Pope Francis' visit to Korea?

We are now awaiting the names of the new cardinals that will be announced this year.  The Korean candidate most likely to be selected is Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, the archbishop of Seoul, the birthplace of Catholicism in Korea and home to a great many Catholics. The editorial in the Catholic Times gives our Catholics hope that Pope Francis will be coming to Korea this year.

We remember the two trips to Korea of Pope John Paul, in 1984 and 1989. They were times of great grace and influence on the Church, having meaning for all of us.  The first visit commemorated the 200th anniversary of Catholicism in Korea; the second occurred prior to the International  Eucharistic Congress in Seoul. Both visits did much to make Korean Catholicism known in Korea and throughout the world.  His visits also helped the movement for democratization and furthered the growth of Korean Catholicism, as it grew in maturity, increasingly conscious of its place within the universal Church. 

One example of this larger role of the Korean Church can be seen by the hosting, by the diocese of Daejeon, of the Asia Youth Meeting scheduled for Aug.10-20, 2014. This meeting is for Asian youth, unlike the World Youth Day last year in Brazil, which was open to all. It is the hope that Pope Francis will be making the trip for the Asian Youth Meeting, although the bishops have made it clear this has yet to be confirmed. There is also the possibility of the visit coming in October, for the beatification of Paul Ji-chung and 123 others killed in the Byeongin persecution of 1791.

The pope's visit makes us all more conscious of fraternal love for all of humanity, and is a prod to live more fully the Gospel message of Jesus. The words and actions of the pope help us to reflect on some of the more important issues we face in life,,such as the plight of the poor and the mercy we should show for the alienated in society, and the need to sublimate some of our earthly values.

The visit of the pope is not merely a single visit by some famous personage, the editorial reminds us. The pope is the symbol of the Gospel and the message of faith that is being made known throughout society. It doesn't matter when he comes, says the editorial. His visit should energize all of us, within and outside the Church. Be prepared, the editorial advises, to work for a change in our lives. 

Considering the situation in Korea, with the North and South still not talking to each other, a visit from the pope could be a sign to the two Koreas of the need of fraternal charity. With the help of the pope, we could be seeing some visual aids that would help us all to be more conscious of the serious breakdown of goodwill between people and nations. We haven't progressed much since the end of the second world war. Any help along these lines would be welcome news. 

Baptism and the Beginning of Ordinary Time

The desk columnist of the Catholic Times begins her column by mentioning a woman who was persuaded by her best friend to go to a Catholic Church for Mass. She had some familiarity with Christianity, having gone to a Protestant Church and studied at their mission middle school, but going to Mass with her friend was her first exposure to Catholicism. 

One day she decided to study for baptism, and was given the name Catherine. The way her friend used to make the sign of the cross before she would eat, the columnist found very moving.  But her friend often was bored by the study, though finally passing the exam and was baptized. On the day of her baptism, she was filled with great emotion and cried.  Her godmother's hands and the cold water on that day, she said, all were warm. The Catholic neighbors from her village came with small gifts, which made for a memorable day. She soon became a devout member of the Church, reading many spiritual books and becoming a member of the Legion of Mary. Her whole family gradually were baptized.

However, the columnist tells us that she has become what is called a "tepid Catholic." Though many reasons for the change can be given, the result was she became like a wilted cucumber, from which all the water had disappeared. She would repeat to herself that she should be going to church, but as the word 'tepid' says, she was neither hot nor cold, just lukewarm, when it came to living her faith. And after missing her first Sunday Mass, it became easy to miss others. The other members of her family soon followed her lead. Even before the sprouts of the faith were allowed to grow, they dried up and died.

The columnist, her friend, tells us that because of different work commitments they were not able to see much of each other, though they did keep in touch over the years. Hearing that her friend was not going to Church gave her a heavy heart, and although she didn't consider her own spiritual condition one that allowed her to speak with confidence, she did feel she should have done more to help her friend with her problems in living her faith life. She did send her a book on the sacraments, hoping it would bring back some of the feelings she had at the time of baptism. These stories of Catholics losing their enthusiasm for the life of a disciple and the accompanying mission work they once considered important are all too common.

This Sunday, marking the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Ordinary Time of the liturgical year, is the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, the beginning of Jesus' public life and mission. At our baptism, we also become sons and daughters of God and are given the same mission that Jesus was given. We too can repeat the words of the prophet Isaiah that Jesus spoke at his first sermon in Nazareth (Luke 4:19), for they also refer to our own mission: To make known "a year of favor from the Lord."

Searching for Harmony

 

In the spread of communication technology, Korea is at the cutting edge, being a leader in the use of smart phones and high speed wireless internet use. It is, however, in a list of developed countries, close to the bottom in communication skills between individuals.  Writing in the Kyeongyang magazine, a college professor, in the field of communication and mass media, discusses this latest revelation concerning how poorly many of us communicate, and the role of trust in achieving better communication skills.

One of the biggest research institutes has reported that Korea ranks as one of the lowest in the trust needed for good communication. Though a leader in the world with equipment for communication, Korea, ironically, is at the bottom when it comes to having the necessary skills to communicate with others. If we want to remedy the situation, the professor says we must find the reason for our lack of communication skills, and how trust is involved in any successful communication.

He recounts what an older academic said at a  meeting of scholars: With a lack of trust, there will be less foresight, a high probability of uncertainty, increasing  anxiety and insecurity. In the end, this will lead to a lack of judgement and communication, which will lead to pushing one's ideas blindly. This is the current situation in the South in relating to the North,  according to the professor.

We all remember vividly the past: the war, the killed and injured, the abuse and condemnations--all factors continuing to build distrust. We have seen better times in our relationship with the North, but at present we have returned to the beginning of the relationship. Not only is there a breakdown of communication with the North but this situation also affects, he says, the relationships we have with one another, in the government and its opposition, in management and labor; also affecting class divisions within society, the intensification of local prejudices, and the widening of the generation gap-- all resulting from the collapse of effective communication.

In 2012 we began to see a desire for better communication, and the topic was being discussed more often, but at present, we have experienced only failure--from the top down, the professor says. Calling the opposition party, for instance, followers of the North is no help in building trust. He refers to advice from Confucius: A leader needs to gain the trust of the people before exercising power;  without this trust the populace will think they are being tormented; when those governing are not in the right, even when they shout their commands, they will not  be followed. 
 
The article ends with suggestions to improve communication skills.  He lists three factors cited by Aristotle: ethos--the virtue and character of the one speaking; pathos--understanding the situation and the emotional state of those listening; logos-- the words and the way we convey our message. This advice, the professor says, is true for all of us but especially for those in positions of leadership. 
 
Jurgen Habermas, in his The Theory of Communicative Action, also presents what he considers necessary for rational communication by citing three factors: the subjective, the objective and the social areas of life. In all three areas, he stresses the importance of being completely honest. When the mass media, for instance, is not reporting what people need to know, they are not being honest, they are not following the ethical principles of their profession. When they have their eyes set on the power of government, the owners of big business, and potential advertisers, communication with their readers becomes impossible, and a total breakdown of communication usually results.

In Korea, he believes it has come to a point where our communication is limited to small intimate groups, leading to divisions within all sectors of society. Though the means of communication have increased, the ability to communicate has decreased. Removing this chasm requires building trust and developing harmony between those who are in contending positions. This can be achieved if everyone involved makes a sincere effort to understand the other and work for harmony in society, each sharing their desire to reach a mutually agreeable conclusion.

Efficiency or Effectiveness

The speed of societal change and the competition for the material goods of society are bringing us closer to losing, unknowingly, the real benefits of communal living and distancing ourselves from our connection with Jesus and his body, the Church. In a recent issue of the Catholic Times, in its weekly column on faith and finances, the bishop reflects on the word 'efficiency,' particularly on how the word accurately portrays the current dominant value of our society. Before God, it is not a value we should add to those we have received as members of his kingdom.

In our daily lives we are likely to see the word used as an iconic badge of successful marketing: "super efficiency, energy efficiency...thermal efficiency...air conditioning efficiency...study efficiency."  The more efficient a product or a person is, the better, according to this current thinking. And this message is promoted with all kinds of splendid posters declaring the benefits of living efficiently. We have become so inundated and accustomed to this culture-speech that we are tempted to believe that low efficiency is bad, and possibly even evil.

The seriousness of the problem becomes obvious when we turn to the financial sector of society, with its standard of judging a person's worth by their perceived efficiency to contribute as participating members of society. More so than the ordinary citizen, the handicapped and the elderly--usually described, among others, as the "surplus people"--have borne the financial crunch for some time.

This is the cultural climate that surrounds us today, says the bishop. Young people frequently use the term "surplus people" to define a person who is not contributing anything to society, and thus is considered a useless individual. They also use the term to describe their own predicament. Though as students they prepared themselves with all kinds of special qualifications to contribute to society, many of them have not been able to find work and now spend their days surfing the internet. These graduates are the ones who consider themselves, as an economist named them, members of the "880,000 Won Generation"--workers at the bottom of the pay scale earning about US $650 a month, about what an irregular worker earns.

South Korea’s newest batch of university graduates lives in fear of being trapped at this bottom-level pay scale, and is the reason so many of them have given themselves the name of the "surplus generation." There is a need, says the bishop, to examine the economic situation of society to better understand what is prompting such alienating descriptions being applied to so many of our people. 
 
To be considered a surplus person is obviously, not easy to accept. But even if we put aside those who don't have jobs, those who do the routine drudge work in the manufacturing segment of the workplace are not seen with the dignity they deserve as sons and daughters of God, but seen only as expendable cogs furthering the profits of the company. This may be a legitimate operating principle when profit is the bottom line, but when considering the legitimate rights of the worker for finding satisfaction and fulfillment in life, the business model of efficiency becomes one of the absurdities of our society.

In the past, many persons did not have work that was satisfying and fulfilling, and today we may have even more persons who are considered "surplus humanity." We should know that this is not something that God looks upon favorably. However, our current media deliberately doesn't want to bring the seriousness of the situation to our attention, and many of our citizens choose to ignore the problem. Isn't this division between those who are useful and those who are not, a sure sign, the bishop says, of the culture of death that currently rules in our society? We who are Christians should be ready to respond to this challenge. Without such a response we are likely to continue having a society where the majority of us will soon join the younger generation as "surplus people."

Unemployment a Serious Problem of Society

No longer is it easy to find a job you would like to do for a lifetime, and even finding a job, any job, is increasingly difficult for our Korean young people, causing some students to delay graduation, even though having all the necessary credits for graduation. The arduous task of finding work is thought to be, for them, soul-depleting. 

A professor in the sociology department of a college discusses the plight of students in our society. Writing in the Peace Weekly, he notes that at graduating time, all colleges are on emergency alert. Since the number of students finding work after graduation is one of the considerations used by the education ministry to rank colleges, many colleges are involved in finding work for their students. They help write resumes and college reports, notify students of job offers, and prepare them for interviews. Teachers also get in contact with their acquaintances in the marketplace, requesting jobs for their students. Few are the colleges, the professor says, that are not involved in this.

Why should it be so difficult finding a job? he asks. From 2008-2009 this has been the reality in our society. There simply are fewer jobs available. Jobs for those in their twenties, especially, have decreased and, consequently, both in the city and in the country, competition is severe. Many companies have moved their operation to underdeveloped countries to take advantage of the lower cost of labor. And there is of course the use of automation and computers, which have taken much of the work previously done by humans. Our young people are brighter and more capable than in the past, and even though their grasp of specialized knowledge far exceeds that possessed by students of the past, finding work in today's marketplace is like being sent into battle without a weapon. 
 
The problem concerns not only the young people but also their families. In past times, once the money was given to the children for college, the worries would be over, it was thought, and the son or daughter would find their way in the world; that is no longer the case. Parents now have to worry about their finding a job, and worry every time they put in a written application for work; on the side line, parents worry as much as the young person submitting the application. When this lapse of time between looking for a job and finding one is long, the implementation of retirement plans for the parents in many  homes is put on hold.

Besides the scarcity of available jobs, there are a few other obvious problems, one being the large number of students going on to college. The number is more than the society can  absorb. Too many are seeing life and work with a one-track possibility, with academic studies the only viable option, which narrows the possibilities for the future. Social solidarity and relating with and understanding the different segments of society are missing. Instead, many students are bound by regional interests, age, occupational and societal class relationships, and find it difficult to compromise.

He concludes the article with the words of Pope Francis  to the unemployed:  "Lord give us a place to work. Teach us a way to fight for the work." The professor thinks they could find some consolation in these words, even though this is not the kind of issue that will be solved quickly. If, however, we take upon ourselves the idea of solidarity with all those who are facing the same problem and all the other segments of society, we will have found the beginning to a solution of the problem.

Healing of the Whole Person

A popular movie, Milyang, tells the story of a mother whose son was kidnapped and killed. She decided to go to the prison to forgive the killer, who told her that he had already been forgiven by God, and had finally found peace. The mother, who considered herself the only one who had the right to forgive him for what he had done, was filled with anger and gave up on her religious faith. So overcome by the incident, she lost all the peace she had gained by her religion.

A priest-spiritual director writing in the Kyeongyang magazine introduces the above story to explore the relationship between healing and religion. Religion, in this case, he points out, did not help the mother to forgive. She had deceived herself by what she thought would have been an act of mercy by forgiving him, but it was, instead, her own opiate to escape the reality of her own pain. Religion does provide us with the strength to heal but in our present world it has to compete within a world of delusion and deception. Though 'healing' and 'happiness' are words often heard today, they have become commodities to be bought and sold in the marketplace of ideas. And religion, the priest admits, for one reason or another, in this toxic environment, is not providing the healing many of us expect.
 

The so-called healing treatments are often a combination of humanistic methods, he says, used even by Christians without discerning what is being done. Instead of a gospel-based worldview and Christian values, we are playing recklessly with misunderstood human values.

He believes healing is needed more so today than it was in the past, which is the message of Ulrich Beck, in his book Risk Society.  Our material progress, Beck says, has given us the many successes of our modern society, but has also brought us the problems we now have to face. This is the dilemma, and one we face daily in our lives. When we forget who we are, and do damage to our humanity, we hurt also the communities we belong to. Eventually, the problems of society are going to affect our inner life.

Our constant talk about healing is a sure sign of our need for healing. Why the need for so much healing? the priest asks. We have to look for the reasons and the way to heal. The word 'healing,' says the priest, is used with a superficial and distorted meaning. In this kind of atmosphere, there is no place for the healing provided by religion, which is concerned not merely with a cure for certain aliments but with healing of the whole person. Our humanity is made up not only of the body, but of the mental and spiritual. The time of talking about the healing of different parts of ourselves has come to an end, the priest believes. It is the integrated whole of our being that needs to be healed, just as the word 'salvation' now has to be understood as saving the whole person--body, mind and spirit.

Jesus was the example of this kind of healing. It was healing of the whole person. The person was changed and began a new life. It was not only the healing of disease or relief from pain but the return to the wholeness of life. The Church has to return to stressing the understanding that Jesus is the foundation and the fountain from which all healing comes.

Seoul Archbishop Christmas Message

SOUTH KOREA
Archbishop of Seoul: Living Christmas every day, to fight the ills of society

Bishop Andrew Yeom Soo- jung invites the faithful to pray "for the marginalized, the poor, the sick and our North Korean brethren". And remember the importance of fighting "the darkness of a world affected by materialism, atheism, suicides and divorces" with the light of salvation of the new born Christ.

Seoul (AsiaNews ) -. Below is the full text of his message. 

My dearest brothers and sisters!

Baby Jesus is born today, bringing the light of salvation into this dark world. May God's abundant blessings be upon you and your families on this joyful Christmas Day. We also pray for the marginalized, the poor, the sick, and for our North Korean brothers; may the blessings of Christmas fill their hearts with hope and joy.

The Lord sent his only Son into the world, and revealed his infinite love to us. 2000 years ago, Jesus was born in a small Judean village called Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph traveled all the way from Nazareth. They went from inn to inn, but couldn't find an empty room to stay. Eventually, they sought shelter in a shabby stable where Mary gave birth, and she laid the baby Jesus in a manger surrounded by oxen and donkeys. That was how Jesus came to this world-in the most poor and humble way. It brings the important message that God dwells among the weak and the poor, and that he has called us out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).

Today, however, atheism and materialism flourish as an integral part of our society. Conflicts and divisions are everywhere. People have forgotten the importance of communication and compromise, while selfishly pursuing their own wishes. Suicide rates and divorce rates rise sharply; families are suffering from all kinds of difficulties and pain. Students are overwhelmed by immense competitions and exams. Graduates face tougher challenges to find employment. And then, there are the people who have been forgotten by the most of us: the homeless, the disabled, the foreign labors, and the poor. They live in pain and anxiety, in a life without human dignity.

Jesus has come as light into this dark, suffocating world. He did not come in the form of God, but in the poorest and the most humble form of a human being. What kind of significant meaning does this has on our times? Perhaps we should not depend only on humane and secular means to solve the problems around the world; for the solution lies in the Christmas mystery of God becoming man and suffering all pains with us. When we humbly empathy and respect others like the Lord being in the middle of men, we are one step closer to a harmonious society.

The social responsibility of the Church is also an important matter. If the Church has external development and social influence, but does not have internal love, the Church is nothing. Pope Francis wrote in his Apostolic Exhortation, "I want a Church which is poor and for the poor." The Holy Father explained that as long as the problems of the poor are not radically, no solution will be found for the world's any problems. If we turn our backs on the poor and try to make ourselves believe that the problems are solved, we may face the real crisis of collapse. Therefore, "the need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed." We really need to contemplate on these words.

We need to show the love of God to those in need-not only by words, but by real actions. We need to show the light of salvation to this dark world. The true meaning of Christmas is not only to be remembered, but to be lived out through our daily life. Because Baby Jesus is born in every place where people love, share, serve, and forgive.

Through Jesus Christ who is born on this joyful Christmas Day, I pray that we all receive the strength from the God and that we all become the children of the light which brightens the darkness of the world.

May the light of life, God's blessings and peace be upon all of you.

Merry Christmas!!