Call to Action

The following  e-mail came from a Maryknoller who thought it would be of interest. Call to action from SPARK, PCI Member Organization  Solidarity with people of Jeju Island, South Korea  A call from SPARK Pax Christi International's member organization in South Korea Seoul moves to destroy JejuIsland - coral habitat to make way for an Aegis destroyer base aimed at China!    JejuIsland, a World Heritage Site, is a jewel of biodiversity whose southern coast  is home to a soft coral habitat. In 2001, the Korean Cultural Heritage Administration  designated it a national monument protection area. Its Gangjeong coast is also a  seasonal habitat for hundreds of dolphins that live there from June until September. They migrate from Alaska through the North Pacific Ocean to JejuIsland, the only  dolphin habitat in South Korea. And now the Seoul Government is about to destroy the dolphin habitat and  the traditional farming and fishing village of Gangjeong to transform an island known for biodiversity, international peace, honeymoons, and school trips into  a focal point of rising militarism and an arms race in East Asia. Seoul's target: China,  ironically the home of many of the tourists who visit Jeju. On Christmas Day, there was a peace mass, called, 'the Christmas mass to save life  and peace of the JejuIsland.' It was led by Bishop Kang Woo-Il, Chairman of the  Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea and the Bishop of the Catholic Jeju diocese,  along with many priests and women religious on JejuIsland. The event was hosted by the Special Committee for the Island of Peace, Catholic Jeju Diocese. About  400~500 followers and Gangjeong villagers gathered and declared their commitment to save Jeju, Island of Peace, from the naval base construction. Bishop Kang Woo-Il,  who led the mass, said,  "Military bases cannot save peace and life" and that he  "would be together with the lonely and oppressed Gangjeong villagers." The latest report says that the navy is making moves against the people who have  been trying to block the construction machinery from beginning work.

Making Others Happy

On the opinion page of the Catholic Times, a columnist meditates on the meaning of Jesus Christ, and finds immense joy in what she finds. After many years studying scripture she has a new appreciation of what is contained in the name Jesus Christ. The word 'Christ' in Hebrew means the Messiah, liberator, savior; in Greek the anointed one. There is the person Jesus with the descriptive word Christ, a world of meaning giving us the reason for joy in life.

What does it mean to be baptized as a Christian? she asks. It is to accept Jesus as Lord and to enter a new life. She tells us without hesitation that the first outward expression of this faith life for her is a life lived with joy. All her sins have been forgiven; she has received entrance into the kingdom of God. She asks is there any news that gives more joy in life? I can call God, Abba, father. What greater patron or good fortune in life is there? When we search for justice we are freed from greed and enjoy freedom. It is for this reason that she daily gives thanks and tries to live with joy in her life.
 
The columnist tells us about a survey that was made of those who  have held up grocery stores in the US. They were asked when was it that they failed in their robbery attempt?  95 percent of them said when the owner greeted them with a welcoming smile. It then was impossible for them to point a gun at them. It reminded her of the Korean proverb: you can't spit at a smiling face.

She always tries to have a slight smile on her face when  greeting anybody. But has to be conscious of this when she visits the home of those who have lost a loved one to keep from doing what she does by habit in meeting people she knows.

In Korea, laughter and a happy heart are known to be the way to release endorphins into our bodies for better health. A happy disposition is the new health tonic. The columnist, when faced with  pain, remembers the words of Romans 8:28, where St. Paul says, "All things work together for the good." She knows when she comes out of the tunnel, there will be the light waiting for her. That is why even in the tunnel, she doesn't lose her ability to laugh.

The face is the mirror of our interior. We all have difficulties in life,  but we try to overcome this with a happy heart. We can be of service to others with money and our time, but also with joy on our face, with positive words of encouragement, and with blessings for others. To do this, we have to have  happiness in our own lives.  When I am happy, she says, I am able to make others happy.

Difficulties of North Korean Refugees

"I loved you before I met you." These are the words of Fr. Im Carmelo the Paris Foreign Missioner  the first pastor  of the  Kam Kok parish in Chung Pukto, the mother church of the diocese. He came to Korea  in 1896 and died in 1947. The Religious Sister who works in the diocesan immigration center starts her column in the Peace Weekly with his words.

On the Sister's visit to Pyongyang in North Korea in 2005 she had the same thoughts that Fr. Im had before coming to Korea from France. Escorted around the city by guides she was asked many questions about her life as a sister. They showed a great interest in her life as a religious. When she responded that sisters do not marry she was asked, "What does your wandering husband do?"  She did not know what to make of the question after telling them she was not married. She was sorry not to have had  more time to speak to them.

The sister is involved in teaching some of the refugees the catechism, and in so doing  noticed the many  differences in language and culture  between the North and South. I have heard the same  from others. One Sister who also has worked with the refugees said more than the language is the way they think. Over 60 years separated from the rest of the world  changes the way they relate and experience the world.

The ones who have made it to the South had to overcome all kinds of privations and near death experiences. Even though they are safely here in the South the barking of a dog at night, or the lights from passing cars coming through the bedroom  windows at night, bring back the fear of the Chinese security police that are coming  in search of them. This makes their sleep fitful. There is also the pain of not knowing what their family is suffering because of their defection. Life in the  South, consequently, is lived in the shadows.

The Center in which the Sister works is called the New Land Citizen Center, a word  recently coined. There are many who come to the center to ask for help. Some of the refugees were sold to Chinese men and were forcibly  sterilized.  They have reversed this and have had children but some with abusive husband have come to the center for help.

They have so much in common with the South and yet the  differences are not minor and these differences  will continue to grow until the future unification.

Faith In Search of Understanding

A newly baptized Catholic asks the Peace Weekly Answer-man a question many have but rarely express.  What does it mean to be always obedient? When his Godfather told him to be obedient he couldn't rid himself of the depressive feeling that overcame him, remembering the past relationship with his father, just doing what he was told, and not being allowed to say what was in his heart. Was this, he wondered, what he was  called to do in his new life of faith?

The columnist tells him this is a misunderstanding of the faith life. We are not asked to submit blindly to the teachings nor are we forbidden to entertain any inklings of doubt. This misunderstanding arises from the way the lives of the saints and the heroes of  our society are written. Their lives are manicured, beautified and idealized, removing all the failings and imperfections the author thought would detract from the saint's holiness. Those who read the biographies are left with an idea of obedience that is not justified by how the  saints actually lived.

Referring to the life of St. Theresa of Avila, for example, the columnist says she often mentioned that if you are too meek you will find the religious life difficult. The pictures of St. Theresa you find on convent walls remind us more of a hawk than of a dove. She reminds us of what spiritual psychology would call  healthy resistance. Many feel that resistance is always bad because of the unnecessary trouble that it can cause. However, for a person's growth in maturity it is a necessary part of life. When a person accepts submissively whatever is being said, interior growth is often delayed. 

Resistance is of two kinds: healthy and unhealthy. Unhealthy resistance is the desire to destroy unconditionally the old because it is old--the actions of one who lives in his own world. This is the result of mental negativity. This resistance not only militates against interior growth but this stubborness is an obstacle to normal relations with others.  When we have little concern for how others see the world, everyone ultimately suffers. There is little concern for important things, so we have much loss and many mistakes. Healthy kind of  resistance objects to the shackles on our mental world and tries  to free us from  them, to break the hold of unhealthy thinking and to challenge it. With this healthy resistance we are open minded, can listen to others and are full of energy.Then he reminds us that this was the life most of the saints lived and St. Theresa of Avila was a good  example of such a life.

All parents want obedient children, the columnist admits, but those who are  obedient to the extreme are a cause for concern. It's the healthy kind of resistance, he emphasizes, that is a sign of maturity.                                                                    
   

Refugees From the North Living In South Korea

A Korean Religious Sister, working with displaced persons from North Korea, writes in her column in the Peace Weekly about the questions they are frequently asked. Do you often think of home?  Do you want to return? Home, however, is a place they can't go back to, no matter how much money they have. And to talk about the desire is painful, believing. as they do, that they will not be able to return home in their life time.

At this time, with the North-South crisis at its worst,  the displaced North Koreans are finding it especially difficult to think about going home. When questioned about Yeongpyong Do, they don't know what to say when they hear this kind of  reproach. The Korean Society is still not able to distinguish between the North and North Koreans living in the South.

The displaced North Koreans (about 1300 of them living in the Incheon area) have received all that is necessary to become citizens; they now are South Koreans with all the protections of the nation,  but the invisible wall of refugee status is there, which makes it difficult for them to feel at home.  The sister meets regularly with those between 20 and 40 years of age, and has started a group of women to help the refugees build self-confidence, find emotional strength and feel at home in the South.

The women from the North have a strong motherly instinct. No matter how difficult life is they have no thought of abortion. If there is no one to take care of the child, the mother will strap the child to her back and go off to work. On one occasion, going to the center to  report the birth of her child, a woman was greeted with laughter: North Koreans have many babies, they said. She reported that to Sister and wanted to know if it is a sin to have a baby. If the baby comes, the woman said, we accept it. How can we get rid of it, she said with sadness.

The love of the North Koreans for their children is great. Even during the cold months they turn off the heat to save money for the  education of the children. Their desires are few: to have enough to eat, children in school, have a bank card where they can save some money and see it grow, and wait for the day when they will be able to receive and give greetings to those they left behind. The difficult environment of their previous life in the North has toughened them, but their hearts still can be hurt and, unfortunately, often are.

Efforts Needed to Prevent Medical Mistakes

The efforts made for a culture of life in Korea extends far beyond abortion and fetal experiments: we have  suicide, animal experiments, cosmetic surgery, smoking and drinking, gambling, drinking and driving,  and many others. The article in the Catholic Peace Weekly by a professor emeritus of Seoul University, gives us another, the problem in hospitals because of medical mistakes.

Hospitals are considered safe havens but those who work in hospitals know that for the old and children with little immunity, they are a dangerous place, and the medical teams  are the first to be upset with the situation.

In recent years, we have the introduction of  new equipment, and up grading but this has not decreased the number of medical mistakes but increased it.  The hospitals in Korea do not publish or make known, or is there any system to find out statistically the number of these mistakes in order to prevent it from happening again.

One professor in a medical school here in Korea taking his information from a research paper from  the States and considering  the numbers of patients entering hospitals, estimates that we would have about 36,000 deaths in Korea because of medical mistakes. The writer compares it to the 7,000 deaths from  car accidents each year. To prevent these accidents, we use air bags, changed the traffic system and use all our ingenuity to lessen the accidents.  If we made a similar  effort  in our hospitals he feels we could diminish the numbers by about 40%.

 From  the last years of the 1990s, the developed countries  have made studies of the problem and taken steps to change. Here in Korea this has not been done. Mistakes are made in giving medicine, there is the problem with hospital infections, mistaken diagnosis, mistakes in surgery, and no effort to determine the causes and  prevent them from happening again.

He mentions that in 1999 in the US 100,000 died of medical accidents. The World Health Organisation has asked in its 2002  general meeting that all the national  members remember that the problem is not only a national  problem but a world problem, and they resolved to recommend  patient safety  programs to the national members.

The professor emeritus quotes a  professor from the Seoul Medical School: "Like the US we as individuals or as a medical team, without names and  maintaining  secrecy  should  report our medical mistakes. Not to question our responsibility, but so it  doesn't happen again; to examine what went  wrong  and to notify all the other hospitals, so they also will know what to do."    

The professor finishes the article asking that the government take an interest in legislating, so the  patient's safety will be taken into account.

Inviting the Sisters Out to a Meal

One of the women journalists writing for the Catholic Times gives us a glimpse of Catholic life in Korea. She mentioned that as is the custom in Korea, she made the rounds visiting relatives and friends giving the saebae, (low bow),  wishing those so greeted with the best for the New Year.

In the parish to which she belonged lived  sisters who attended daily Mass. She, also being a daily Mass goer came in contact with them often. For some time, she wanted to do something more than pay her respects but also to  invite them  out to a meal.   She had wanted to do this for some time. That Sunday after Mass, they were seated close to  her,  she quickly wrote a note giving  her telephone number and asking them to call her at their convenience.

As soon as she reached home the call came from the sisters. She asked them if they would be free sometime during the week to accept her invitation to a meal. The sister said she would bring the invitation up with the superior and let her know.  That afternoon the call came from the sisters, since they would be busy during the week,  that  evening would be fine.

She drove her car to the convent with a box of tangerines and was ushered into the house. She had a chance to look around and then when the sisters were ready they went to the restaurant that she had picked. They had a pleasant conversation and a good meal at the end of which a gentleman kept on looking into  the  room, since the  door was slightly ajar. The journalist thought it was  someone whom the sisters knew but the gentleman then opened the door and came in.

"Sister, I was so happy to see the sisters that I came in. My father's sister was a religious sister who loved me greatly;  she died a few years ago. Seeing  sisters was like seeing my aunt again and without notice came in. I have been busy these days, is the excuse, but seeing you has made me very happy and also sorry for not being faithful to my religious practices. Please, I want to take care of the bill for your meal."

The journalist stood up and told him that was impossible,  since they were her guest and the meal was on her.

He grabbed the bill in front of her plate and ask that she understand and acquiesce. The sisters also sided with him, so she gave in but gave him her notebook asking him for his name and address.  He said no, but she  implored and he responded that he has a public office and doesn't randomly  give his address. The journalist said she wants to pray for him and at least would he gave his baptismal name and his aunt's name.

She told the sisters, after he left,  she wanted to do something for the sisters, and it was taken away from her. However, the superior said  they enjoyed the time together and the meal was wonderful,  at the   same time the gentleman did something very nice; what  he did was a great consolation to him--sisters all agreed with her.  Her good deed was taken away from her, but she was left with a good feeling and will be praying for John and Bernadette.