How Will Korea Deal With Secularization?

A team leader on the editorial staff of the Catholic Times, in the Desk Column, writes of  her trip to Ireland. Beginning with a brief history of the country, she then tells us that thanks to the Columban missionary priests, who have  worked in Korea for many years, she felt very much at home in Ireland.  It was like visiting  an old friend.

She recounts the work of the monks in the monasteries as they painstakingly copied manuscripts. Ireland was a leader in producing works of the mind during those early  centuries of Christianity. But dark times were soon to follow. In the 12th century, the invasion of the Normans brought difficult changes to the country, and in the 17th  century the English made Ireland a colony, plundering and oppressing the common people.  With the English Reformation, there was a long period of religious wars and persecution. And 160 years ago, over a million died of starvation, and over a million left for other countries.

At the time of Henry the VIII and Queen Elizabeth, the Church suffered much.  There were few bishops, and the courageous clergy enabled the Church to put down roots during these difficult times.  Following this, we had the Easter Uprising and the civil war.  Catholic Ireland and the  citizens left their individual piety and became conscious of their own common identity. 

Nowadays, the  strength of the once powerful Irish Church, once called the Irish Tiger, has been severely weakened by the sudden economic growth of the country and the  secularization of the culture. The clerical sexual scandals have also  diminished the authority of the clergy and the Church. And few young people are seen in Church, the press estimating that only about 5 percent are attending Mass, and in certain areas it is as low as 2 percent.

A  high-ranking  cleric in the Church of Dublin said he can't refrain from being concerned about the  effects of the culture and  economics on  the country, which have brought about the secularization, alienating  many of the young  from Catholicism.  But others see the problem as the failure of Catholics to examine what it means to be a true Christan.

Next year Ireland will host the 50th Eucharistic Congress; its theme will be: "The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and With One Another." It will be a time to hope for the renewal of Catholicism in the country, the catalyst necessary for a new journey, with a new atmosphere, that will challenge everyone to a new faith life.
 
The columnist compares Korea with Ireland, which has had a Catholic history of over 1000 years. Ireland has dramatically shown what can happen in the encounter with secularization.  She can't help but wonder how the Korean Church will fare in handling this same encounter as it intensifies in our own secularizing society. She hopes that what happened in Ireland will be a teaching example of what not to do.                                        

Confucian Ethics and Family Strife

The relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in Korean society, like any other Oriental society--some would say like in all societies--is not always harmonious. The breakdown of the extended family and the capitalistic ways of modern society have brought changes, but the dilemma for the son of choosing between mother and wife in conflict situations, particularly in a society still influenced by Confucian thought, remains acute. As Christians we know what is meant by leaving  parents and becoming one with the spouse, but this idea is not part of the Confucian ethic, which can pose a serious problem for many husbands.  


An article in our Catholic magazine for August revisits the issue and begins with humor.

The telephone rings.

Daughter-in-law:  Hello!

Kidnapper: We have your mother-in-law. If you do not give us 5 thousand dollars we will not return your mother.

Daughter-in-law: (hesitating briefly) I will not give you a penny. Do what you want!

Kidnapper: If you do not send the money we will return your mother.

Daughter-in-law: (without hesitating)  Give me your bank book number!


The writer, well-versed in family problems as a lay pastoral worker in the Seoul diocese, points out that all those who have made a study of the issue say, unequivocally, that the husband  should always side with the wife, a view that is sure to make many husbands uncomfortable because of the strong cultural tradition of filial piety in Korean society. He knows that there are those that will say you can always get another wife but parents are not  expendable. Making it even more difficult for many sons, according to the writer, are the mothers who did not receive love from their  husbands; they will be looking for it from their  sons. And many sons will find it difficult to break this overly close connection to the mother, even after marriage.  

One of the old sayings is that "Parents do not win when it comes to their children." In other words, parents want the best for their children. So when the son sides with the wife the parents understand and will grow to accept it, knowing that the children are not likely to forget their mother's feelings and would be willing to listen and talk with her, seeking a common understanding. However, the problem is not readily solved; there is a history that comes with the problem and this is difficult to overcome: genes, family upbringing, education, our personalities and values. They all make us what we have become, the self we imagine ourselves to be.

That being the case, the writer tells us not to force a solution  but to work toward accepting one another.  As with any long standing  problem between husband and wife, it is better to face the problem with humor, goodwill,  respect and wisdom than to try to force a solution.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law both have, of course, their good and bad points, but it's the positive qualities, the writer stresses, that should be the focus of each person's attention and not the negative qualities. The obsessive need to solve problems quickly should also be abandoned. replaced by the desire to interact with each other calmly and lovingly. Changing how we relate with the other, when a conflict situation develops, will in time change a negative situation into a positive one.

Wisdom of the Korean Potters

The landscape of old Korea was dotted with backyard terraces where crocks for preserving  soy products and kimchi were stored.  With the arrival of plastic utensils and the spread of the refrigerator, the terraces disappeared, but they remained a nostalgic memory for many Koreans. The Peace Weekly visits one of the artisans still working at his craft.

Paul Hwang, 70 years old, is a 3rd generation potter. His grandfather, ostracized by the family after becoming a Catholic, left home to live in a  potter's village where he learned the trade. During the persecution, many Catholics fled to the mountains where they worked making and selling pots. Women with pots on their heads and men with A-frames loaded with pots would move around the country selling their pots, and gathering  news on the whereabouts of Catholic priests, and then making this known among the believers.

The article mentions a 1970 survey showing that most of those working in the pottery trade were Catholics. Paul Hwang mentions that the disdain they received for being potters was difficult to accept--that, along with the poverty and mounting debts were things he wanted to leave behind. But he had no choice, he said. The potter's life was the only one he knew that allowed him to feed the family and educate his children.

In 1983 there were four potter families working together in his village. One evening three of the families, deciding they could no longer deal with the difficult life, left the village. Shocked by their leaving, he cried a lot, he said, wanting also to leave it all behind. However, with sickness in the family, there was nothing else that he could do but continue with the pottery.

He sent his three children to the nearby city to study, not to have them succeed in life but rather to get them away from home and possibly becoming attached to the potter's life.  He didn't want to pass on to them the life of poverty he had inherited.  But his circumstances were soon to change, and he now quotes the Korean proverb: sweetness comes after bitterness.  He had developed  a pot modeled on a refrigerator, which received the prime minister's prize at a festival in Seoul.  And two years later was given a master craftsman's award which changed everything in his life.

Now, well-known as a master potter, he receives all kinds of orders, even orders  from the Korean community in the States. When asked about the change, he believes it is his devotion to the craft.  Without devotion, he said, you can't even make a good meal. He did add that he's always searching for the proper clay. When you have good clay and bake it, he said, the microscopic pores allow the pots to breath. The water does not escape, allowing the air to enter for purification and fermentation; he feels one day we will come to appreciate the wisdom of the ancestors.

His youngest son and wife are now beginning to learn the trade.  Although he at first opposed their decision to follow in his footsteps, feeling they were taking upon themselves a cross, he  is pleased now that there will be a 4th generation of the family in the trade. The history of pottery and the Catholic Church can't be separated, he said. Potters are not just a part of Korean history but  a sign of the suffering and the zeal of our Catholic ancestors, and accepted  as a sign of God's  love.

What Does It Mean to Rest?

What does it mean to rest? We usually divide time into work time and rest time, and it is not rare to find that even our rest time can be more tedious than work. When the meaning of our work vanishes, work loses its appeal, satisfaction disappears and rest does not renew, often developing into a loss of meaning for life itself. An article in the Kyeongyang magazine, by a professor of religious studies, reflects on what rest should mean to us.

The idea of what we should do with our leisure time is a relatively new question for us to ask. In the past, the opportunity to rest was only possible for a small segment of society, the privileged classes; ordinary citizens had to work. Rest, when it came, was a blessing and not given much thought. Today, we have studies of leisure in college curricula, and the five-day work week has made all of us conscious of leisure and how we should make the best use of it. Though leisure was always part of life, today we are beginning to appreciate the many ways it can lead to a fulfilling life.

What does it mean to rest? And how should it be done? There are no correct answers to these questions, the professor says. Everyone approaches the question differently.  We can, however, search for  the meaning of leisure and look for the reasons we need rest. We have no difficulty in answering what the opposite of leisure would be; for most  of   us it would be  toil, stress and fatigue, but not only of the body, which we know can recoup its strength when the body is tired with a period of rest. The problem is the fatigue and boredom of the mind and spirit, and this is not regained so easily by resting the body.

The wisdom of the East, the professor says, does not separate work and rest, and sees no conflict between the two. Western practicality does separate them and, to make up for the possible loss of personal fulfillment by its emphasis on work, sees rest time as the corrective. In the East it was reflection on life that brought rest. Work and rest were both seen as opportunities to learn. He lists a number of pursuits that the sages considered restful: study, writing, reciting poetry, loving leisure, cultivating silence, playing games, looking at flowers,  fishing,  drinking,  looking at the moon, enjoying the breeze, planting in the garden--all encouraged learning when done with a restful spirit.

In our society, it often happens that because of our constant efforts to satisfy our many desires, we find that having more leisure time actually results in having less internal composure and true rest. We are so busy with external things, we find we do not have enough time to do them.  The professor reminds us that the reason we are tired is the  the loss of meaning of many of our pursuits, and a resulting inner sterility.  Our true meaning, he says, is found in the teachings of Christ: to know who we are by finding God in ourselves, and resting in God. Looking into our hearts and reflecting on who we are recharges us for the road of delight that we have been called to travel.

Sundays, he says, are for  Christians a sign of what true leisure should be.It is then that we can best recall to mind, when we are tired and lack vitality, the reason for life and how I'm living this gift. We recharge ourselves by looking into ourselves and preparing for another week of living with the sacred.

Flexibility in Love, Gift to the Other

The columnist covering spirituality for the Catholic Times introduces us to a pair of lovers who had been dating for about a year. Because they believed there was a growing lack of concern for the other, they were contemplating giving up on the relationship, so they came to him for counseling. He asked them to express their feelings on the situation.

The girl spoke first. "He doesn't express himself. When I phone him he often--and I think deliberately--doesn't accept my call. When I send him a text message he doesn't always reply. I get angry and he acts if nothing is amiss. I ask him to explain himself and he acts as if there is nothing to explain, and then I get angrier. His words just make it clear to me that he feels I'm a nobody. I  want to make him happy and believe he will change, but nothing changes."

Looking at his girlfriend the boy, with a sigh, says, " When I'm busy, isn't it understandable that I can't answer the telephone, but this causes big trouble.  When I don't respond to her text messages she sulks the whole day; she questions and cross examines. What is important is that I love her. God and the  whole world knows this. She is the only one that doesn't know it or doesn't believe it. This means we have to stop seeing each other, doesn't it?"

Here the columnist mentions the importance of seeing that each has a different value system when it comes to social interactions. The boy tends to distinguish matters using value judgments of right and wrong, public and private; the girl tends to judge matters using the categories of good and bad, love and sympathy.

By showing them the different ways they tend to see life, the columnist succeeded in improving the relationship. And they continue working to understand each other's way of seeing life.

Because each of us is living with our own particular value system, it is not surprising, he says, that our values are sometimes at odds with those of someone we love. Changing one's values is never easily done but for the love of the other we often are moved to make some adjustments, putting aside one's own values, while trying to understand the values of others. Ultimately, the flexibility of love brings about a change in one's own value system, at least to the extent of being more accepting of the values of others. Trusting in our love for the other, this flexibility in values becomes a gift to the other.

We Are Our Brother's Keeper

Writing for the Catholic Magazine, a Religious Sister, who heads the desk for the prevention of suicides at the headquarters of the One Heart One Body Movement, reflects on the progress and needs of the movement.  We continue to hear about suicides, she says, but there is little that is being done. She admits that she feels helpless about the situation, which is part of the reason we are, she contends, not only leading in the number of suicides among the developed countries, but Korea is also number one in the increase of suicides.

Every 37 minutes a young person commits suicide. She laments that few are  concerned, after an initial response of "It's sad." There is no desire to understand or appreciate the seriousness and sadness of the situation. The Sister feels that without this basic empathy for those that are taking their lives, we will not see much  change. She wants us to realize that we are dealing not only with the death of the individual but with the person who discovers the suicide, the family, friends, the school teachers-- in all there is likely to be at least six persons who are mentally and emotionally affected by the death. The  potential for epidemic results occurring is also present.  It is not only an individual problem but a societal one. And we shouldn't forget that those who attempt suicide are 10 to 20 times the number that succeeds in taking their life.

Mass media coverage of suicides is also a problem. Little discretion is shown in the reporting, as if the reasons for the suicide were warranted. The news reports sound as if suicide is a natural consequence of  what the person was facing and gives the impression that suicide was one way of solving the problem. There are many who have the same and more pressing problems but have no thoughts about suicide.

There are many steps  before a person takes their life, the Sister says. It is not just a one-step process. Catholics see suicide as a sin but also know that it is in most cases the result of mental stress the person can't overcome. So there is no longer any difficulty in having a funeral Mass for the deceased.

The One Heart One Body Movement is trying to educate the many different groups in the Church to become more aware of persons who are in need of help. Korea has started the Gatekeeper Movement to sensitize citizens to those who are under mental stress and might be contemplating suicide. The Sister hopes that more Catholic parish groups  will take advantage of the programs and use them as a leaven to expand the work throughout the country. Sister reminds us we are our brother's keeper, and with the appropriate knowledge, we will be able to hear the silent screams.

Having the Heart of the Novice

The Desk Columnist of the Catholic Times remembers a retired reporter of the paper who still remains interested in the progress of the paper and communicates this interest to the writer of the column. Seeing that even in retirement the reporter keeps a keen interest in the paper and expresses this in his comments and encouragement, the columnist felt that the best way to describe the former reporter is to call him "young in heart." 

The writer reflects on the meaning of this expression in Korean, and believes it can be summed up calling it "the heart of the beginner," what some would mean by the word 'novice.' The zeal that the novice has is quick to disappear with successes.  The journalist remembers when  writing his first  articles for the paper, he would spend much time and anguish in selecting the words and rewriting repeatedly  so the readers would find it easy to approach his writing.

He recalls the words he wrote in his  pocket notebook: Be humble. Do everything to the best of your ability. Meet the news sources with a bright face. Remember that as a reporter and as a person of faith you are doing God's work. Never lose the  feelings you had when starting out. 

These were the words that were handed down to the writer from those who preceded him, and  he considered important enough to write in his notebook. When a difficult problem comes up, he remembers to go back to the "heart of the beginner." At that time his heart beat faster, he was excited, and he had expectations and motivations he would like to experience again.

The word 'beginning,' he says, always brought him feelings of delight. However, we slowly get lazy and, settling into a routine, blame ourselves for allowing it to happen. The beginning heart is always young, as when entering a new job or when getting married and expecting great things--negatives are never contemplated.

If we want to be a magnanimous person we should, he says, have three hearts: the beginner's heart, the zealous heart, and the supporting  heart. Once we have the beginner's heart the other two will follow; we will become zealous and others will help and encourage us.  If we let familiarity overcome our beginner's heart, however, we will, he says, have the greedy heart, the worrying heart and the doubting heart.