'Social Emotional Learning'

A doctor writing in Bible & Life reflects on his  understanding  of empathy  growing up, and in his years as a child psychiatrist. His mother was a pharmacist, and would take care of his medical needs. He never considered  medicine as a career, and he ends up as a doctor. He saw this as a mystery. The troubles  he saw  growing up and the death of so many in the family, the pain of so many young people, gave him the  desire while in college to go on to be a child psychiatrist.

In one of the cities in Korea a few years ago there were two successive suicides of children jumping  off apartment buildings. Thinking of the classmates of these  children the doctor had to do something, he took members of the children's mental health center, and went to the school. He looked at the girl who sat in the seat behind the child who committed suicide; her head was down, completely dispirited.  He was sorry for those who had died but had more of a need to be with the  living. After the period of mourning he did make it clear to the students, it was alright to laugh.

The coal briquet suicide of a mother with a brain tumor, and her two daughters were found dead by a middle school teacher. The doctor mentions that the teacher after a shower and changing his clothes, the smell  of the  coal briquet remained with him while teaching, he couldn't hold back the tears. The doctor told the teacher, it was a good lesson for his students. And reminded him that  smell is  the most sensitive of our senses.

The doctor was five weeks at the school that lost so many students in the Sewol tragedy; they wondered if the school would ever open again, but the doctor had trust in the strength and resiliency of the students.

On one occasion helping to  heal persons who were sexually abused one of them: "Doctor have you ever been sexually abused?  If you have never been  abused  how can you understand me?" These words were like a chisel at the heart. He felt lonely and heartbroken; this feeling came back again when he was asked if he had ever lost, unexpectedly 250  younger classmates? 

 Empathy, he says,  has to have both the emotional and the cognitive  operating together. With trauma, the emotional faculty is so strong that it silences the thinking brain.The doctor believes more than learning the different formulas of mathematics and another English word; it is important to have social and emotional learning: skills to manage emotions, show sympathy for others,  and make responsible decisions. When our emotional faculty is in order the cognitive will naturally do what is necessary.

He finishes the article with sadness that this was not part of the training of those in the Sewol Ferry. If  the students had been exposed to 'social-emotional  learning' when the loud speakers told them to remain in their cabin, and they  realized this was a question about life and death, they would have acted differently, and the adults would not have put their safety first.

The  last words are not to criticize, he says,  we need to understand others. The Sewol tragedy is happening  around us continually.  We need to have   a love for others. He brings Cardinal Kim to our attention with his  kind smile. He misses the Cardinal. The Cardinal "wanted to give more people more happiness' and the doctor would like that energy, to enter our sterile society to give life.

Thanks be to God

A priest reflects on the passage in the second chapter of John's Gospel, the marriage feast at Cana, and shares with us the results. He begins with the shape of the church buildings he has seen over the years. He doesn't know why they build churches with high ceilings but his experience in saying Mass in buildings with low ceilings made him appreciate the high ceilings.

At times, he has said Mass in large churches with small clusters of Christians scatter throughout  the church. Not a very efficient use of space he  thought.  Seeing the Christians leaving the church he wondered, did the churches have to be that large.

The inside of the church with the floor, the walls and the ceiling can be seen as a large water jar. In the Gospel story, our Lord tells the servants to fill the jars with water, and this became the wine for the feast after the first batch was consumed. He wants us to see us  going into a church that is like an empty jar, we become the water that fills the church. During the Mass, we again experience the love that Christ has shown us and intoxicated with this love we become changed into the new wine of his love. With  this  love, every place we go, we bring his joy, gratitude and love  and fill all we meet with what we have received. We are called to go out to those whose life doesn't have the joy and fullness that Jesus wants us all to possess.The second example is from chapter 47 of Ezekiel. The water from the sanctuary of the temple flows out and nourishes all the land giving life to all that it comes in contact with. Are we not like this water coming out from our churches to give life to all that we meet.

There are many who do not have the time or do not   participate in the life of the community but they do attend Mass on Sundays. These Christians need to know why they attend Mass. They are renewed by the encounter with Jesus and his mystical body. They are filled with his life and spirit and sent out to others to share what they have received, and to help others to find joy and meaning in life.

As in Ezekiel we are the water that gives nourishment to all that it meets. He wants to believe those who are anxious to leave the Church quickly after communion on Sundays are those that want to begin sharing what they have received at the Mass.

At the end of each Mass the priest sends us forth. We are filled with gratitude. We want to carry what we have received to the whole world. After the  blessing, we are told to 'Go" and we answer with a loud: Thanks be to God.

The Consecrated LIfe of the Lay Catholics

Korean Catholicism is unique, started by lay people and not missioners. They are proud of this and know even before the first priest entered Korea, they had 4,000 Catholics. The Chinese Missioner Fr. Chu Mun-mo died as a martyr, today, he will be beatified with 123 others. After only six years working in the country the first Catholics raised the number of Catholics to 10,000. Over thirty years, until the French Missioners came to Korea, the Catholics were without clergy. Lay Catholics were the foundation of our Korean Church.

Lay people are the sleeping giant in the Church. They are the Church, and when the clerical and religious presence are too strong, the laity may find it difficult to take their rightful place. "These faithful are by baptism made one body with Christ and are established  among the People of God. They are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ. They carry out  their own part in the mission of the whole Christian people with respect to the Church and  the world ("Lumen Gentium" #31).

In one of the columns in the Catholic Times the writer, a layman, brings to our attention the consecrated life of the laity. In many parts of the world, we see the lack of vocations to the clerical and religious life, and the weakening of the faith  in these countries. At the same time, we see an increase in the number of lay people who are getting involved with the community of faith, living as celibate  lay persons, dedicated completely to the work of Christ.
 
Next year, he reminds us is the year of the consecrated life. The writer mentions that a lay women hearing about this in one of the volunteer groups working within the Church  said:  "Consecrated life when heard is filled with difficulty.  The smell of the  clerical and religious life is what comes to mind; I don't know how much meaning this will have for the layperson?" The columnist agrees with the woman's observation.  

However, he says when you understand that a person who is consecrated to the worship of God no matter whether he is a priest, religious or lay person, the distinction disappears. We are all given life by God and consecrating our life to the worship of God is not  difficult to understand.

The consecrated life is living the Gospel values of chastity, obedience and poverty. Many are those who take upon themselves this way of life by promises or vows."Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple. The perfection of charity, to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow the call to consecrated life the obligation of practicing chastity in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, poverty and obedience. It is the profession of these counsels, within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God" (Catechism # 915).  

There are many who are lay members of secular institutes who live within the world and and are consecrated and live as lay persons recognized by the Church. Only God knows the numbers who give themselves completely to God without any recognition by the church, but live the life of the evangelical counsels.

Friday, August 15, was the Feast Day of the Assumption and the Independence Day of Korea, liberation from the colonial rule of Japan. Mary is the pre-eminent  disciple of Jesus a person who was consecrated to the mission she had received, and the one we try to imitate.

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

Pope Francis is in  Korea at a time when not all is well between the two Koreas. August 15th was Independence Day commemorating the end of colonial rule by the Japanese. We hope the pope's visit will be like a second liberation.These are words of a  poet teacher, writing in a diocesan bulletin.

These thoughts bring to mind her grandchildren. She hadn't seen them for some time and they were now grown up. She heard them quarreling over what program to watch on TV and heard her grandson say:  "Grandmother said to watch the soccer match." The granddaughter responded: "Grandmother is on my side." She heard crying from the sitting room and  went to the room: "Grandmother you are on my side, aren't you?" asked the child running to the grandmother. "Except for the times you are wrong I am always on your side."  She  consoled the two children. "Yes, when wrong, God is not on my side." The grandmother reminded the children. "I have to be on God's side." These words she says came to her lips without thought. She always thought that God was on her side but  suddenly she realized that God is truth, and when she is wrong, God is not on her side.

In sports events on what side will God be is a problem for some. God is for the ones who play fair and square.

The pope knows that Korea was exploited under the rule of the Japanese for 36 years. Korea was weak, but we became Catholic without the help of missioners. The first Protestant missioners came to Korea with the Gospel of Mark translated into Korean.  She is happy with the news that Pope Francis in his visit to  Korea, is not differentiating between Catholic and Protestant.

The Pope today is saying the Mass for the beatification of 124 martyrs in the center of Seoul, but that is just one of the stops, today he will also go to the Flower Village which makes our writer happy. Kkotdongnae, Flower Village, is the largest Catholic welfare center in Korea. It is not without controversy both from within and outside the church, but Pope Francis was not interested, and in his manner of acting wants to show solidarity with those who are weak in  our society.

She confesses that in reading the Gospels, and in the  passages where  Jesus showed partiality to Peter, James and John she was not happy. Recently, however, this has all changed. She feels  these disciples are the ones that needed more formation for their work.

This is the reason for Pope Francis' visit to the Flower Village. He is showing concern and love for those  often ignored by our society and wants to be with them. This is the lesson she has learned from the visit of the pope to Korea.

Pope Francis Will Shortly Leave Korea--So?

Today in Korea we have all kinds of books appearing about Pope Francis, who is now on his second day in the country. A woman poet  gives her reflections on the pope's visit in the secular Chosun Ilbo. Pope John Paul II came to Korea thirty years ago, and Pope Francis has chosen to make his first trip in Asia to Korea. Tomorrow is the Beatification Ceremony where over 500 thousand will attend, and the ceremonies will be broadcast live to over 150 countries. Even-though most Koreans are not Catholic, there is a good reason for many to see the pope's visit as a family event.

The writer, curious, wanted to find more about the 'man'. She went looking for material about St. Francis. Since the pope selected the name Francis, by knowing the Saint, she would know about the  pope's values and what motivates him. The Saint lived among the  lower levels of society; her father also had the name Francis, a saint whom many loved.

Pope Francis said his patron saint avoided power, luxury, and  pomp. He wanted poverty and humility. He wanted to live with peace, and asked that we condemn immorality. St. Francis worked to realize these values in his life.

Watching television we see the pope's presence saying Mass with the poor in their villages, riding the public transportation, his informality, washing and kissing the feet of the sick and the addicted, his correspondence with the sick.

He is pope isn't he? That is the least he can do. She has no response to this kind of question. All she knows is that he is like her a human being, why don't we see what he sees?

He has told atheists to follow their consciences. The pope, a person who believes in God did not find saying these words easy. She wrote these words on a corner of her pocket note-book. Conscience distinguishes between right and wrong, between good and bad. We have all received this kind of education but when we look over our lives and ask ourselves if that is the way we have lived, our tongues are tied.

Everyday we encounter pain and sadness in what we hear and see. Someone has to be there to do something. The pope on his visit to Korea, along with the  religious events, will be with the families of the victims of the Sewol tragedy, and the grandmothers that suffered as 'comfort women'  for the Japanese soldiers and for other  victims. Our eyes have  been glued on these issues for some time.

We should not look upon the pope as a pair of tweezers. It is our duty to remove the thorns, disinfect and spread the ointment. We should not have high expectations on what the pope can do, but examine ourselves in the way we  block out so much that we should be seeing and go around saying: I don't know. The pope has come to Korea but will shortly leave Korea

Let us Share in the Peace of Pope Francis

This is the message of the president of the bishop's conference on the visit of Pope Francis to Korea taken from Asia News.

Dear brothers and sisters,

In two days,[ pope arrived today]  Pope Francis will pay an apostolic visit to Korea. The Holy Father will join in the young men and women participating in the 6th Asian Youth Day. At the Mass for the beatification of the 124 Korean martyrs, he will also inform the whole world of the witness of our ancestors in faith, who willingly sacrificed themselves for truth.

From the fact that a Pope as the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church has never personally participated before in any event of the Asian Youth Day, I may humbly presume that Pope Francis cherishes an intention to invite and encourage every single Asian Catholic youth to become a messenger who communicates the Good News of the redeeming Lord to the Continent of Asia, even though young Asian Catholics belong to a very small faith community, just a handful minority in this vast continent.

It is also an ecclesiastical practice that a papal delegate presides over the Mass for beatification, when it is celebrated at the local Church. Nevertheless, Pope Francis visits Korea to personally preside over the Mass for the beatification of the 124 Korean martyrs. I guess  he wants us to recall the fidelity and faithfulness of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for truth, especially now when we live a life swamped in the stream of materialism and relativism.

Today our society agonizes over many problems. In other words, our nation is suffering from diverse bitter elements: long-standing de facto cold war between North and South Korea; international conflicts between neighboring countries in Asia; rapidly widening chasm of disparity in wealth in spite of the continual improvement of positive economic indicators; failure of government crisis management system revealed by the Sewol ferry disaster; the scandal of the inhumane physical and psychological violence and abuse in the army, which have become an everyday routine in barracks.

As Pope Francis usually approaches first those who suffer from their life, I believe that he as the Successor of Saint Peter will bring the Gospel of comfort and hope to heartbroken Koreans. The apostles of the early Church used to be on missionary journeys. In the history of the Church, St. Paul the Apostle is known to make the longest missionary journey for the communication of the Gospel, paying a visit to many local churches in person. His visits aimed at, first of all, the communication of the Word of God, and, secondly, the manifestation of his encouragement and support for the local churches sharing in their difficulties, so that they could get on their feet again overcoming despair. Pope Francis will communicate the Word of God to us, as it is desperately needed in our present situation. He will also proclaim the divine love and hope to those who suffer from their life, as he looks and listens to them sharing in their difficulties in person.

The Holy Father in my opinion chose Korea in the Far East as the first destination of his apostolic visit to the Continent of Asia, because he wanted to pray together with us for the peace of the Korean peninsula as well as for this continent in whole, sharing in our most cherished desire. He will leave for a country located in the other side of the earth, even giving up his summer vacation, which should not be disturbed, when his advanced age is duly respected. I hope that we can embrace with each other in the spirit of tolerance and harmony in full accord with the 'love and hope', which the Holy Father wants to communicate to us. In this regard, I also hope that the seeds of reconciliation and peace will sprout vigorously on this land.

I want to invite you all to join in the warm welcome with one accord for the Holy Father as a distinguished guest. On the other hand, it would be much appreciated, if I can acquire your generous understanding for the inconvenience, which will be developed from the big gatherings and events during the apostolic visit.

I also would like to urge the government and the National Assembly to do their best for the speedy legislation of the so-called "Special law on Sewol ferry disaster", which will guarantee a proper investigation as well as a rigorous follow-up measures in regard to the Sewol ferry disaster, in deference to the desire of the bereaved families of the victims, who are now going on a hunger strike at the Gwanghwamun Plaza.

May the peace of God be with all men and women in Korea in abundance.

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.