Martin Luther And the Protestant Reformation

The 500th anniversary of the posting of the 95 theses on the Wittenberg Church door by Martin Luther will be coming up in 2017. The Catholic Times editorial discusses what was involved with the posting of the theses and clarifies the meaning of the word 'indulgence'--the "selling of indulgences" prompting Luther to post the theses and sparking the Protestant Reformation. Usually translated into Korean as "the forgiving of sin," indulgence is a word that is continually being misunderstood in the press, in history books and,too often, in many internet blogs.


The bishops have clearly pointed out that 'indulgence,' a theological term, is being misused when it is understood as a means to forgive sin, as a quick sell and purchase of salvation--as some critics have viewed it--by the donation of money. The bishops have sent the mass media a list of Catholic terms, asking that they be used correctly, anticipating that many articles will be appearing in the daily press in preparation for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. And many of those articles will be discussing the "granting of indulgences," wrongfully understood even by Catholics at that time that sins could be forgiven on payment of money. In the history of the Church, one can always find those who have abused what the Church teaches for reasons of gain or out of ignorance. In an effort to collect money for different projects, many used indulgences as a means to collect money. That this was an abuse is clear; however, it  is not a reason to misunderstand or distort the meaning of this word, as understood by the Church. Indulgences do not forgive sin, whether by the use of money, prayer, good works, or by any other means; it forgives only the temporal punishment due to sin. (The sacramental forgiveness of sin must include confessing one's sins, usually verbally and usually to a duly ordained priest, sincere sorrow for having sinned, and a firm purpose of amendment.)  This will be difficult to  understand for those who have no sympathy for this process and for what temporal punishment for sin means or who don't care to know.

The editorial was also concerned that this issue might damage the image of the Church by passing along information not warranted by the facts. The Church has never said that by giving money sins can be forgiven, and this has been the teaching well before the reformation. As in present times, those who do not follow what the Church teaches should not be used as examples of what the Church does teach.

October 31 is Reformation Day and will be celebrated in the Protestant world. For Protestants, it is an opportunity to  continue the reform that was started with Luther. According to the columnist in the Catholic Times, the Reformation was also a time for self-examination by the Catholic Church, and a time to  begin the process of change. The Council of Trent came shortly after to clarify troubling matters that surfaced as a result of the Reformation; and in dioceses, seminaries were started to educate the clergy, many of whom lacked the knowledge necessary for their calling, a reason for the corruption that the Reformation brought to light.

Thanks to the reformation, the Church was motivated to work for new programs to educate its priests. The columnist mentions Fr. Hubert Jedin, one of the outstanding Catholic historians of the last century, who said it was the Reformation that enabled the Church to look at itself and begin it own reform and renewal.

Protestants, reflecting on what  Luther means to them, also present us Catholics with an opportunity to see where we have been and where we are now; on our way to an on-going reformation, keeping ourselves humble and penitent.                        

Being Hurt an Opportunity for Growth

Writing for the Kyeongyang Magazine, a professor and executive officer of the Family Counseling Association begins her article with a mother's heart wrenching lament. She was walking home after buying some groceries and saw her daughter walking with friends on the opposite side of the street. Happy to see her, the mother called out her name and after their eyes met for an instant, the daughter quickly turned away and without a word, or recognition of any kind, continued on her way with her friends.  

There was a burning sensation in her stomach, the mother said. She was not able to concentrate on anything after she returned home. She cried. Was the daughter embarrassed about her mother? Did she think her mother would scold her? The mother was perplexed. 


The writer asked the  mother if she spoke to her daughter about it. Not at first, she said, fearing being hurt by the answer, and when she did ask, the daughter said she didn't see her, and without another word, avoiding her mother's gaze, went to her room.

This situation is normal in the growing up process, the writer believes. In wanting to be grown-up and adult, many children will go to any lengths to act independently, as if needing no support from their families. This should not be surprising to parents  but prompt them to turn their gaze toward themselves.

Parents should also be growing, she says, along with their children. By middle age, adults should be growing an interior life. While the growth of children, both physically and mentally, is easily seen, with adults this is not the case but the growth should be there.

Those who have  made a study of this adult growth, she says, divide it into exterior and interior growth.  With exterior growth, we reach out to others, not content to be concerned only with ourselves and our families, but concerned also with the welfare of future generations.

This concern for the welfare of others can also be called the enlargement of the self.  If this does not take place it will be like water, she says, in a puddle that in time will stagnate, become polluted and be a menace to others.

In contrast to the younger years, where the attention was on material prosperity, in later years attention should be on interior growth, on the mental, philosophical, religious and cultural aspects of life.  It will be a new beginning.

Children who see this growth in their parents and receive advice from this perspective will remember it. Children will  be aiming for this in their own life. It can provide the stabilizing influence of a compass needle that will point our children in the right direction in the years to come.            

"You Did it For Me."

On Saturday the 26th of March we had the 10th anniversary Requiem Mass for  Fr. Benedict Zweber, a Mayrknoll priest who worked in Korea for over 30 years. The Requiem Mass, in the last church that Fr. Ben built in Incheon, was celebrated by the priests who  knew Fr. Ben and considered him a friend. The congregation consisted of  those who remembered his work for justice, for the poor and those who suffered.

His first assignment after ordination was Korea where  his brother had died years before. He was a very successful missioner with a great love for the country and people. During his 30 years in Korea he built many island mission churches in the diocese of Incheon, built a hospital, electrified one of the islands, and worked to recover land from the ocean for the poor farmers. He took to heart the words of Jesus from Mathew's Gospel chapter 25:40-- "you did it for me."

Koreans  on  the islands were living in poverty, and he became their father, doctor and lawyer, and helped them in any way they needed to live decent human lives.  The orphans and Amerasians  he helped to go overseas to adopted parents are too many to count. With Fr. Alfred Keane, a fellow Maryknoller, he was also able to help pass a bill that aided Amerasians obtain visas to enter the US.

During the difficult political times in Korea, he was also on the side of the underdog and worked  tirelessly with others to see a new political reality. His sensitivity to problems of justice in society  and the plight of the poor was well honed.   I can recall on one occasion when he said that to use bread to clean the fingers after using the oils for Confrimation bothered him greatly. Something that was easy to understand for one who worked with the very poor.

After being called back to the States to work on recruiting for vocations and raising funds for the society, he volunteered, at the age of 66, to go to Russia to do missionary work in 1997.

When he first arrived in Russia, he lived for three weeks in  Vladivostok before the  bishop assigned him to the island of Sakhalin, where there were many Koreans and he began another chapter of his missionary life. He followed some Korean priests who had difficulty getting a visa to work in Russia. He worked to open two more parishes on the island and also served an American community working in the production of natural gas on the ocean floor near Sakhalin. He was responsible for building  the Church of St. James on the island, even though dealing with terminal cancer of the bones. The church was dedicated on August 15, 2001, shortly after his death.

I attended the Mass with a follow Maryknoller, Fr. Richard Rolewicz, who represented the Maryknoll Society. One of the first members of the congregation I met that day was a young man who, as a baby, was sent to the States for an operation on his heart. (An operation they were not able to do in Korea at that time.) Hearing that I was a classmate from seminary days, he wanted to thank me and show his appreciation.  Many, like this young man in  the congregation, remembered the Maryknoller with fondness and gratitude.

Violence in Korean Films

A professor, teaching film criticism in the  fine arts department of a Seoul college, discusses in the  Kyeongyang Magazine the disturbing trend of including increasingly more violent scenes in films being made today, causing many moviegoers to be alarmed and even disgusted with the new trend.

However, some of the films that made the theaters last year, although violent, did have a worthwhile message to tell, she reminds us. They enabled us to see ourselves and society in a new way. Although many of these films had something worthwhile to say, the violence that goes with them is not helpful, in many  cases, in conveying the message.

The professor notes that these films continue to be made because they are market-wise and esthetically appealing, lucrative at the box office and the recipient of many honors.  What are we to make of this? she asks. Those who have a religious belief may be disturbed by these films when they show a disregard for life and a lack of  basic humanity. To what degree are they to be accepted?

In an effort to better judge these films that include violent scenes, sometimes gratuitously, she says it is necessary to find the reason for the film's violence. It is not made up by the makers of these films; it's a reflection of the society we live in, a mirror where we can sometimes see hidden aspects of ourselves and, at times, portents for the future.

The increase of violent crimes, the discord and anger in society. our economic problems, the disharmony between the classes, and  the feeling of victimhood by many inevitably find their voice in the film world. What we see in films is not less than what we have in society, and not something unrelated to the pathology of the society. In sum, the films show us life as we have it.

The cultural importance of the world of film cannot be denied. It influences not only how we see ourselves but how many of us discover the values, both good and bad, of our society.  Films should therefore strive to be, she says, a positive influence, and not tempted to depict debauchery and sin for its sensational appeal. They should encourage respect for life, motivating us to live the good life, which is reason enough, she says, for the Catholic Church to show an interest in promoting the production of better films.

There is one premise that must be remembered, she says. Film criticism, an increasingly important category of art criticism, should be done in a fair and rational manner. Although the interpretation, acceptance or rejection, of films may not follow the general norms of religion or be in harmony with the Church's teachings, it is the overall intent of the film that should be acknowledged and judged.

Some films with violence, she reminds us, have no redeeming value, while others do. It's up to us, she says, to be watchful that we don't build up a resistance to the violence we see in films, and desire more of it--that would be a problem.

"Choose Life not Death"

Throughout the Catholic World, we hear the words the 'culture of life' and 'the culture of death,' taken from the encyclical  of Pope John Paul II. "In seeking the deepest roots of the struggle between the culture of life and the culture of death, we cannot restrict ourselves to a perverse idea of freedom.... We have to go to the heart of the tragedy being experienced by modern man: the eclipse of the sense of God and of man...."
   

A professor in the theology department of Sogang University, writing in the Peace Weekly, discusses the concept of culture as encompassing the whole of our patterns of life: our thoughts, language, religion, morals, laws and values, among many other patterns that regulate our lives.

The Pope emphasized that the culture of life means, first of all, respect for life and life's values, and that a person's awareness and the   structures of society will foster this culture.

The culture of death refers to activities that include abortion, euthanasia, suicide, murder, torture, trafficking in  human beings. Material possessions are considered more important than quality of life issues, wealth and influence being the preferred goals of human existence; to be poor and powerless is, to this way of thinking, to live uselessly and without joy. A way of thinking that has a close relationship with materialism.
 

The professor asks where are we in our society. It is not very difficult to judge, he says. All we have to do is look at the daily news. This culture of death is not only harmful to the individual but to our neighbor and society.  Therefore, it is  something we can't ignore. However,  is it something, he asks, that we can change?
 
The Pope said that the culture of death is so strongly intertwined with culture, the world of finance, and with politics, that making the change is not going to be easy.  The professor thinks that it is possible. All have the disposition to  avoid the evil and to intend the good. We have to see the dignity of all humans.

He quotes again from "Evengelium Vitae" and the Pope's words asking us to change to a contemplative outlook on life:  
 

For this to happen, we need first of all to foster, in ourselves and in others, a contemplative outlook. Such an outlook arises from faith in the God of life, who has created every individual as a "wonder". It is the outlook of those who see life in its deeper meaning, who grasp its utter gratuitousness, its beauty and its invitation to freedom and responsibility. It is the outlook of those who do not presume to take possession of reality but instead accept it as a gift, discovering in all things the reflection of the Creator and seeing in every person his living image. This outlook does not give in to discouragement when confronted by those who are sick, suffering, outcast or at death's door. Instead, in all these situations it feels challenged to find meaning, and precisely in these circumstances it is open to perceiving in the face of every person a call to encounter, dialogue and solidarity.
 

The professor ends the column by saying that when we can see all of life through the eyes of God, we will have formed in ourselves the correct values that allow us to move from a culture of death to one of life.

Korean Priest in France

The relationship of the Catholic Church of Korea with France goes back to the time France was sending their priests to Korea to do missionary work. Recently, Korea received the visit of the ordinary from the diocese of Le Mans who has, together with the diocese of Andong, promised to be in a relationship of  solidarity and affection.

The 4th bishop of Korea was the martyr Saint Simeon Berneux, who was born in the diocese of Le Mans. The French Church years ago helped the Korean Church by sending us its priests; now is the time for the Church of Korea to help the Church in France.

This was written up in the  Peace Weekly, with an interview with the bishop of Le Mans and with an article on the first priest who will be working in the diocese, Fr.Lee Yeong-kil. While the ordinary was in Korea for his visit, Fr. Lee was his interpreter.

Fr, Lee had been sent to France for studies and received a doctorate from the Paris Catholic University. He is now pastor of a parish in the diocese of Le Mans. To his many parishioners interested in the Korean Church, he tells them:  "Koreans have a great interest in the Catholic Church. Their Catholics are very enthusiastic and try to live the life of faith.  Confucianism has also helped them have  respect for the  elderly. These are the strong points of Korean Catholicism. Now that God in his providence is guiding us in this relationship with France, isn't this what we can give the French Church?"

The Church of Europe is far ahead of the Korean Church in academics,  but when comparing the spirit of the times that is opposed to the Church and the small  percentage of those attending Mass, the Korean Church is far ahead of the European Church. Korean priests can help to change this situation, the columnist believes, by bringing some of the Korean enthusiasm to the French Church.

The big surprise to the bishop of Le Mans was seeing Koreans meeting in their villages to read and discuss the Scriptures. French Catholics, he said, do not read the Scriptures.

Fr. Lee says that from the time of the uprising in France of May 1968 (the largest wildcat strike in history, involving more than 10 million workers) the people have shown a coldness toward the Church. The protesters took to the street with placards: "We are against all  that are against."  A good interpretation would be: give us freedom to do what we want. Since the Church is against so many things, this was seen by  many as motivation to  turn their back on the Church.

In France, it is difficult to find any spiritual group meetings like the Legion of Mary, and village groups are not seen.  The few who go to Sunday Mass return immediately to their homes. French Catholics would number about  80 percent, but the majority don't practice their faith and don't know much about it.

Recently, Fr. Lee had a barbecue party with his Catholics, similar to what is done in Korea, and the response was enthusiastic. Our way of fellowship does appeal to the French, he says. We can learn the scholarly ways of the French, and the French can learn from our dynamism and vitality. We can both benefit from the exchange.

The Koreans, with their background in  the Yin-Yang philosophy of life, seem not to have trouble with many things that bother those in the West. Being against means that you are for something; and when you are for something, it means you  are against something. There are two sides to the one life we have to live.

"Facts" Are Not Always Facts

The Desk Column of the Catholic Times had an interesting understanding of Napoleon Bonaparte's stature, which is understood by most to have been short. Students who are short have looked to Napoleon to give them hope and confidence when competing with their taller peers. When hearing this was not the case, they tend to have doubts about other long-held beliefs.

The columnist gives two reasons for the misunderstanding. Those who were guarding Napoleon were the pick of the army and taller than normal. In comparison to them--and he was often in their company--he looked short. Secondly, after he was sent into exile to the island of St. Helena where he died, the report of the postmortem examination stated that he was 5.2 pied. Converted to standard English measurements, he was 167.6 cm (5' 6-1/2") which was slightly taller than the average Frenchman of that time.  When the English took pied to be their feet, they came up with 158.5 cm (slightly more than 5' 2") and the misunderstanding about Napoleon's height began.

What happened in the case of Napoleon is found in not a few cases in history. A fact of life Napoleon knew well--having manipulated facts throughout his career to further his own ambition--when he said, "History is a set of lies people have agreed upon." And these agreements about facts (when not outright lies) that are not facts often result from a trusting and unquestioning attitude about the validity of long-held beliefs.

The columnist then turns to the Four River Project and the protests of many religious groups to stop the government's plan to develop the rivers to ensure a better water supply. He sees this controversy as embodying the same kind of confusion that surrounds Napoleon's height. The  government sees the project as necessary for the economic health of the area, creating thousands of jobs and revitalizing the countryside along the four rivers.  This is illusory, says the columnist. It is not what is happening. And even members of the government, he says, are not seeing the practicality of the project, as was promised. 

Improving the quality of the water by improving the 'containers' is what is being said by the government. But they are not using, he says, our standards of water quality, which raises doubts about the other standards they are using.

The talk that the project will enhance the ecological life of the river basins and beautify the rivers is one-sided thinking and narrow-minded. Without backing their claim with proof, their talk doesn't deserve to be considered rational.

During Lent we are  trying to extend our vision, concludes the columnist.  Let us see how this lesson on the confusion and misunderstanding surrounding Napoleon's height can help us be more discerning and less gullible about the many subtle deceptions that are sometimes unwittingly passed along because they've been accepted for so long, and sometimes deliberately passed along because they serve someone's vested interests.

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