The Catholic Church of Korea is remembering the first seminarian and  second priest on the 150th anniversary  of his death. Fr. Thomas Choi died in 1861 from overwork and typhoid fever. The first  in any sequence is easily remembered; the second usually remains hidden in history but Choi Yang-eop (Thomas) was an extraordinary person and will be taking his rightful place beside Kim Taegon (Andrew)--the first Korean priest--as a model for the Korean Church. He is on the list of 125 sent to  Rome, and this time his mother's name was added.

His father was St. Choi Kyong-hwan (Francis), and his mother was Lee Seong-yea (Maria). The mother briefly put aside her faith because of the pressures of raising five children after she had her oldest son Thomas. The difficulty of combining these two interests was eventually overcome and she died a martyr. The thinking at that time was such  that even this brief lapse would not be understood by the Catholics, so her name did not appear with her husband's on the list sent to Rome.  Times have changed and she will be with her son, the only one on the list not a martyr.

The editorial in the Catholic Times reports the different events in some of the dioceses in remembrance of his death. He is called the "martyr of sweat." During his years of pastoral work the Church was still being persecuted, and he would be visiting  127 different areas where the Catholics were located to baptize, hear confessions and instruct. Since this was  during the years of persecution his encounters with death were not a few. 
 
He was a man with many talents, and although we speak a great deal about Kim Andrew, Choi Thomas was no less an influence on the early Church. He was ordained in 1849, worked  for only 12 years, and died at the age of 40, but he left us much by which he is remembered.

As the editorial said, Thomas worked hard to give the early Church an inner spiritual life, which was an important  part of the foundations of  early Catholicism. He was talented in music and spent time writing verses that the Christians would be singing to the tunes of the time. He also translated religious books written in Chinese characters into Korean script for his uneducated Christians. I can recall hearing in some of the mission stations the Catholics singing some of the teachings they had learned. It was a practice that served them well when they didn't have visits from the parish more than two times a year. At times they would sing spontaneously a song of praise for those who were serving them.

The 19 letters he left behind tell us a great deal about the early Church and is now part of our history. All the letters were written in Latin but so well done that even his teachers were surprised.

The two dioceses  involved in making the spirituality of Choi Thomas known to our Christians are Andong and  Cheongju. His life and work and the influence that Fr. Choi had on Korean Catholicism will soon be getting the publicity they deserve.

Why Don't We See the Preciousness of Life?

Many of our Catholic columnists are devoting more space in their columns  drawing attention to the need for more concern on quality of life issues. The Desk Columnist in the Catholic Times did so by recounting the story of a college professor who held up a 100 dollar cashier's check before his class and asked who wants this?  Everybody raised a hand. He took the check and crumbled it in his hands and asked again. There was no change. He then threw it on the floor, trampled it repeatedly, and asked again. And again there was the same response. He said it was obvious that nothing he did took away from the value of the check.  He told the class the  same holds true for ourselves. It doesn't make any difference what happens to us, the person I am never loses value no matter what the circumstances of life have done to us. We are all very precious and no matter what others may think, we should never lose heart.

The news has made it clear the number of suicides are way too many. And the happiness index is also one of the lowest of the developed countries. Religious communities, in an effort to deal with this problem, are trying their best to promote a more positive approach to life.

The columnist explains how the writer of Genesis describes the creation of humans. In the creation of the other parts of creation it was with a command, but with humans it was with great care: God took the clay in his hands and breathed life into us, and said it was very good.  We are God's masterpieces. We are all unique existences, small universes. The order of the universe  is also part of the makeup of our bodies and spirit. God's spirit is within us.
With this in mind the columnist asks how are we living? Those that see life as a miracle live differently than those who do not see life in this way. The way we think changes the way we live. Those who have a positive vision and those who have a negative vision are divided in the way they live.

Is there anything  more important than to see life as a miracle? The things that we possess can add to life, but they are not what life  is all about. There is nothing as important as life.

When I am tired and overcome with difficulties who will comfort me? You have God and  your family and friends. We are precious  and this earth is a good place to be. Our happiness depends on the way we accept life. When we see our value, have faith in God, and do what he wants we will have more light to give.

This approach is certainly warranted and hopefully will have some effect, but at the same time we see that society has become more complicated than in the past. After the Korean War, there was an apparent material equality among the citizens. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness does bring about material inequality, which can only be controlled with a different way of seeing life.

Closing the Mouth and Opening the Ears.

In the bulletin of a Pastoral Institute, a mother writes a meditation on the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  She remembers putting between the pages of a book a holy card with two rays of light coming from our Lord's heart one red and one white. In John's Gospel, she goes on to say, "One of the soldiers thrust a lance into his side and immediately blood and water flowed out."

She is the mother of two daughters, one  nine years old and the other is six, they still need her help but not like in the past when they trusted in her and she began the long process of trying to understand  them. They often rested on her bosom, falling asleep to the beating of her heart.  She got to know by their cries when they were hungry or needed a change of diapers. It took time, she says, for them to get to  know her and she them.

From the past she remembers the words of a person  who loved potted flowers. They die from either too much water or not enough, by not being concerned with them or by being too concerned with them. Getting to know what is needed, she says, is no easy task--as she  learned  raising two daughters.

To learn about Jesus she  studied  the Scriptures and joined different groups to learn how to pray. She heard that small community groups were important and even became a group leader. But doing so many things just out of habit and doing what others were doing, she wondered if it wasn't all a great deal of window dressing.

Recently she began the study of 'listening'.  Some may think it strange, she says, to have a need to learn how to listen. But she says she finally realized how deaf she had been, how often she had been interested in just talking; becoming aware of this was a painful realization. She has decided to use her daughters, and even Jesus, in order to practice the art of listening. In her visits to the Blessed Sacrament  all was done according to rote.She came to realize that she was not interested in listening as much as persisting in overly thinking her problems and solving them on her own, so much so she was not able to hear any other voice.

She goes back to the picture with the two rays coming from the heart of  Jesus. She knows they have many different meanings and that she doesn't have the necessary knowledge to give a good explanation of what she sees, but  deep down she  knows it is important to close the mouth and open the ears.                                                     
"One remains silent not knowing how to reply; another remains silent waiting for the right moment." (Sirach 20:6)                                     

Bishop William McNaughton's 50th Anniversary

The first two weeks of June were busy ones in the Inchon diocese with the 50th anniversary of the diocese on June 6th, and on June 11th, William McNaughton celebrated his 50th anniversary as a bishop. He was the second bishop in Korea to have reached this high point in life.

Both Catholic papers had an interview with the bishop. He returned to Korea to celebrate his 50th anniversary to the priesthood the year after retirement; this second visit came after 8 years away from Korea . He retired in 2002.

He mentioned that when he started back in 1961, the diocese had only 18 Maryknoll priests, and no Korean priests. Today the diocese has 277 priests. When  McNaughton became bishop, there were only 23,169 Catholics in the diocese; now  we have 405,000.

The bishop arrived in Korea in 1954 at the age of 28 and was made bishop at the  age of 35 after working in the Cheongju Diocese. When he was made bishop, he returned to the States because there was no money to have the ceremonies here. At his episcopal ordination, he received 10,000 dollars from the  Cardinal of his home diocese, 10,000 dollars from family and friends and 17,000 dollars from Rome. This money lasted, he said, for just one month. Though from the very beginning he was always in need of money, he said he never, even for a moment, worried about finances.

Before he retired he lived with Bishop Choi for a little over two years, which was a great help to him. Bishop Choi now has his own auxiliary  Jung Shin-chul to help share the burdens of the diocese.

The bishop felt that his yearly pastoral visits to the parishes were an important part of his work. He was outspoken on the  treatment that the laborers were getting  in the Dong IL Textile Company.  Oppression by the military government was the response,  but he was not intimidated. It was by  his efforts that we have Labor Day Sunday. The Church has to be on the side of the poor. It was, he says, the example  of the  Church from the beginning, and continues to be.

The bishop mentioned that the number of abortions not only in Korea but throughout the world bothers him greatly. This is an area where Christians should take the lead in the culture for life. He feels the Church should be a  leader in living a simple lifestyle to combat the materialism and consumerism of society. In his own life, he exemplified this style of living by doing without a car and riding the subway and buses. He also gained a reputation, as he says, of being a Scotsman.  His family is from Scotland, and they are known as being closefisted. "I was known," he said, "as being the stingy person from Inchon."

He was asked  by the interviewer what he thought to be the foremost virtue of those who are trying to give the message of Jesus to others. He thought it was holiness. Without that, he said, people will not be attracted by the message.

Korean Efforts to Change a Way of Thinking

The government statistics on the number of adoptions from 1958 show 240,000 adoptions. Of that number, 31 percent were in -country adoptions,

and the rest outside the country. The editorial in the Peace weekly expresses the sadness of much of the country on this imbalance and the efforts to change it.

At present only 25 percent of those who are waiting to be adopted have found parents. The other 75 percent are waiting in many different institutions. The Peace Weekly on its 23rd anniversary has made efforts to change the thinking on this issue by using its radio affiliate and TV station, as well as its newspaper. The "Be a Mother and Father" movement, and the discussions and forums to change the thinking of Catholics on how we handle adoptions are ongoing efforts.

The forums have stressed that it is only natural to have children adopted within the country by Koreans. In order to do this, changes have to be made in our laws, and how society views the current adoption structures.

The obstacles in the way of in-country adoptions are not a few. The importance of the patriarchal blood line has deep roots in society. The prejudice against babies born out of wedlock and the welfare system that does not help unwed mothers enough to keep their babies are factors, as is the very lucrative aspects of the out of country adoption process. The financial burden on the family that wants to adopt is also a stumbling block.

A happy change in the past few years is that the number of in-country adoptions exceeds the foreign adoptions. Government encouragement has been an important element in this change. The editorial states that without a change in thinking we will not be able to hope for bigger changes. We are told that by adopting, one receives much more than is given. But this will take much reflection to appreciate.

The same issue of the paper had a very uplifting story of a family that is doing something about the situation. They had one son and now have 8 children they have adopted; 4 of them are handicapped. When they have asked about adopting the disabled they are often looked at strangely, but they have succeeded in having all become family. They admit that it takes time to win the love of the children, but with time, dialogue and love the response in love does come.

It will be examples of this type that will break down much of the prejudice, and help to prepare the younger parents to open their homes to these children who need the love of parents to grow emotionally.The government, also realizing where the problem lies, will be taking steps to facilitate in-country adoptions. The reputation that Korea is an exporter of children is not something they want associated with Korea in the future.

To Live is to Change

A writer for the Catholic Times mentions in his column a talk he gave to a class some years ago. He was commenting on some word from a poem to bolster what he was saying on how to live a good life. He was enthused about what he was saying and so were the students, when he was abruptly asked a question by a student. "Professor, isn't that all a type of greed?" The atmosphere in the class room suddenly felt tense and awkward. Not being able to give an adequate response to the question, he remembers becoming flustered. This was an on-the-spot experience that changed many things in his life.

In fact, giving a proper response to the question was not that difficult, but his experience of being embarrassed by his inability at the time to answer the question adequately was, he said, for him a growth experience. The student, the columnist reminisces, was not using 'fair play' in the encounter but nonetheless there  was a change in him.

The columnist feels that to live life correctly the first important step is to read not only for pleasure but also to gain experience, using reading as a teacher, as an opportunity to meet a guide for life. When we encounter good books, we come in contact with sages and experts from the past, as well as the present. We often hear it said not to read merely good books but exceptional ones.

The writer believes it is not an exaggeration to say that a person's cultural refinement will determine the books that will be read. He makes a point of saying, based on his experience of reading, that the person who finishes reading a good book is not the same person who began reading the book. If  change has not  taken place, he says   the book was either not a good book or it was not understood correctly.

To live is to change. Our bodies and our minds are changing every minute of the day. The change should be for a better self while fleeing change that harms the self. The writer comes to the conclusion that what is said about  change that comes from reading can also be applied to all experiences--the book of life that is always open for all to read.  Every serious experience brings about a change in a person's life. He has ruminated on this for some time  and concludes that there is nothing so obvious and commonsensical as this statement.

He ends his column by telling us about Gandhi. While traveling first class on a train in South Africa, he was told that riding first class was not for the likes of him, and he was forced to leave the train at the next station, which was a shabby country train station where he spent the night, cold and huddled up on his seat to keep warm. It was a deeply felt experience that stayed with him for the rest of his life. Before that experience he was a wealthy but ordinary lawyer. After that experience he became the saintly hero of India.

Change--the change worth striving for--the writer says, should raise us up to a new level of understanding  and perception.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                     


                                                                                                               

Young Catholics Straying from Religion

One of the problems the Church is facing in Korea is the declining attendance of young people at Sunday Mass. Reporting on a survey made in the Seoul diocese, the Peace Weekly headlined the article, "Only 7 high school students attend out of 100." And even after they enter college, the article added, numbers do not improve.

Improving this situation is a task the Church has decided to take on. The article mentioned that the average funding of parish Sunday school programs was only about 5 percent of the budget. This has not changed much over the years.

Efforts to improve the situation have taken many different routes; an interesting attempt was made by a parish in the Suwon diocese. They hired a full-time youth minister. This is a rather unique solution. no doubt because of the expense.

The parishes do have volunteers who take care of the teaching and the youth activities of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine but few parishes would have a full-time employed staff member. The pastor brought the problem to the attention of the parishioners by noting,  "There is a limit to what a priest with volunteers can do to activate the young people. We need someone with ability and zeal for the task."

That someone was the youth minister. He has majored in music and will be responsible not only for the music program but also for getting the youth back to the Church. When they have programs in the parish for the youth, he goes through the youth registers, makes a list of all the young people, and sends them an  invitation. A list of a thousand names does not deter him.

The youth minister wondered how any priest with the work they have to do can also find time to minister to the youth of the parish. On Sundays, when he often doesn't have time to eat he still finds the work very satisfying. The parish council head has said that a notable change has taken place in the care of the parish young people. The pastor now has a co-worker who is responsible for the pastoral care of the young. Depending on its success and how quickly the word spreads to other parishes and dioceses, we will no doubt hear more of this approach to the young people of the parish.