September 20--Korean Feast of the Martyrs

Today,in Korea  we celebrate the Feast of Sts. Andrew Kim, Paul Chong and Companions.  

Martyrdom is witnessing  to your belief and confessing your faith. This witnessing has at its center love. There are those who have made the words of Jesus "to love your neighbor," even when he is an enemy, the essence of their lives.  A professor writing in the  Inchon Bulletin informs us that a martyr is not only one who gives his life for what he believes but does it out of love.
 
Writing the history of the martyrs, he says, usually involves concentrating on their death and overlooking the love that inspired their actions. When thinking of the martyrs we are reminded of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Martyrdom is a decision to follow the example of Love itself, Jesus. We find this exemplified many times in the history of the martyrs and he gives us one example from Taegu in 1815.

During a persecution in Taegu, one of the Christians, expecting a reward, reported the place where the Christians would be meeting for prayer on Easter, and led the police to the location. A number of those arrested denied their faith and were released, but not a few were to die for their faith.

The informer was later picked up by the police for some criminal act and was put in the same prison as the Christians. What he did was so despicable that the inspector in command told the guards to let him starve. The Christians arranged to cut back on what they were eating to enable the informer to eat. After some  time, the jailors drove the informer out of the prison without clothes, and the Christians again helped, gathering enough clothes to cover his nakedness.

In writing about the incident at the time, it was said that the Christians showed unbelievers what true love meant by the way they treated their enemies. Their act of love for the one who put them in prison helped them to have the strength to go ahead and give their lives for what they believed, when it would have been so easy to say they decided to stop being a Christian. The practice of love nurtured their faith life.

A Christan without love, writes the professor, using the words of St. Paul, "...is a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal." When we only see the suffering of the martyrs and forget the love that accompanies it, we do the martyrs a great injustice. This is what is meant by the spirituality of martyrdom.  During the month of September, the month of the martyrs according to our Korean liturgical year, our Catholics have the opportunity to reflect on what the spirituality of the  martyrs has to teach them.

Happy Chuseok

 

Today is Chuseok, the Autumn Moon Festival, which is somewhat similar to our Thanksgiving day. It is a celebration of the new harvest and a remembrance of ancestors and family members who have died. However, it's not uncommon that family problems will arise during the celebrations. A front page article in the Peace Weekly on the festival mentions a divorce that was occasioned by the festival.

The husband, a Buddhist who was following the traditional Confucian rites for ancestors during the Festival, would end up fighting with his wife. The wife, a Protestant, when asked by her husband to visit the family home on a Sunday in observance of the festival, would refuse because of her own observance on that day. And on a weekday, she would not participate in the rites even though the husband told her she did not need to observe the traditional bowing. This finally came to a head, and they decided to divorce. 

Because of the importance of these rites in the lives of most Koreans, the Catholic Church faced many difficulties. In the beginning all Christians followed the rites, but still having doubts about whether they should, some Christians on a trip to Beijing asked Bishop Gouvea what was the proper thing to do. They were told the Confucian rites were forbidden, which set in motion many problems for the Church, and confused many Christians. When Paul Yun Ji-chung and James Kwon Sang-yeon, two of the early Christians, burned the ancestral tablet and performed the Catholic rites instead of the Confucian rites when the mother of Paul Yun died, they were arrested and killed by decapitation, becoming in 1791 the first two martyrs of the Korean Church.

In 1939, the Vatican re-assessed the issue, and Pope Pius XII authorized Catholics to observe the ancestral rites. Later, the general principle of admitting native ceremonies into the liturgy of the Church, whenever possible, was reinforced.  The rites were seen not as idol worship but as a cultural tradition, and therefore not against Catholic teaching.

The Second Vatican Council's document on the Liturgy states that the Church respects the gifts of the various races: "Anything  in their way of life that is not indissolubly bound up with superstition and error, she studies with sympathy and, if possible, preserves intact. Sometimes, in fact, accepting such things in the liturgy itself, as long as they harmonize with its true and authentic spirit"(Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy #37). With this as background, the Catholic Church of Korea recommended that these rites of filial piety and cherishing the memory of the dead be incorporated into liturgical practices.

Since Korea has many religions with diverse religious practices, it's necessary that this be appreciated, acknowledged and respected. A priest member of the Bishops Committee on Relationship with Other Religions mentions that we have to respect the beliefs of others and not force one to do something they don't want to do, like bowing. The ancestral rites should be a way  of expressing love for the family and of strengthening the family bond. Catholic  members should be mediators to overcome some of the problems that may remain because of the different understandings concerning the rites.

 

Education: Specific or General?

During this time of  year, students will be preparing for their college entrance exams: a very trying time not only for students but also for parents. A professor writing in the Peace Weekly notes that many students being interviewed for the exams are unable to answer the easiest of the questions. Their faces turn red and they cry, he says, which prompts him to ask a question he cannot refrain from asking: What is the reason for education?

The big difference between high school and college, he believes, is the student's decision to pick a major in college. The hope is that picking a good major and going deeply into it will enable one to find work and to succeed in one's chosen field. There would be few students who, on graduating, would not be thinking about what they will be doing with their major. There is a connection, most students believe, between picking a major that immediately prepares them for their future work--a connection that would be missing if they were to take any of the humanities, making them unable to compete in the marketplace with the better prepared students.  What is the realty? the professor asks.

He uses the example of the United States: Those who graduate with degrees from the humanities find work in many areas of life. Those who are in the field of education say the study of the humanities--though not immediately helpful in the marketplace--in the long run is a better choice in college. The days of staying on the job for a lifetime, he says, is over. A person who started off in his major and remains in that work for more than 10 years is not the norm. Persons change, work changes, just as the rivers and mountains change.

The business magazine Forbes reported last year that more than 60 percent of college graduates find work in a field outside their major. Which is the reason many are saying it is better to have a general and transferable education in preparation for both work and life.

During the Victorian days in England Cardinal Henry Newman was asked to start a university in Ireland, prompting him to write the book "The Idea of a University," from which the professor quotes the following: "A university  should be teaching a variety of subjects. Students can major in a small number of subjects but should immerse themselves in the traditions of the university and to  understand the whole outline of the system of knowledge, the underlying principles of knowledge, the breath of each course of study, their shadow and their light, the good and the bad points. General education is to cultivate the philosophic inclinations of the mind towards personal liberty, balance, serenity, the golden mean, and wisdom."

The professor ends by mentioning that about the same time as Newman, Wilhelm Von Humboldt in Germany took the initiative in starting a research university, whose ideas spread throughout the world. Now in the 21st century, the ideas of Newman are being rediscovered  and interest in the humanities is returning to the world of education, aided, it is believed, by the rapid changes in the world. The movement away from the modern specialization of education to a more general liberal arts education is, the professor says, a necessary step back into the past, where, as Newman believed, learning was valued for its own sake.  The professor would like to tell parents of high school students who are preparing for college in the humanities not to worry, for it is the most modern of the majors and the one that will give them the best opportunity for a fulfilling life. 

The Movement for a Better World (MBW)

The community aspects of Church, often overlooked, such as relationships, our neighbors, working for the common good and building communities of people of God, aspiring for communal holiness is the mission of "The Movement for a Better World (MBW). The Movement had its start in Rome in response to an appeal by Pius XII to the worldwide Church and gathered momentum from the preaching of Fr. Ricardo Lombardi S.J. It was given official approval by the Church in 1952. Fourteen years later Fr. Lombardi was invited to Korea to begin preparations for our own Movement, and in 1968 a team was formed, and by 1973 there were nine dioceses ready to begin the MBW.

The movement has many different courses of study on change, dialogue, secularization, the Church as the people of God and the world, and the new image of the parish.  There are also programs for renewal.

The Taegu diocese, in its recent bulletin, described the Movement and its success in producing many leaders. Taegu, on average, has about 10 programs each year. They can be evening programs lasting four evenings, or full-day programs lasting two nights and three days. They are intended for everyone--priests, religious and lay people--making the programs another sign of the communal aspects of Church. 

The programs seek to instill the thinking from the Second Vatican Council, that Church is a community of association and sharing, and introducing this thinking into the life of the parishes and dioceses. In this time of the new evangelization, renewing the faith life of the participants is an important aspect of parish life.

Over recent years there was sadness in seeing that in certain dioceses, the programs seemed to have disappeared and little was heard of the Movement.   Few articles have been written on the movement. The other movements within the Church are well-known and receive a great deal of publicity.  BWM makes a point of not calling attention to itself and wants to keep out of the press, which no doubt is the reason behind the absence of news about the movement.  In  the Taegu diocese, however, according to the bulletin, it continues strong and active.
 
 

A New Way to Live

Simplicity is a word that usually has positive overtones, especially in our hectic society where many have the desire to leave behind the hustle, artificiality and competition and return to a more natural lifestyle. We see this tendency in the return to the farms and occasional trips to the countryside by city dwellers. Many think the talk about simplicity is  excessive, that the desire to distance ourselves from a modern technological society is unintelligible, and yet the voices of those who speak about this need is growing, and not without reason, says a columnist on the opinion page of the  Catholic Times.
 
He reflects on John 1-4:  "Whatever came to be in him found life, life for the light of men," after reading a sign at a construction site: "We are sorry for the inconvenience but everything will be returned shortly to as it was." The last words "as it was" kept spinning around in his head. Yes, material things can be replaced, he says, but not the life that has been destroyed.

In Genesis 1:28, we read: "Have dominion over...all living things that move on the earth." These words are meant for us to take care of life and not to destroy it. Pope Benedict, in his peace message of 2010, used as the theme of the message: "If You  Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation." However, the columnist believes we are not sufficiently sensitive to the natural world  to see the value of all life. In our headlong pursuit of economic development we very easily destroy life, forgetting what the geoscientists tell us. When the butterflies and bees disappear from the earth, humanity also will cease to exist.

If this is true of the small forms of life, how much more will this be true of human life? he asks. At present, the biggest cause of death of those under forty is suicide. Korea is a country that is driving its citizens to kill themselves, he says, as it inadvertently creates a culture of death. One reason for this situation is the extraordinary educational demands of the country and the economic structures that have been built. How many more have to die before something is done? he asks. Have we become a world that worships money?

He remembers reading the words of an American Indian that made a big impression  on him. "When the last tree dies, the last river polluted, the last fish caught; we will know we can't live by eating money."
 
What are we to do? he asks at the conclusion of the column. Change the way we live, he answers. Be content with less and with a little more discomfort. We have to cut back on our eating, our clothing and the homes we build. We have to learn that with less we can have more satisfaction and live happier lives. During this month dedicated to the martyrs would be a good time, he says, to take the first steps in this new way of living.

Pope Francis and War

Pope Francis has asked all of us to pray and fast for peace in Syria. In the Catholic Times, both the desk columnist and the editorial reflect on the words of the Pope and their practical application to all of us. Even the Great Mufti invited all Syrian Muslims to pray for peace in mosques in Damascus and across Syria, in communion with the Pope. The Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, joined with Pope Francis in praying for peace in Syria.

The pope said, very pointedly, the columnist reports, that there is doubt about the motives of the United States for wanting to attack Syria. Is it for humanitarian reasons or is it to sell more weapons of war? These words of the pope, the spiritual father of Catholics throughout the world, could not have been easy to say, according to the columnist.

The popes in recent history have been spokespersons for peace in the world, coming out strongly against all forms of violence. Much of what is going on in the world is not for the good of humanity as a whole, but rather the consequences of an extreme hardhearted and unfeeling self-interest, he says.

In the past, the Church  supported the just-war understanding, and has promoted this thinking and  participated in what was considered just-wars, the crusades being one example of this thinking. One of the symbols of this thinking remains in the Vatican Swiss Guards. Pope Julius II, during the Renaissance, led his Catholic troops into combat dressed in full armor. However, in the 20th century, most everyone would agree that the preferred method for solving problems is by dialogue and negotiations.  Benedict 15th worked to end the first world war and Pius 12th the second world war.

Reasons for the change, says the columnist, are the development of weapons of mass destruction, and the number of innocent people injured and killed--collateral damage, as it's euphemistically called-- in modern warfare. War no longer can be seen as an option under any circumstances, the columnist says, but as an absolute evil.

The editorial states categorically that the use of chemical weapons has to be prevented but this has to be done following international law and not unilaterally by a strong country with their use of force. Fortunately, there now seems to be a way out with the proposal that the stockpile of chemical weapons be turned over to supervision by the UN, and ultimately destroyed.

The  whole issue is surrounded with a great deal of ambiguity, and the US threat to use force has not disappeared. The editorial says that as long as the motive of selling arms continues, the end is not yet in sight. The pope has clearly stated that the Catholic Church is against the use of military arms, and that everyone should be against all wars and supporters of peace.

Pyongyang Vicariate

 

Maryknoll's work in Korea started in 1923 in the Vicariate of Pyongyang, given to Maryknoll by the French Foreign Missionary Society. The above picture and article appeared in the Peace Weekly this past week; it is the penciled drawing of an old photograph taken in front of the Tai Shin Li Church in Pyongyang. This was the second parish built in the Vicariate after the Maryknoll Society began working in North Korea.  Under the Japanese occupation, they had to change the name of the church to follow administrative regulations. After liberation, it was changed back to the original name, but soon after the work of the Society come to an end with the Communist takeover of the North. .

The first Korean priest of the Vicariate, Fr. Ryang Ki-sep, was assigned to Pyongyang and built the church that we see above. According to the "Korean Mission History of the South," by Fr. Robert M. Lilly M.M., Fr. Ryang, after leaving the North, assisted in project work for the Seoul archdiocese. He had dual citizenship which facilitated travel for fund raising. Through a grant from Miserior, he built the original Saint Mary's hospital which has since moved across the Han river to the south side of Seoul. He later improved the pilgrimage site where the martyr Hwang Sa-yang wrote the silk letter to the bishop of Peking. Fr. Ryang died in 1982.

The second pastor of the parish was Fr. Patrick Duffy. At the start of the Second World War, the following story about Fr. Pat was told: The American missioners were considered enemy and confined in a large Protestant compound in Pyongyang. Fr. Duffy had two passports, Irish and British, and in order to remain within the group, he first presented the British passport, which made him an enemy alien. After several months of that experience, he got fed up and thought he might do better back in his own place. So he presented his Irish passport which made him a neutral, giving him the right to demand his freedom. Returning to his parish again, he became a prisoner there and not allowed off the compound. He couldn't meet anyone and was in worse shape than before, having to stay under house arrest until the end of the war while his follow Maryknollers were repatriated in 1942 and 43. 

He was assigned back to Korea, after the war, but with the country now separated into two halves, north and south, with the occupation of Soviet, and United States forces, the situation provoked a great deal of suffering for the Korean people. After the silencing of Catholicism in the North, Fr.Pat went to Japan where he spent the other half of his 54 years on the missions.