of accidents? Should we not allow children to use the computer because they may see porn?

These questions are easily answered, he says, by the application of the principle of the double effect  If the intended good is greater than the possible evil that may occur, and does not directly follow from the good, we are acting morally.

When driving after drinking even though we do not have an accident the possibility for an accident was there, and we have done  something we shouldn't  have done. If there is an accident the principle of the double effect is not applicable  because the act of driving intoxicated is an evil act.

The professor no doubt knows of cases where the principle of double effect was used by those driving drunk. In recent memory this principle was even used by many commentators as an explanation for what the Pope said on condoms in the book Light of the World. The clarification from the Vatican makes clear that the Pope was not using the double effect principle. To understand another  person is no easy task, especially when you are not sympathetic to the person speaking and his ideas.

Pope Wants More Secularity In Society

At the beginning of the New Year, each bishop presents his expectations for the coming year to the Catholics of his diocese. The Catholic Times' editorial spells out some of the concerns of the bishops. The problems  are not unfamiliar to Catholics in other parts of the world. The bishops want a new evangelization for a new era. An era that has seen a drop in attendance at Sunday Mass, an increase in the number of tepid Catholics, and a lack of interest in religion among the young. In a word, secularization, as in other parts of the world, is now affecting the Church of  Korea.

The depth of spirituality of our Christians, however, is not the type that will be of much help in evangelization. The Church has shown an exterior growth in numbers, but those who know the problems feel that the growth in spirituality of Catholics and the renovation of the Church have not kept up with its outer growth.

The Catholic Times sponsored a round-table discussion on this topic recently. The participants agreed that efforts have to be made to help our Catholics experience God in the many varied ways this is possible.  Many Catholics lack a  basic  understanding of Jesus, and consequently lack the enthusiasm necessary to train the will to work for change in society. Without the experience of God, Catholics will have little to fall back on in dealing with the postmodern culture we live in.  If  Christians are not themselves evangelized and are only superficially following Jesus, then there can be no evangelization. Those without belief are motivated to make changes in their lives  by what they see Christians doing.

The Pope recalls, again, the problem of secularism in his Peace Day message and states that he sees little difference between fundamentalism and secularism; they both deny the pluralistic society. For the Pope, secularism is different from secularity, which is a positive goal for society. Secularism does not have a place for religion, and that is a position that has become popular in recent years.

Increasingly, we are seeing the effects of this position on our youth. They are seeing their religious beliefs attacked in their schooling, in the books they read, and in much of the mass media. They hear, repeatedly about the crusades, the inquisition and Galileo. Without understanding the secularizing process responsible for these attacks, our youth cannot be faulted entirely for wanting to distance themselves from a world-view our secularist culture considers antiquated and of no use in today's world.

Secularism is the unwillingness to give religion a place in society. This way of thinking goes against the principle of a  sound secularity which respects the opinions of others and treats those opinions with civility. Those who bring up the Galileo issue to show the conflict between science and religion refuse to acknowledge that the contemporaries of Galileo,the Jesuits, introduced the first telescope to China and became the astronomers in the Chinese court. The secularist often fails to see the whole picture, preferring to focus on something that can make the opposition look ridiculous. What is needed is more secularity and less secularism. More openness to others in a pluralistic society.

Another Viewpoint on the North-South Relationship

A professor  at the Catholic University and a member of the Seoul Diocese National Reconciliation Committee discusses in the January issue of Kyeongyang Magazine the efforts of the Church to heal the wounds that have developed between North and South Korea. 

Since 1988 the Church has worked  pastorally for  reunification. They ceased using the word evangelization of the North because this would be looked on negatively. It was an effort on the part of the Church to heal the wounds of the past and express themselves in a manner that would not antagonize the North.


Another example of the efforts of the Church to begin working on a  spirituality for  unification is the change they made in 1992 to  the wording to the prayer for the Silent Church. This was seen as an  affront to North Korea so  we pray now for National Reconciliation  and Unity. This change that has taken place in the Church has  not yet according to the writer become the spirituality of the Catholics.
 

The  Church in the North at Liberation had three dioceses: Pyongyang, Hamhung and the Benedictine Abbey in Tokwon. (The territory of Hwanghae-Do Province was part of the Seoul Diocese.) The Catholic population of North Korea at that time was over 50,000. In 1949 the Abby at Tokwon was closed,the bishop and all the priests were taken into custody and the whereabouts of the bishop of Pyongyang was unknown. The structure of the Church in the North was destroyed. 

In 1980 the North changed their treatment of religion. Seven years later a group in Pyongyang invited representatives from the Vatican to come for a visit. The Seoul Diocese formed a group representing the Church and met five Catholics  in Pyongyang. In April of 1988, two of the five Pyongyang Catholics had an audience with the Pope and attended Easter Mass. Later that same year, plans were made to build the Changchung Catholic Church in Pyongyang. When the church was completed, the first Mass was celebrated by a group from Seoul.

In 1995, the 50th anniversary of liberation and division, there was a stirring for more pastoral concern for reconciliation. The Cardinal was making preparations for a visit to the North, and the parishes were putting aside 3 percent of their income to help in unification. And there were efforts to give the North humanitarian aid: A factory for making noodles was started and a place was set up for distributing food to  children.
 

The Church has recognized the de facto division of the country, their history and socialistic government, and in humility will deal with this reality. However, from 1995 until the present the only efforts that have been made are material help to the North. No other efforts have been made by the Catholics in the North and the Church in the South. There were  plans for building a center for reconciliation but  because of money difficulties nothing has developed. Although more than 10 million dollars have been set aside, it will not be used to help in reconciliation but to help later, after unification.
 

The professor feels that the North is not solely responsible for the North-South problem; the South also can be faulted for not continuing ts pastoral initiative to the North. He wonders how God would look upon the way we have let things go instead of working along with the providence of God with regard to the North.    

Here again we have the conflict between those in favor of the Sunshine policy and the present policy of the government. Our writer in his article shows us clearly where he stands, even though  faced with the current  problems with the North.

Culture Corps

One of our very outspoken elder priests, 86 years old, who has been president of the  Catholic University and a professor at Sogang University, was interviewed  by one of the Korean dailies on the present situation in the country. Though the priest was not enthusiastic about either the past or present political conditions in Korea, the interviewer said he would always end up on a hopeful note. 

He gave his opinion on the state of affairs with the North. The regime in the North, he feels, will not last long. We had the tyrannies of  Mao Zedong and Stalin and our own tyrannies of past dynasties. But 29-year old  Kim Jong-eun, who has studied in Europe, will have difficulty following in the  steps of past dictators and keeping control of  the country.  Once the internal structures are in place, the priest believes that Kim Jong-eun will be open to giving his people more freedom. Having learned and seen a lot outside of the country, he will try to realize these dreams by changing the way the country is governed, the priest said. 

He reflected also on our recent Seoul mayoral contest between candidates from the two major parties, neither one getting much support from the voters, compared to the non-aligned candidate. Next year's election for the presidency also has an independent candidate who is popular with the voters. The young especially are showing distaste for the two  major parties. Attempts of the government to reach the young people have not been successful. The reality of  the current situation is that Korean college graduates are not finding work or are underemployed, and that the suicide rate for the young is high. Some of the younger people, the priest  said, are members of the '88 Generation' because they are taking jobs for an average of less than a thousand dollars a month, a very low salary for a college graduate. 

Korea is a small country, and it is impossible  to put all the college graduates to work. His solution is to send them overseas like our Olympic ice skating queen Kim Yuna. If the young are kept in the country, he believes it will foster the leftist philosophy of our future leaders.
 
His solution is to create a Culture Corps. We have learned a great deal from the time of the Korea War, he said. It is time now to help other countries by sending our graduates where they are needed: to eradicate illiteracy, to help schooling the disadvantaged, and to setup medical projects.  At least 200,000 workers will be needed and should be given from 2,500 to 3,000 dollars monthly, a very attractive salary. It will be a great drain on the country, he admits, but he believes it will all come back to us when they return. This will help alleviate the conflicts between the younger and older generations and be a  good example to the rest of the world. 

He points out that they will not be going out as workers with specialized skills but simply as persons intent on helping others live a better life. Is there any other work that will have so many good benefits? he asks.

That we will ever see this happening is not very likely. But to  have one of our elders thinking these thoughts may inspire others to do the same, and in time maybe what now seems unlikely may become reality.

Mutual Joy from the Sacrament of Reconciliation

In the Peace Weekly, a columnist writing about his experience in pastoral work recalls when he was a young assistant.  He had finished his Sunday evening Mass and was on his way to the rectory when he was met by a grandfather and grandmother. They told him they left the Church many years ago, and now, an extended family of 30, they wanted to go to confession.

The priest asked how long they had been away (average is about 25 years). They had left the Church 50 years ago. The priest was not in the mood to hear confessions; the prospect of hearing 30 confessions at the end of a long day was not a pleasant thought. However, realizing what he was called to do, he went to the  confessional.

The family, one by one, went to confession and the grandfather was the last to confess. He made a general confession, mentioning all the sins he could remember from the time he was baptized; it included all his hurts and complaints over a life time.

There was little that the priest had to say in admonition, hearing what the grandfather had to say and his contrition.  He was happy, knowing that the grandfather was to begin a new life, and found joy to be part of it. When the priest  left the confessional the grandfather was sitting in the last bench of the empty church; they both hugged each other and started to cry. The grandfather thanked him for hearing what he had to say.

The priest looked at his watch; it was 5:00 am, just one half hour before his morning Mass. He went into the rectory to wash up a bit, and returned to say Mass.  All 30 of the family were there to attend and go to communion.

Although he had been hearing confessions for 8 hours, he was surprised by how little he was conscious of the time that had gone by. If they had told him he would be in the confessional for 8 hours, he wonders what would have been his response.  Yes, he was tired from the many hours in the confessional but at the same time the joy he felt by helping the family to return to the Church was a great consolation.


The numbers going to confession in recent times has dropped.What happens in one part of the Catholic World appears shortly in another part. There is no easy answer to the situation.  Many  do not have time to reflect on their lives. Experience tells many who spend time in the confessional that it is the spiritually advanced that have a greater grasp of their sinfulness:one of the paradoxes of life--the closer one gets to the light the more one sees. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a better word to use than Confession. It is God that seeks with love,to reconcile us with ourselves, others and Himself. Not understanding that what we do has reprecussions on all of creation may  help to understand the distancing from the Sacrament. 

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Looking For the Peaceful LIfe

The influence of  new religions and religious-like movements on Korean  Catholics is a serious problem for the Church, says a professor teaching missiology at the Catholic University. One of the more popular New Age movements, the Dahn World, uses all the Korean methods of self-betterment and at the same time moves into the religious sphere. It has a strong foothold not only in Korea but throughout the world, with about 1000 franchises in nine countries and an estimated membership of 500,000.

The professor, in his article in the Kyeongyang Magazine, brings up the criticism of  present-day religious life and notes that this dissatisfaction continues to grow. Many who have rejected the established religions are looking for something to fill the emptiness that has come into their lives. They are looking for a transformation of culture to fill this void. Because of secularization and the increase of leisure time, health, to cite one example of dissatisfaction with the status quo, is more likely to be seen as a condition that can be controlled, not as in the past by professionals but by the health-seeker's decisions on lifestyle, making health an important field for new enterprises to exploit.
 
Today's New Age Movement is responding to this new awareness and presents a big challenge to Christianity. Not only does it deal with health issues but with a spirituality that cuts across denominational boundaries. It is an area of spirituality that the established religions have not done a good job in presenting. These movements are also delving into areas that many are curious about: the UFO world of extraterrestrials, the training in the secret ways of Ki, the way of the mind, and the more organized efforts of movements like Dahn World, among many others.

The professor ends his article by noting the results of a 2004 Gallup Survey of the teachings of different religions concerning life issues. These surveys have to be taken with some skepticism but results revealed that the beliefs of Catholics are far from what the Church teaches.

To the question "Why have a religion," 78 percent said it was to find peace of mind. The professor feels part of the reason for this belief is the influence of a new age spirituality. He feels a need for our Catholics to reject this asking-for-a-blessing type of spirituality and to remember that God is always with us.

Today is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, Jesus' first disciple and World Day of Peace. When she gave her fiat, she knew it was not going to bring peace into her life but much trouble. Her understanding of what was to come teaches us a great deal of what it means to follow Jesus. Peace and joy do come, but it is not the goal but the by-product of a life of mature discipleship. Happy New Year.