International Year of Co-operatives

The UN has declared 2012 the International Year of Co-operatives, in recognition of what the co-operative movement has accomplished in social-economic development in many parts of the world. Two installments of The Peace Weekly have been devoted to discussing the place of the co-operative movement in Catholic thinking and action.

Cooperatives--people joining together voluntarily to meet some common need--are jointly owned and democratically controlled. A Maryknoll Sister established, in 1960, the first Credit Union in Pusan, which did much to  spread the co-operative way in Korean society.

There are many examples of people working together in cooperatives to fill the needs of their members. We have had successes and failures but the determination within the Church to foster this movement continues to be strong. Examples of these co-operatives in parishes were listed in the article, which also disclosed that the necessary know-how and governmental help were not always present. However, the government has indicated that new legislation will offer co-operatives tax breaks and other financial help, which should see a  blossoming of the movement in Korea.

There are over 1 billion people involved in co-operatives in the world. In the compendium of the Church's Social Doctrine it is written: "All those involved in a business venture must be mindful that the community they work in represents a good for everyone and not a structure that permits the satisfaction of someone's merely personal interests. This awareness alone makes it possible to build an economy truly at the service of mankind and to create programs of real cooperation among the different partners in labor.

"A very important and significant example, in this regard, is found in the activity of so-called cooperative enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses, commercial undertakings featuring hand-made products and family-sized agricultural ventures. The Church's social doctrine has emphasized the contribution that such activities make to enhance the value of work, the growth of a sense of personal and social responsibility, a democratic life, and the human values that are important for the progress of the market and of society" (#339).

We are told in the article of the very successful Mondragón Co-operative that was founded by a young priest, José María Arizmendiarrieta, who arrived in the town of Mondragon, Spain, in 1941 to find that civil war had left the Basque region desolated. Today, the Mondragón Co-operative Corporation is the largest business corporation in the Basque region and the seventh largest in Spain, considering both sales and workforce. The young priest had the foresight to start by educating the first members of the co-operative to an awareness of the great benefits that could be achieved when everyone was intent on pursuing the same goals. This emphasis on education has proven to be the primary reason for the success of the movement.

Preparing for the Lunar New Year

Now that we are coming closer to the Lunar New Year, we are seeing more articles reminding us to clean our minds  and hearts of the debris that has accumulated since the last Lunar New Year. 

Writing in the Pastoral Bulletin a priest tells us a familiar story. A woman who had everything: good family, a comfortable living, and many friends, couldn't shake off a feeling of uneasiness. After counseling she realized she was not able to forgive her father for something in the past, but with knowledge and much effort there came the day when she did forgive and found the peace that had escaped her. 

When we hate, the priest reminds us, the arrow that we mean to use against another finds its way to pierce ourselves, as well. Korea has suffered much from influences both outside and inside the country, and that has left Koreans with feelings of  sorrow and regret, which they express with the word 'han'.

He recounts the story of a young man who lived during the  movement for democracy in Korea. He was imprisoned and tortured to get him to confess to being a communist. He hated with a passion those who were torturing him, but during that time, reading many books and reflecting much, he came to realize that those who were inflicting the pain also were being destroyed. They were being used by the immoral dictatorial rulers of the country to insure their own control of the country. With these thoughts, he was able forgive those who were torturing him.  

The  names of our enemies are carved in stone, it is said. The graces we receive are written in water. We are living with emotional scars and bitter feelings;  without being healed we will do harm to others and to ourselves.

With the new year coming the writer wants us to get rid of these negative feelings, to sublimate them. The meaning of han is a mystery to foreigners, because they have not been the recipients of the bullying Korea has experienced in her history. Following is part of the article on han that the bishop emeritus of Jeju-do wrote in 1986. Those interested can go to the following link for more information on something unique to Korean culture. http://www.marys-touch.com/truth/han.htm 

"What is this thing called han, which seems to be peculiar to Korea? No foreign word [or any one word] can adequately translate it, for it includes such different nuances as are conveyed by the words rancor, grudge, hatred, lamentation, regret, grief, pathos, self-pity, fate, mortification, etc. Han's exact meaning can only be grasped experientially.              

"Korean culture is the culture of han. Han flows in the blood of Koreans and manifests itself in Korean customs, literature, art, and in the melodies and folk music which hark back to home and youth, in the plaintive songs of the farmers, and in the cynicism, sarcasm and humor of the mask dances which make fun of the nobility. It is present in the tears of reunion or of separation, and we find it especially in the sobbing and wailing at a funeral...."

                                                                                          

More than Teaching for the Head

Rarely does a pastor in Korea stay over six years in a parish, and the assistant, if the parish is large, usually remains  for only a  year or two. Consequently,  parishioners get to see many different priests because of the frequent turn over. A priest writing in the pastoral  bulletin tells us  about a priest with a doctorate in spirituality who was assigned as pastor of a parish that awaited him with great expectations.

However, though the hopes of the parishioners for the new pastor were high, it was not long before disappointment set in.  The sermons were lullabies that put the people to sleep, little could be used in their daily life. Instead, they heard about difficult theological points and abstract generalities that were hard to follow. Even his life appeared to be no different than that of his predecessors. He had human faults like everybody else, his studies seemingly having had little influence on his life. Spirituality was studied like any other subject matter; it was all in the head with little effect on how he lived. 

This is also true of the theology taught in the seminary. Instead of learning how to make theology practical and opening up parishioners to a fuller faith life, seminarians are more often exposed, the priest says, to a theology and catechetics that is detached from life. Many see this as the reason for little change in Christ-like living.  More than teaching for the head, we need those who are witnessing to the Christian life. These days we are hearing a lot about the need for a mentor and mentee relationship as something that should become part of our catechetical programs.

Teaching or coaching is a one-on-many relationship, while mentoring is one-on-one. In the field of art, we have usually had individual relationships between the artist and  the student artist. In medicine, there are interns and residents. And craft artists in many parts of the world still have the master-apprentice relationship, recognizing the importance of the learning environment by living in close touch with those who have succeeded in achieving prominence in their field of study. More than today, this was the way the wise of the past passed along their skills to their students. 

It is seldom that we find this approach being used in the Church. In the education of seminarians, in place of exposing the new priest to the pastoral life he will be living, examples are taken from foreign studies and from the pastoral work overseas. It is rare to have the handing down of experiential knowledge from pastor to assistant. The writer would like to see a closer relationship between priests to encourage the passing on of knowledge gained from experience.  We  forget that most of our teaching comes from theoretical knowledge, from books we have studied or lectures we have attended. But the knowledge that sticks is the kind we can directly experience. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Multiculturalisim in Korea

One of the popular movies now running in Seoul is Wandeugi, English title Punch. The desk column of the Catholic Times discusses the plot and moral of the movie. It is about the life of a multicultural Korean family. The mother, a Filipina married to a Korean who is hunchbacked, deserted the family after Wandeugi, the name of the boy, was weaned. He didn't learn about his mother's existence until much later in life. His homeroom teacher, whom he disliked intensely, was a neighbor who was always interfering in his life. This all changed when he learned that the teacher was helping migrant workers and brought about the warm reunion with his mother.

The number of foreigners in Korea is now over 1 million 200 thousand.  Of this number, we have 250,000 families, with 150,000 school-age children. The movie helps us to see these families with a new perspective.  Not only seeing them with a more sympathetic eye but as members of the same Korean society.

Because of the large number of foreigners, all are familiar with the hardships they face. 1.7 percent of the population are non-Korean. This is much less than other countries but something quite different from the old hermit kingdom understanding of Korea. The columnist asks the readers how far have we come to truly understanding the plight of the multicultural families within the Korean culture?

Last year the government's human rights committee had a questionnaire for 186 multicultural students, ages 8 to 26, in 22 schools and 16 organizations, and found that the majority did  suffer violence and discrimination.

The reason? Their pronunciation was strange, they came from a poor country, their skin color was different, and as a consequence they were looked down upon and were even  told to leave the country. 27 percent indicated that they wanted to quit school because of the prejudice.  In about 7 to 8 years one out of four will be a multicultural in the country-side. Growing up with serious  scars that have not been healed will not make it easy to adapt and live harmoniously with their neighbors.  Those who have studied the problem see this as a serious future problem unless solved.

She quotes a priest who mentions the traditional kindness shown in our society. This same kindness, she says, must be shown to the multicultural families who live  with us. She mentions an example in a religious school where the multicultural girls were asked to prepare food according to their own cultural ways. A good example of what can be done in the school.

We as Christians should be a  good example of how to treat those from cultural backgrounds different than our own. We know what our Lord said about being a stranger and being warmly welcomed.

Learning From History

What can be learned from history? This was the theme of an article in the  recent Kyeongyang Magazine, written by a bishop with  a doctorate in  Church history. He recounts how he got interested in history while in the seminary, writing his thesis on the Protestant Reformation. He wanted to know  the reason for the reformation. This perked his interest in learning more about Catholicism and Protestantism.
 
Church history reveals a number of sad events, such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, and Galileo. The bishop  wanted to find out the reasons the Church took a path that was different from the will of God. He wanted to find answers to his many questions.

The questions were not easily answered. However, doing his studies in Rome, he began gradually to see things differently.  When you see the big historical picture, a larger understanding comes.

During his studies, he heard that a person without faith could not be open enough to study Church history. Church history is not just one part of world history or a study only of what humanity has done, but it allows a  place for  God's providence. History is a conversation with the past. From our present vantage point, we look into the past. However, doing so there are many things that have to be noted. We cannot  take our moral yardstick of today and condemn the past. One has to return to the cultural conditions of the past to correctly understand those times. Reflecting on the past from this vantage point and acknowledging our mistakes candidly will give us a  new horizon and hope for the future.

Pope John Paul II, the bishop reminds us, apologized in the name of the Church for the violence, persecution and mistakes of the past 2000 years at the beginning of the 3rd millennium. The Church has learned a great deal from history. In response many nations followed suit; especially of interest is the response of the Japanese Catholic Church in the  book What We Have Learned From History. The Japanese Church apologized to their Asian brothers and sisters for the crimes of Japan, but only a few in Japan are familiar with this  effort, which the bishop laments.

The article mentions that the aid to Japan from Korea after the recent earthquake was a sign of Korea's forgiveness for the crimes she suffered for many years at the hands of the Japanese.  

The bishop also mentions our own Catholic history and the incident of the only priest in Korea back in 1801. When three young men tried to save the Chinese priest by having one of them impersonate him, refusing to reveal his whereabouts, and moving him to different locations, they were killed. Learning about the killing the priest gave himself up to the authorities to stop the killing. 

These and many other historical incidents teach us a great deal and make  history  a valuable  textbook for learning what may lie ahead for us.            

Stopping Bullying Among Children

Recently there have been a spate of stories of children being bullied and sometimes taking their lives to escape from the abuse. What are we to make of this?  Remedies have been a topic of much discussion. The journalist writing on the subject in the  Catholic Times worries about his own school children.

Why have we not been able to put a stop to this? he asks. The specialists have introduced all kinds of solutions. With the emphasis we have put on achieving academic excellence, we have forgotten the importance of educating for character, for the whole  person. Our sudden progress in industrialization, finances, and knowledge has put the practice of virtue on a secondary level. Getting rich quick, pleasure-seeking, commercialization of sex, depiction of gratuitous violence in movies and in the news media, and a money-buys-all approach to life can't help but be a potent influence on our young.

And it will be our young who will be running the next generation. Our greatest help to them will be to understand them, determine what are their concerns and desires, their present internal conflicts, and to help them come to a proper appreciation of who they are.The columnist reminds us that the mass media is always talking about mutual understanding, dialogue; the magic wand that will cure all the problems. In most cases, working parents don't have the time to spend with their children, talking with them, trying to understand what is bothering them, just being with them. This is the reason for many of the problems destroying family life.

As part of the solution, the Church's effort to make parish life attractive to the young is on-going, making it a place where they are able to rid themselves of some of their stress and to recharge themselves for their life in society. Efforts made for  'one time big events' are no longer going to appeal to the young; they want and need to be listened to concerning the small but important to them daily events in their lives. 

Parents should not only teach about the faith life but be an example of this faith life in the home. The home needs to be a place where everyone will feel the warmth and intimacy of a shared life. Now is the time, he believes, for the older generation to begin solving the problems of the young by making their problems our problems. 





           

We The People

A columnist on the opinion page of the Catholic Times, who is also a professor and president of the teachers' pro-life movement of Korea, takes a look at some of the problems of our society, problems that he sees coming as we move from an underdeveloped country to take our place among the more developed countries of the world.  What should be our understanding of the so-called conservative and progressive viewpoints now dividing many societies of the developed world?  

Many have worked extremely hard for what they have achieved; it doesn't make much sense to have those who  have not made that effort to  ask those who have for help.This was seen recently in the election for mayor, where the central issue was whether free lunches should be provided for students. The columnist acknowledges that this was not only a welfare issue but was also intertwined with politics. The vote went in favor of the free lunches.

He reminds us that society has helped the wealthy to achieve their wealth. He also mentions that efforts were made in the recent election to distort information given to the public. There have been many efforts in the past, he said, when not all pertinent information on important issues has been divulged to the public. In a democracy, this should not be the case. Whether one is conservative or progressive, citizens have the right to have adequate information available to conscientiously elect those who will be running the country. 

To return to the question, why is it that the rich should give more of what they have to help the poor? Those who have received more, some would say, should give more because that is the uniquely generative power of a democracy.  Which can also be seen as a failure of democratic governments to provide full equality to its citizens. We have all seen from the history of the East and the West that those with wealth have often monopolized access to a country's material resources and have also become politically dominant to assure passage of laws that are predominantly self-serving.  

To act in a human way, our columnist reminds us, is to treat everybody the same no matter their background or their capabilities. Both those who give and those who receive should feel they are part of the same human family.  All agree the law of the jungle has no part of a civilized society. It would be a step in the right direction when all those who have also see the need to give, but the government also has the duty to see that all  achieve enough to live in a developed country.

The people, he muses, will soon have the privilege to act as 'king-makers' once again, as they gather this coming year to elect the 'king and his retainers.' It is important, the columnist says,  that the citizens in a democracy understand their role as kings.