Who is Opposed to the Pope's Visit?

One of the reasons for the quick visible  growth of the  Catholic Church in Korea  was the example
 of the the underground movement  for a free    society during the totalitarian years of army control. A second reason was the events both within and  outside the  country that became known to the larger society, especially the two visits of Pope John Paul II to Korea. These seem to have  increased the numbers of those entering the Church.

The Desk Column of the Catholic Times reviews an issue that he feels needs to be brought to the light. Most of the citizens are happy with the visit of the pope, but we do have a few in society who are opposed  and have shown this by preparing a petition. No matter, the moral justification they have for the opposition, he feels that it is a question of not  understanding Catholicism. One Internet newspaper asked that they rid themselves of their material concerns in their valuation on the visit, and suggests they show neither joy nor grief over the visit.

The opposition he feels is mostly from a small group of  Protestants. The columnist feels the majority have no problem with the visit. There are only a few with prejudice and selfish interests that motivate them, and  who consider Catholicism heretical, and continue openly to criticize the Church.

There are many  who are not opposed to the visit but have problems with certain aspects of the preparation and visit. The Pope has made it clear his desire to be with the poor but the way the Church of Korea is making preparations he wonders if there is an understanding  and a willingness to change the way we  express our understanding of Catholicism.

The pope in a few days will be with us, and the columnist has no doubts the pope  will make very clear the kind of Church he would like to see in Korea. Those who are interested in seeing what he will say only need to carefully read his exhortation Joy of the Gospels.

There is no reason to expect the popularity of the pope will see an increase in the  number of Catholics. No reason for the Protestants to fear that the Pope will be taking away Christians. He will be trying to get Catholics to understand the teachings of Jesus more clearly.

The lack of time for preparation should not be a problem. As the Vatican has stressed this is not to be considered an 'event' or even less, a marketing venture.  The visit of the pope should be for us an opportunity to give more attention to his teaching, and to see a change in our lives. 

ICPE Mission

'We are Laity, Catholic, and Radical' is the way the ICPE Mission introduces itself in one of its web sites. The 'Institute for World Evangelization' was founded in Malta and received canonical recognition in 1992 and has spread to various countries of the world, In 2002 the Institute was recognized as an international association of the faithful of Pontifical Right. Korea is part of the movement and is active with formation programs, teaching in prayer groups, running Bible Study groups, weekend retreats and various seminars.

The Vatican’s call for Korea to minister to Asia is the motivation for the Korean leader of the movement to begin his work. The Holy Father called Korea, in particular, to minister to Asia because of its freedom through the devout, practicing Korean Catholics.

ICPE missions are communities that promote and support missionary vocations among members of the laity by providing training in evangelization and by developing missions in various parts of the world. The core of their apostolate is the commitment to prepare lay men and women dedicated to mission and capable of responding to the call to holiness.

The Leader of the group in Korea writes in his column in the Catholic Times, on the way to discern the will of God. All of us who are Christians are in search of the will of God. He is always impressed when he meets young people who are interested in doing the will of God.

However, when he hears these words,  he wonders if this is the best way to look upon the issue: searching for the will of God. For those who were born Catholic or became Catholic at an early age from the time they reached the age of discretion they  have been searching for the will of God as something very natural. He will introduce the readers to the principle that he considers most important. He doesn't want it to sound like a big deal.

For him the important principle is to know who we are, and  to think, act and  speak  accordingly. That's it. If this be the case, is it not  wonderful? He doesn't feel anything  else is necessary, but without these last words  there is a sense of incompleteness. We are made to imitate God and God loves us, and we are to return this love by loving others, otherwise the principle has no meaning. I am loved unconditionally and that is the love I am to give. With this  attitude and  understanding isn't every thing we done the will of God?

The Possibility of Addiction is Always Present

Family is the place where we receive affirmation for  our emotional needs, become acquainted with love, and  establish our identity. We all want to live well and have good  relations with others, this all begins in the family. These are the  first words of an article in the Kyeongyang magazine by  a specialist on family matters, who goes on to show us the ever-present  dangers of addiction.

Do the families answer our needs?  Industrialization, inundated with information, nurtured with ultra individualism, and in a rat race: we are overcome with  stress, and sickness is becoming more frequent. Family, is where we should be regenerated; however, instead find stress and bickering.

In attempting to rid ourselves of stress, we search for pleasure, when it comes, we repeat it, and from habit, it becomes an addiction. We no longer have control, and we are under its control and lose ourselves; the false-self takes over.  He uses the work of Dr.Murray Bowen, psychiatrist, and shows how this relates to addiction. The objects of addiction (dependence): smart phone, Internet games, pornography, liquor,  tobacco, television, coffee, food,  drugs, shopping, stock market, gambling,  work, sports, cosmetic surgery, dissipation, sex, religion, people,  and the like, these are only some of the many different types of addiction.

When a person loses his sense of worth and value for life, anger is  expressed towards others and oneself. Addiction can do great damage to family and health. When one has an addiction one is not able to control it  alone, but a greater difficulty is the failure to understand that they are addicted. They feel they can stop when they want, and have all kinds of justifications for their actions. The co-dependence of family and others on the one addicted is always present, and the one addicted becomes less in control, feels guilty and shame and can't resist the anger.

To become free of addiction one needs to change the way one  sees the problem. The object of the addiction is no help, and has to be seen as the problem. This has to be accepted with the head and heart.

He wants us to examine ourselves on the possibility of addiction. Once we realize the problem we are on the road to recovery. The place of the family he concludes is extremely important. There are many families were the children are not respected and trusted, and are controlled with pressure, which is sad. The family should be the cradle for life and love, a place for rest and peace, a place to be renewed.

Each person in the family is important. One person who has this real-self and lives the sensible healthy life, the energy will overflow, and  the joy of the  Lord, will spread to the rest of the family.

Conflict in Community

Humans need other people, and we do this by forming communities. Since we all differ, there is no way we can avoid discord and confrontation. Imperfect human beings, if like God, were perfect, would not need others, and we wouldn't have conflict. A university ethics professor, in the diocesan bulletin, presents us with the problem and a solution.

The word for discord in Korean is made up of two Chinese characters: the word for arrowroot and the wisteria vine. Both are vines, when they climb the trunk of a tree, they  clash with each other to achieve their separate goals. Asian ancestors living close to the earth learned much from the natural environment. Conflict, on first  perception has a negative message; however, it is not all negative, he says.

When conflict is low we have peace: stagnant, loss of motivation, and spiritlessness (apathy), and the danger of being influenced from the outside. When the degree of conflict is high, we have divisions, disorder, absence of  goals, and the desire to better the situation disappears. When an appropriate amount of conflict is maintained, we have the  possibility of change, and efforts to achieve change have a better chance of succeeding. We don't rid ourselves of conflict but manage it.

He lists four ways in which we can deal with conflict. The worst possible way is to avoid it. When this is done not only does the conflict remain, but we have the least degree of satisfaction among the parties.

Concession, giving in to the other: we have lowered the degree of  conflict but at the price of having  the degree of satisfaction of  those who conceded lowered and those who received the concession increased. This is also not the best possible solution.

Force, where pressure is put on the other party, the level of conflict subsides, but at a great price, for those who have been forced to go along will have a low degree of satisfaction.

The best way is to dialogue and compromise. We maintain an appropriate amount  of conflict, and the level of satisfaction is raised. An appropriate level of stress is present which allows the participants to come to a new level of understanding, to cope with the external changes, and allows the birth of other possibilities that were not envisioned.

In community and in relationships with others, we will never get rid of conflict. There is always a need to keep the level of conflict within permissible levels  where we can dialogue and compromise. The professor knows this is not easy. When we have variations in the way, we see a truth, we have to  continually work to fine-tune what is presented to us, and this is precisely what we mean by the art of communication.

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.