How to Develop a Vibrant Parish

In the question and answer column of the Peace Weekly a young priest asks an older priest who manages the column, what he needs to do to have a vibrant parish? The young priest was just made a pastor after years as assistant. He has asked many of his  senior priests for advice, but they all had different answers, confused, he wrote to the priest columnist for help.

The young priest will not have an assistant; as pastor he will not only need to relate with the young, as he did as an assistant, but with all the parishioners, besides the responsibility for administration.  The columnist responds there are no areas of parish life that are not important, but he would select the work with the elderly as the most important.

Elders are the pillars of the parish. They are the ones closest to God. They pray the most and pray for others, the most altruistic; they are the ones that pray for the priest and defend the priest from criticism, the most loyal to the parish and the Church.

The columnist in his experience in one of the parishes as pastor, with the division of the parish he lost most of the older people, and lost most of the income. They are the ones who support the parish. With the drop of the elders the religious goods store could no longer  operate. The spirituality of the parish was noticibly weakened. When concern is made for the elders the families are pleased and thankful. Nobody has  difficulty with the choice.

Another reason is that our society shows little concern for the elders. In a society where money is important the elders go to the periphery. Jesus has told us what we do for the lowly, we do for Jesus. Our society looks on those who are not earning as useless, and they suffer unfairly.

This older generation has built the society we now have and are not respected for their work and are ignored, which has  given them deep scares. This is one of the  reasons the Church has to fight against the spirit of the times, and be on the side of the elderly.

The columnist believes with concern for the elderly the other areas of the parish will run smoothly. There are a few parish priests, who when addressing the elderly will use crude language. He feels this is a fault that comes from their upbringing. There are those who have an anger towards their own parents which is expressed with the elderly.

When we have more concern for money than spirituality, he concludes,  we will find that we will neglect the old people. The mature and healthy mentality of the priest is often known by the way they treat the old people in the parish. Also well to remember that when God selected Abraham, and  Moses to do his work both were over 75 years old.

Inter-Religious Dialogue in Korea

Korea has a great variety of religious beliefs and practices, probably more so than any other place in the world, often called the museum of religions. And yet we see a continual effort for inter-religious harmony and dialogue, an example to the rest of the world.

On Feb. 25, the lay representatives of the conference of seven religious bodies: Buddhists, Confucians, Won Buddhists, the Heavenly Way, Korean Ethnic Religions, Protestants and Catholics met together to proclaim seven common proposals.

Living together with others like human beings.

Work making a happy family, and be the first to  live  like a family member.

Live spiritually like a religious person.

Not involved in corruption and immorality like a virtuous worker.

Share what  I have like a member of society.

Work for the unification of the country like a Korean citizen.

Go beyond the differences of religion and ideology for peace like a member of the world family.

The  editorial in the Peace Weekly has praise for the  movement and hopes they have the results they expect. Religious persons have realized they should be the first to give a good example to others in the society filled with conflict and immorality. Each religion is to be true to its identity in carrying out the proposals.

This is not a movement of the clergy or those who are leaders, but it is a lay movement. Religious leaders are usually in the vanguard; we have here, something infrequently seen.

Society looks upon religion in two ways: they praise  the universal love of others and good works; on the other hand it is not that religion worries about the world but the world worries about religion; this is another understanding of religion. There are those who consider themselves religious, who without discretion in their actions are not acting as religious people.

About half of the population in Korea are religious. If all began living according to the tenets of their religion each member and the country  would be better for it.  "To live like"  this movement where the members of the different  religions begin living according  to their  teachings would make for a stronger and better nation. Would it be inappropriate to think there are few countries in the world that would be able to achieve what Korea has done with inter-religious dialogue?      

An Issue That Doesn't Disappear

Korean Comfort Women ( Korean sex slaves for the Japanese military) issue is one that is not going away.The Peace Weekly makes it a front page article, two pages of special  coverage and an editorial. Most of the women are in their eighties and early nineties. Only 53 are alive and they are asking for an apology from the Japanese government. Every Wednesday, women groups demonstrate peacefully in front of the Japanese Embassy.  

Japan feels they have apologized sufficiently, and  private funds have been offered to the women but the Government does not want to acknowledge any responsibility for the comfort women. This is precisely what the women want the government to do. The government continues to pick on one or two issues where they may be technically correct, but refuse to consider thousands of glaring historical facts on the forced prostitution of Korean women. The nationalists in the Japan have a lot to do with the position of the government. 

On Feb. 25  they had the 1167 Wednesday gathering in front of the Embassy. Not only do the Japanese refuse to apologize, they do not want to acknowledge the fact that the government was involved: efforts  made  to rewrite the history of the period.

The pope on his visit to Korea did meet with the grandmothers who suffered as comfort women and was given a butterfly badge which represents the movement and their plight. The pope wore the badge  after he received the gift.

The editorial mentions it is not only the Japanese government but many international groups that hesitate seeking justice for these women. This coming March 1st  is a  National Holiday that commemorates the day in 1919  when 33 Korean nationalists and students declared their nation's  independence in Seoul and the establishment of a provisional government of the Republic of Korea. More effort is needed on the part of the Korean government to push the Japanese for an acknowledgement and formal apology.

Pope Francis said on his return trip to Rome from Korea we can't be neutral when we see pain. He also in his recent message: " we are seeing a selfish attitude of indifference that we can speak of a globalization of indifference."

Understanding the Paradoxes of Life

Where are all the college students? A priest begins his article in a diocesan bulletin with this lament. He remembers working with the youth back in the last years of the 70s and the  early years of the 80s: busy giving retreats, workshops and going to the different colleges for Masses and involved in many programs for the students. From those years we have many who are now ministering  in the Church and are leaders in society. What happened?

Except for a few parishes the college students are no longer seen in the parochial communities. At one time there was even talk of having a parish just for the youth of the diocese. Those days have past. He wants the Church to consider work with the youth as a  primary concern. They are the future of the Church and of society.

However, we have those who do not see the young people alienated from the church but rather looking for spirituality outside of the parish setting. Many college students prefer to associate with their fellow students in a  college environment, in Catholic prayer groups, student groups, diocesan programs located where they are.

Students in the West have shown  signs of alienation from the Church which is not  as pronounced in Korea. The culture is still very protective, and traditional morality still influences much of society.  Just  recently, the courts decriminalized adultery. We are not dealing with young people  that have opted for the ways of the West. The students are acquainted with the  West but many accept the traditional ways; a youth subculture,however, does exist.                                     

Many are searching  for a mature spirituality.  Pope Francis in his talk to the 6000 young Catholics from  23 nations last year warned about the "spiritual cancer" of materialism from the affluent countries. "We see signs of an idolatry of wealth, power and pleasure which come at a high cost to human lives." Korea has shown signs of needing a different spirituality from  the one received. There is an emptiness and despair that shows in the number of suicides and as a world  leader in cosmetic surgery.

When the newly baptized  are asked why they have become Catholics the majority answer to find peace. It is true that a mature faith life will bring great joy and peace but it is not the response desired: a guarantee we are not prepared to walk in the way of Jesus, but to satisfy our needs. Peace and happiness are the results, the  consequences, a by-product of the life we live, and not the aim of our life.

Explaining this is far from easy. Ignoring the search for authenticity: the true, good and beautiful and expect peace and happiness is not going to do it. The search for spirituality is a sign that this is understood even though unconsciously.  Emptiness is experienced and with the young and old alike  the stress on the paradoxes of Christianity, which they also have in their own religious heritage, is a need in our educational programs.                          

Relationships and Happiness

Korea is in the top ten of the  economically developed countries, but one of the lowest in the index for happiness. This uncomfortable fact motivates many to  express their opinions on the subject; a religious sister writes on the issue in a diocesan bulletin.

Sister teaches the mothers of children who are preparing for First Communion, and one of her questions for the mothers: Are you  happy?  When she asked this question one mother began to cry. Why was she crying? asked the sister, it was the first time in her life she was asked the question. Sister tells them that on a scale of 1 to 10, where would they be. If it is  low she  recommends  they take a  trip  like Hector in the novel: Hector and the Search for Happiness.                                                                                                                                      
Hector is a psychiatrist who finds that he can't do much to help people who come to him and he himself is not happy with the situation. Hector takes a trip around the world to learn what makes people happy.  

He made a list of  what he found during his trip that added to happiness. The first on the list is not to  compare yourself with others. 7) Be with those who want to be happy. 13) Feeling that you are of help to others. 20) A special attitude towards life. 23) Interest in the happiness of others. 

When the doctor returned home he began living out what he learned. He realized how happy he was, and enjoyed sharing what he had learned, which gave him more happiness.

Sister, made her own list of what makes her happy and what doesn't. She  doesn't judge  others for their failures; doesn't compete or envy another, and makes an effort not to  hurt another, and when she does, she apologizes.

We are  made to live in community because we are created after the image of God: the community which is God--Trinity. It is in relating with others that we  will find happiness.  We have been made to partake in the life of the Trinity here and hereafter: our aim and purpose in life. How we relate with God and others is important.

We are not on this earth to be a maverick;  to do things our way without concern for others. God wants us to relate in the way he relates. When we confess the Trinitarian  Godhead, and live its teaching, we find happiness.

Why Did He Do It?

A religious sister writes in View from the Ark, of the Catholic Times, on  thoughts she had hearing  about the young man who left Korea to join the  Islamic State military forces. Why did he do it? She began to reflect on what the mass media said about his being alone for long periods of time. He dropped out of middle school, stayed home most of the time, and  only conversed with his brother, and had little contact with his parents. 

Here was a young man at an age where dreaming about his future life should have been attractive and shared with others; without consulting anybody, in  contact with the virtual world of the internet, he made his choice to join the Islamic State.

If he had been relating with others and hearing their beautiful dreams would he not have made a different choice? The passage from Genesis 2:18 came to her mind: "It is not good for man to be alone." Pope John Paul II gives an answer why being alone is not a healthy choice: one is not able to realize the fullness of  one's personality.  Relating with  others we get to know who we are, and by loving the other we ourselves become happy. 

In these times there are many who are living like isolated islands. Pope Francis mentions in his Lenten Message: "Today, this selfish attitude of indifference has taken on global proportions, to the extent that we can speak of a globalization of indifference. It is a problem which we, as Christians, need to confront." We no longer see others as brothers and sisters but as objects. We have become the slaves of fashion, power, money, and even distorted religious thinking. We have emptied our humanity and replaced it with shackles of violence.  

There is always the danger of forgetting God, those who surround us, and the world in which we live. We need to be listening to the weak voices that come to our attention, and be ready to open the doors of our  hearts. It is only then that we will have joy and peace. 

We need to be open to all those who come close to us and make known the mercy of God. We are all members of the  body of Christ. "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members share its joy" (I Cor. 12-26).

We have no idea what prompted the young man to join the Islamic State but there are many similar cases where not only the young but people of all ages and cultures decide to leave the known and familiar to join a movement and begin a way of life that is completly opposite to what they had been accostomed. This should make us think deeply and see the possibility  that everything we say or do has ramifications for good or bad that we will never know in this world.                                                     

Finding True Happiness

A seminary professor in his column  in the Peace Weekly, mentions how he is uncomfortable watching the daily news.  Repeated reports of  brutal crimes, violence, corruption of public  servants, preventable accidents,  leaves him feeling angry and miserable.  News that leaves a smile on his face, and a warm feeling in his heart are not easily found.  In this kind of world the meaning of our existence is not helped by what is seen and heard. 

With economic development our life expectancy has increased but also problems that we did not have in the past; prosperity is not able to solve the problems that arise with the increase in the numbers of the elderly. Our fathers and mothers are often being ignored by their families, and society, and left to live their last years in loneliness.

Foreign workers are here to help their families in their home country. Their lives in  dealing with very inferior lodging, difficult working conditions and environment,  makes their time in Korea far from happy.  Our children also with the competition they face jeopardizes their relationship with their classmates, which doesn't bode well for the future.

The more material goods we have don't bring happiness. Life may be more comfortable but happiness does not come with comfort. We lose the meaning for our existence. The more we have the more we want, the more we  enjoy the more we seek to enjoy. We learn that possessions are not what gives meaning to existence.

The professor  as a member of the human race has the  same problems.  As a child he dreamed of becoming a priest:  working for the poor and the  alienated in society. He can now look back on 20 years of priestly life. What he is doing has  little to do with the dream he had as a child. After one year as an assistant he went to Rome to study. Coming back to Korea he very happily was a pastor of a parish for one year, and then returned to the seminary to teach. He is now not teaching seminarians but ethics to the laity,  and is responsible for the  administration of the seminary.   

Rather than being sent to preach the Gospel he is working with logistics  and rational issues  as an administrator. He can't help but ask himself is he  happy in doing what he is doing. He thinks of all those without any belief system, who are dealing with the  same problem: trying to figure out the meaning of their existence.  

Catholicism, he says, "To these basic questions about the meaning and purpose of human life the Church responds with the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, which liberates the dignity of the human person from changing opinions and ensures the freedom of men and women as no human law can do. The Second Vatican Council indicated that the mission of the Church in the contemporary world consists in helping every human being to discover in God the ultimate meaning of his existence. The Church knows well that 'God alone, whom she serves, can satisfy the deepest cravings of the human heart, for the world and what it has to offer can never fully satisfy it' Only God, who created man in his image and redeemed him from sin, can offer a fully adequate answer through the Revelation wrought in his Son made man. The Gospel, in fact, 'announces and proclaims the freedom of the sons of God, it rejects all bondage resulting from sin; it scrupulously respects the dignity of conscience and its freedom of choice; it never ceases to encourage the employment of human talents in the service of God and of man, and finally, it commends everyone to the charitable love of all' (Compendium of the Social Gospel # 576).

True happiness for a Christian comes from the belief in Jesus. We are changed by this happiness, which motivates us to want to change the world. "No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a Person and the assurance that he gives us: I am with you! It is not therefore a matter of inventing a ‘new program'. The program already exists: it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition, it is the same as ever. Ultimately, it has its center in Christ himself, who is to be known loved and imitated, so that in him we may live the life of the Trinity, and with him transform history until its fulfillment in the heavenly Jerusalem” (Compendium #577).