Even Whales Dance When Praised

At the end of a meeting about lay-Catholic matters the Peace columnist of the Peace Weekly recounts for the readers what happened. They all gathered to eat and continued the talk on what transpired at the meeting. One participant said: " A bishop with whom I was talking said to have change, the priests have to change." Another in response:  "When you hear the priests talk; the bishops have to change." Another volunteered: "Pope Francis is putting pressure on the bishops."

He doesn't remember the whole story but one of those at the meal recalled a priest who was the pastor of his parish and recounted what happened when he was assigned to the  parish that needed  a church.

He called one of the parish council members and told him to take care of all the education and spiritual programs. He would give himself to the building of the new church. The parishioners were, for the most part, living in small 50 square meter apartments built for the poor. He took the key money used for the lease of his apartment and put it into the building fund and lived in the sacristy. Those who came to morning Mass would carry some of the bricks to the building site before going to work.

The plans that they had for the church building had to be changed because one of the houses they wanted to buy, the owner refused to sell. It seemed he wanted to make money on the house and was waiting for the price to  go up. They decided to make the church smaller than first envisioned. The owner, for some reason, as time passed  decided to sell the property. The members of the building committee were going to buy the house at half the price that was first agreed upon, and thought the priest would be very happy to hear the news. However, he wasn't. He told the building committee to give the owner the price that they were willing to pay at the beginning of the negotiations. At the signing of the contract, the owner of the house cried. Of course, the owner was not a Catholic, and they don't what  happened after he moved.
 
The columnist reminds us there are priests who like Pope Francis are not doing what we expect and surprise us. We find it easy to speak ill about our priests, more finding fault than giving praise. " Praise even makes a whale dance" is an expression used in Korea. All of this has great relevance for the preaching of the Gospel, if we are really concerned to make its beauty more clearly recognized and accepted by all. "We need to remember that all religious teaching ultimately has to be reflected in the teacher’s way of life, which awakens the assent of the heart by its nearness, love and witness." (Joy of the Gospel #42) 

With all the self-examination of the Church in Korea in preparation for the visit of Pope Francis, the clergy are under the spotlight. They are being compared to the words and actions of Pope Francis.This is putting pressure on the clergy, but the columnist reminds us that seeing the good and giving thanks is also a valid way of stimulating and energizing those in pastoral roles within  the community of faith. 

Working for the Common Good

Catholics confess two sins: they missed Sunday Mass, and the  sins that they can't remember. There is also the not infrequent: "I haven't any sins." With these words, a priest begins his article in a  bulletin for priests. He gives part of the blame to the clergy and their failure to instruct properly. The old Korean catechism had 320 questions and answers that had to be memorized before baptism. This has all disappeared from the  teaching required for baptism, and the writer laments the loss. 

The period for the catechumenate in many cases, fortunately is at least  six months but for the spouses of the baptized, can be less than two months. The period of the catechumenate besides the period of  teaching is also a time to become acquainted with the new faith life and community. The teaching before baptism is important and needs to be stressed.

Pope John Paul II wrote in his Apostolic Constitution Deposit of Faith: "A catechism should faithfully and systematically present the teaching of Sacred Scripture, the living tradition of the Church and the authentic Magisterium, as well as the spiritual heritage of the Fathers and the Church's saints, to allow for a better knowledge of the Christian mystery and for enlivening the faith of the People of God. It should take into account the doctrinal statements which down the centuries the Holy Spirit has intimated to his Church. It should also help illumine with the light of faith the new situations and problems which had not yet emerged in the past. The catechism will thus contain the new and the old (cf. Mt 13:52), because the faith is always the same yet the source of every new light."

In the Joy of the Gospel,  Pope Francis also makes very clear that a Christian is always concerned for the common good. Our light is not only to shine within the community of faith but in the world in which we live. 

The priest feels that our Catholics are primarily interested in peace of mind and blessings, and with little concern for the way society is going or interested in bringing about the 'Will of God' in our world. At the end of Mass when the parishioners  are told to go and make known the good news he wonders whether they know what they are expected to do.

There was a time he says that what was heard was to:  "Offer up your sufferings in  this life and in the next life, you will receive your consolation." The result of this kind of thinking allowed people like Karl Marx to say that 'religion was the opium of the people', and many left the Church. This kind of thinking came to an end with Leo 13th and was given a definitive blow with Joy of the Gospel. There were those who even said that the pope was a communist? Is there need for any more words? The writer wants the readers to consider the possibility that they do not have the right understanding of what it is to be a Catholic.

Resolving the 'Comfort Women' Problem

One of the Catholic law-makers is written up in the Peace Weekly on her efforts to get justice for the former  'comfort women' the sex slaves of the  Japanese army. Over  80,000  women  most of them coming from Korea were enslaved. Korean  society did not allow these women to speak freely about the past because of the shame, but this has changed  from the early 1990s. However, Japan has extreme difficulty in expressing guilt for the atrocities toward these women who were used as sexual slaves for their soldiers, despite the pressures put on them by the neighboring countries.

Japan feels all the issues and  compensation have been settled with an agreement with South Korea that normalized relationships between the two countries. They have attempted to compensate the women with private funds, but have not in the eyes of Koreans ever truly apologized for the acts of the Japanese Government. Many of the women have refused the money offered because it did not come from the government. Japan continues to refuse any legal liability for what was done with the comfort women.

The woman lawmaker last year sent a petition to the Vatican on behalf of the comfort women  asking for help in settling the problem.The issue is to have the Japanese government acknowledge the crime and apologize clearly and unmistakably, which they refuse to do.

In a recent interview with reporters, she mentioned  that the former comfort women will attend the Mass for Peace, and Reconciliation scheduled to take place at the Cathedral in Seoul, on Aug. 18.  She hopes  the Pope will mention them in his sermon on that day, which will help bring the cry of these women to a larger audience and mobilize public opinion to reflect on the crimes committed that have never been fully acknowledged by Japan.

The senator has been criticized by foreign politicians for bringing  up a political issue with the Vatican. She is not interested in having this become a political issue, it is a human rights issue that needs to be concluded.

She was in Rome last year for five days at a meeting of Catholic law-makers and had an audience with the pope; she did speak briefly with the pope and asked him to:  "Please remember Korea and Korean people." The pope answered: "Faith Country." She was happy to hear the words of the pope and felt proud in being a descendent of the Korean Martyrs.

She hopes her efforts on behalf of the former comfort women will be successful. All that the women want is a formal apology from the Japanese government, a genuine apology and self-examination. When this does come it will help the healing of the victims of the atrocities and do a great deal to remedy the awkward  relationship between the citizens of these two adjacent countries that remains an open wound.      

6th Asian Youth Day ( AYD)

Shortly, we will have the Asian Youth Gathering in Korea and the presence of Pope Francis. “Asian Youth, Wake up! The Glory of the martyrs shines on you.”  This is the theme for the the week that begins on the 10th of August and concludes on the 17th. The young people will be staying with Korean families during the the first 3 days: experiencing Korean culture and sharing the faith with  Korean families. The program proper will begin in the Daejeon Diocese on Wednesday.

The Catholic Times has devoted a number of articles to the meeting in the recent issue. In 1995 speaking to the Asian bishops Pope John Paul II  said: “Just as in the first millennium, the Cross was planted in the soil of Europe, and in the second in the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the third Christian millennium, great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent of Asia.”

One of the  articles shows that this understanding of Asia has some objective facts to support it. In the Vatican Statistical Yearbook for 2012: from 2005 to 2012,  in the Americas we had a 5.3 percent increase and in Europe a 1.3 percent increase but in Africa a 20.4 percent increase and in Asia a 11.4 percent increase in the number of Catholics. In the number of priests, religious male and female, and seminarians we see more growth than the West.

In Asia over two thirds of the population is under 25 years of age. Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation, Church in Asia # 6: "Asia is the earth's largest continent and is home to nearly two-thirds of the world's population, with China and India accounting for almost half the total population of the globe. The most striking feature of the continent is the variety of its peoples who are 'heirs to ancient cultures, religions and traditions'. We cannot but be amazed at the sheer size of Asia's population and at the intricate mosaic of its many cultures, languages, beliefs and traditions, which comprise such a substantial part of the history and patrimony of the human family."

Asia has problems with poverty, illiteracy, oppression, and with the many different religions and cultures there is much anguish. Some countries compare well in material development with the West while others are developing or live in poverty. Felix Wilfred a priest from India is quoted as saying the emphasis  we     are putting on material advancement is making us insensitive to the plight of the poor, the  need to understand, and our duty to help.

The different youth gatherings, both in the world and by continent show the thirst the young have for spirituality. This opportunity in Korea where the young of the Asian countries will meet, eat, sleep, and share their lives and faith experiences is an effort to become closer to Jesus and to witness to him. 

Words from the Apostolic Exhortation On the Church in Asia, concludes the article: "The Christian formation of young people in Asia should recognize that they are not only the object of the Church's pastoral care but also "agents and co-workers in the Church's mission in her various apostolic works of love and service."

Present Day Martyrs

Martyrdom has always been considered a way of showing our love for Jesus in the highest possible degree. Even though we are not threatened with  death, we try to imitate the martyr's zeal, deep faith, and  dignity. In the Desk Column for the Catholic Times, the writer mentions looking over the foreign  news items and was again conscious that religious persecution continues in our own day.

The Korean Church at the beginning had to endure four different persecutions. We have the 103 saints who are canonized and on the 16th of August, we will have 124 beatified; besides these, we have countless thousands who have no name. Today in most of the constitutions we have the freedom of religion as a human right, an understanding that a need to die for what one believes no longer is necessary, but  in Iraq, we see the Islamic State, fundamentalists, who have no problem in  killing Christians, confiscating their property and chasing them from their residences. The Chaldean Archbishop Amel Shanon Nona said the Islamic State is carrying out "religious cleansing."

She mentions that a representative of OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) said that 105,000 were killed because of the Christian faith on average each year. The situation in the Near East is the most serious. One research institute said the persecution in the Near East is the worst in the last 700 years. She quotes a London research group that says over half or two-thirds of the Christians   have been killed or made to flee their homeland in the last 100 years.  She says there are now less than 200 thousand who remain in the land of the Scriptures.

Pope Francis has mentioned the persecution and the seriousness of the situation. He said that there have been more martyrs in the last 100 years than in the times of the Roman persecution.

We as Koreans, she says, cannot overlook the persecution of religion in  North Korea. They say there is  freedom of religion but those who have studied the situation say that in 2013 to the present, we have over 1000 incidents of religious persecution in the North: most of them in the concentration camps. Open Doors Ministry lists  North Korea on the top of the ranking of countries persecuting Christians. She asks for prayers and the interest of her readers.

In a very short time, we will have 124 who will be called  Blessed. They considered their relationship with Jesus the most important thing in life and showed it by dying for what they believed. Korea is no longer asking us to give of our blood  in martyrdom, but we are faced with relativism, worldliness and materialism, which brings confusion into our way of thinking, and often  requires  the qualities of our martyrs.

On the Spot Experience

Many are the ways Christianity is criticized and its supposed flaws made known. Much of the criticism lacks understanding; some are justified, but one of the most damning and difficult to deal with would be the supposed  words of  Mahatma Gandhi: "I love Jesus but hate the Christians." He heard and saw the words and acts of the Christians, and they were not those of Jesus: they  looked down on the poor and discriminated, which he experienced in his own life.Those who have to do the dirty, dangerous and difficult tasks in society are our best critics. 

A priest writes in a bulletin for priests about his experience in working for one month in a factory.His parish priest gave permission during his last year in the seminary. He was short of stature and searching for work was difficult, seeing his small build, they  had no place for him, and finally, he ended up in the factory where his father worked. The experience was to be long lasting.

The first two days of work were no  problem but after a week, it began to take its toll; he came to the limits of his strength. His mother wanted him to quit, but he was determined to finish the month. It was not his desire to get to know the fellow workers of his father and his superiors, but he did. He was determined to see what was required of his father to support the family, and he felt deep sorrow for his father.  If it wasn't for the month, he would never have known what the father was doing in the workplace.

Looking  back on the one month he feels it was filled with grace. He experienced what his father did for over half a lifetime, his difficulties, the environment in which he worked and also at times experiencing personally the  exploitation in the workplace. At the end of the month on the bus to Seoul, he relaxed knowing it was all over.

He has participated in the work for fairness in the workplace and the rights of labor to unionize. Korea continues to be against regulations that hinder the business sector, which means they don't look with any joy on the workers unionizing.  One month as a worker was a great blessing. It is only those who have been sick who can sympathize with the sick those who know suffering who can feel with those suffering, those who are poor who can energize  the poor. This was the lesson learned from the one month.

We know that book learning, lectures and studies are important,  but there is nothing that can compare with on the spot experience. Korean bishops have gone to  fishing, farming, mining villages to learn about the  conditions these citizens have to live with. This has made their talks less abstract and bookish, and given them a better feel for the problems Korea faces.

One of the reasons we as Catholics are not as sympathetic to those who are having difficulty in making ends meet is that we have become a middle class Church. Many of those who are struggling are no longer at home within the household of faith, which will require more of us to identify more closely to those who are hurting in our society and to speak out. Without this understanding, we will lack the empathy needed to identify with the lowly in our society and make it more difficult to understand Jesus and his teaching.

Expectations On Pope Francis' Visit to Korea

The visit of Pope Francis to Korea is approaching. Listing only the formal events: the beatification of the 124 martyrs, Mass of the Assumption, visit to  the Flower Village, attendance at the Asian Youth Meeting, Peace and Reconciliation Mass, meeting with the  President-- there are over 20 events in which he will participate. The Peace column in the Peace Weekly invites us to spend time looking over the itinerary of  Pope Francis.

The columnist wonders whether there is a slight difference in what the Church of Korea thinks important and what the Vatican thinks important. The Korean Church considers the beatification on Saturday as central. In 1925, we had the beatification of the 79 martyrs, in 1984 the canonization of the 103 saints and  this year the beatification of the 124 martyrs: high points in our Catholic history.

We don't know what the pope and the Vatican thinks, but we can do some guessing.  During the five days, he will have two luncheons that have been made known publicly:  one is with 20  representatives of the young people at the 6th  Asian Youth Day on August 15th, and the other meal is with the Asian bishops on August 17th. This for the columnist seems to indicate where the pope's interest will be. The pope has shown an interest in evangelization of Asia, which would indicate the emphasis he is putting on the Asian Youth Day.

On August 18th, the Mass for Peace and Reconciliation at the Seoul Cathedral is the event the columnist shows the most interest. North Korean Catholics have been invited to attend the Mass. The North, at the least provocation is ready to shoot off rockets and missiles; one wonders if attendance is in any way possible. They will be attending the Asian Games scheduled for September in Inchon, which does hold out some hope. Unification of the peninsula is not something that we can do on our own, and the columnist believes Pope Francis will bring hope. 

Japan some 429 years ago, four teenagers in the Tensho embassy were  sent  to Rome where they met Gregory 13th.  340 years later one of our Catholics, Dr. John Chang Myun met with Pope Pius XI in the first  official visit of a Korean to the Vatican. The pope's visit to Japan was in 1981, but he has visited Korea in 1984, 1989 and this year will be the 3rd visit. Doesn't this mean that he has much to do in Korea? Pope John Paul II in visiting Eastern Europe was given some credit in bringing  about German unification.

The columnist is hoping Pope Francis' visit will help to prepare the unification of the peninsula. In the Mass at the Cathedral he will be talking to the separated families and the thought of this fills the columnist's heart with emotion. He is looking forward to the visit as a child would Christmas.