Both Catholic papers in their recent issue, introduced to the readers the statistical report on the
condition of Catholicism in Korea for 2014. Summarizing: there
was an increase of 5% of those entering the church from the
previous year, and another decrease to 20.7 % of the Catholics
who go to Sunday Mass.
In 1999 the index of those
attending Sunday Mass dropped to the 20% level from (29.5%); 15 years later it will be
entering the 10% zone. In 1980 the church was at the height of its
favorable opinion among the citizens, but this did not show in the
devotional life of the parishioners nor in their community life.
From
1999 there has been an increase of 40.89% in the number of
Catholics. However, sacramental life, group activities and
religious studies have decreased. We can't base everything on these
statistics but they do show direction. The future for Catholicism
in Korea is not overly bright and demands some serious concern and
alternative proposals.
One of the editorials mentions
the 'Pope Francis effect' on the church may have some truth, but it
should show in the numbers going to Mass and the Sacraments and this is
not the case. Until we see the change in those who frequent the Sacraments and attend Mass, and become involved in group activity we can
not speak about the 'Francis effect' in Korea, was the conclusion.
The
number of priests and religious is also showing a decrease from previous
years. The age of the Catholics is also increasing with the ages from
50 to 55 being the largest with 9.8%. Those under 19 have
decrease to 3.6%. Those over 80, the women number 74.3%.
Korea is listed as the 46th country with the
largest number of Catholics, and in Asia they are the fifth after the
Philippines, India, Indonesia and Vietnam according to the Statistical
Yearbook of the Church.
Numbers of those falling away
from the Church is seen by the drop in those going to
Sunday Mass, and the numbers who are no longer going to Confession. The
task of those responsible for the pastoral work will need to find solutions to stem the tide, and new ways to evangelize those in the pews.
In the Peace Weekly Column the writer brings to our attention the
seven capital sins which has always been an important concern in the spiritual life of the sensitive Catholic: pride, avarice, lust,
envy, gluttony anger and sloth.
Our ancestors of the faith in Korea were familiar with the book of Diego de Pantoja (1571-1618) Seven Victories over the Seven Capital Sins.
This book gave the antidote for ridding ourselves of the seven capital
sins and was influential in the spiritual life of the first
Christians of Korea. They followed right reason and the laws of nature
in practicing the virtues with little difficulty because of the
Confucian traditions with which they were familiar.
They found in the makeup of Jesus and his public life-- the unlimited gift of
mercy he wanted to give us. In today's world it is difficult to experience and practice mercy.
The writer says he begins with
himself in not being familiar with the capital sins. Pride is see in all
aspects of his life. not only is he stingy but greedy, lazy and quick to
envy and gets angry. I am number one, in the presence of the strong and
influential he is humble but with those who are in his eyes lower in
social status he can be cold, discriminating and not notice them.
Money is a cause of abuse, with a little too much to drink he
can be overcome with false bravery, and consider himself different from
others. But when he comes to his senses he realizes that he is in the service of an idol and in need of mercy.
In today's
world everything is controlled by money, and the capital sins are no
longer evil habits but the standard for what makes the world go round.
Living in a society with unlimited competition, not seen as something
bad-- there is a need to trample others-- the capital sins are
necessary.
The Church itself has become infected with
this kind of thinking. The treatment of the handicapped, the hiring of
irregular workers for the church, are examples of this thinking. We are
told by the higher clergy that to search for peace of mind in our
religion is not a good, and we have 8 out of 10 who do not attend
Mass on Sunday. Catholics are not only at Mass to receive the grace from the
sacraments but also to hear words of consolation from the priests. Reasons for the low Mass attendance need not be spelled out....
Pope
Francis is appealing for mercy from all of us. A necessary condition
for this to happen is to rid ourselves of the vices and work with the
seven virtues that have to become part of us. Mercy comes with the disposition of welcoming our brothers and sisters and not money.
We
need to rid ourselves of discrimination, he concludes, and have a welcoming desire for a new heaven and a new earth, and begin living like
humans.
A couple came to see the pastor about the lack of communication between them. Married for over thirty years, and recently experienced an iron wall separating them. The priest writes about the encounter with the couple in the Pastoral Bulletin; wonders about the results of living in this way.
The couple expressed in detail their problem and was hoping for some words of wisdom from the pastor resolving their difficulty. The priest prayed that the couple in receiving Jesus in communion they would again find trust and the flame of love again.
Communication is at the heart of relationships. One good at communicating is looked upon kindly, and easily approached. They show concern for others and their own situation, and are looked upon favorably-- all enjoy their company.
We have the smart phone, the internet, and many other means of communicating but it has not improved but rather distanced ourselves from better and deeper communication, and we are called to be communicators.
God's desire in the Trinity is to be intimate, and open to communication. We are not responding to the invitation to be open to the other when we only remember the scars inflicted, and close our hearts to the other. We justify our actions by not wanting to be scarred again. Closing our hearts to others, we are isolating ourselves, making us lonelier. When we close ourselves off from our neighbor, the world and nature we imprison ourselves in a cave.
Communication is an essential part of our existence. Without communication we destroy our humanity, become overly nervous, and depressed. We don't communicate only to achieve some result but to be who we are. When we are with a close friend we speak without fear of being misunderstood. Opening ourselves to the other and being accepted we know we are worthy of love which renews us.
Our Lord is calling us to an intimacy of friendship. We are completely open to him giving him even our sins and failings and receiving mercy and forgiveness. We need to be open to communication, or we will not be living a truly human life. God the Father communicated with us by giving us his son; Jesus gave himself completely in communication as food-- Take and Eat.
Cardinal Paul Shan Kuo-hsi died on August 22, 2012 in Taipei Taiwan
at the age of 90 and left us an account of his experience recopied in the Pastoral Bulletin. His account of the trials and embarrassment he
endured is even difficult to copy. The article did skip some of the
most difficult aspects of his last days.
" In Taipei, I could not defecate for two days so the
doctor gave me some laxatives. They started to work around midnight. I
woke up the male nurse to help me get to the washroom. Before we got all
the way, my bowels emptied; the feces dropped out of me, fell to the
floor and the nurse stepped in them. He was not happy. While he washed
his slippers and the floor, he muttered words that I could not
understand. He then took off my soiled pajamas, sat me on the toilet
bowl naked and, while he washed the shit off my legs, scolded me like an
adult scolds a child."
“Just two or three steps from the toilet and you couldn’t hold on. It
gives me so much trouble. You have to tell me earlier next time,” was the bawling out he got from the male nurse.
"I felt like a one-year-old kid. Every sentence was like a sharp
knife, cutting away all the esteem, honor, titles, status, authority and
dignity of my past 90 years. After cleaning me up, he laid me on my bed
and quickly went back to sleep.
"I was
prescribed with a strong diuretic to expel the fluid in my lungs – but I
wasn’t told about it. The medication took effect during Mass. By the
time I got to the readings, I had to go to the toilet. On the way, I wet
myself so badly my urine left a trail on the floor. Since my ordination 57 years ago, that had never happened during
Mass. I lost my dignity. I felt I had no place to hide in front of the
nuns, doctors and nurses. This is how God started to cure my vanity.
These experiences made me realize two important spiritual facts--One: If you want to get close to Jesus, you must depend on God’s assistance to empty yourself. Two: When our loving God plays tricks on us, making us embarrassed,
chronic problems of our heart and mind can be healed; obstacles on our
spiritual path will be removed.
That embarrassment brought rejuvenation to a nonagenarian suffering
from terminal illness."
In just days, it took him back to the innocence
he had in his childhood and expelled unhelpful habits that had
accumulated for years.
“For God everything is possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
Korea, for many years has been a leader in sending missioners to
other countries, and most of them would be Protestants, but Catholic
numbers are beginning to grow. A Catholic Times article reports that
the Church began in earnest sending their members overseas in the
1980s: the Korean Foreign Mission Society sent three missioners to Papua New Guinea in 1981, Jeon Ju diocese sent priests to South
America, and religious orders sent men to missions.
Korean
Benedictines sent two men to the Philippines, the Korean Foreign
Mission society in 1990 sent three missioners to Taiwan-- not only
religious and priests but also laypeople. The
Columban Missionary Society sent a team of laypeople to the
Philippines in 1990. The Columban Mission Society, each year in their
missionary formation programs, educate and send missioners to
different parts of the world.
In Asia there are many
Koreans who are working in difficult situations. According to the figures
from the Vatican in 2009 there were 316 Koreans in 20 different
countries, and in 2014 there were 385 missioners
in 21 countries: 225 in 17 countries of the Americas, and 79 in 20 countries
of Africa. In Asia the largest number of Asians
working on the Catholic mission field would be from Korea.
The
Asian missioners have learned a great deal from the missioners of the
West and in their 40 years on the mission have learned by trial and
error, and the mistakes made by the missioners in history.
Missioners
usually go to the poor and marginalized peoples of the world. They
work with the handicapped, women, children, young people in education
programs. In these impoverished areas devastated by natural disasters,
war and tribal disputes, they bring medical help, welfare, and aid to better their lives with a new value system and hope for the future.
A
Columban Sister has been in Myanmar for 11 years. She is helping them to
discover God and giving them a way of life that comes from the
teachings of Jesus. They are seeing results from their labors. They have
seen those moved by the missioners and have decided to
become priests.
Missioners need a good education to
overcome the many difficulties they find in the mission
field. It is the same continent but many
cultures, religions, and languages. One priest wants the missioners to ask themselves how much do they know about Asia. There is a
need to know the culture, the histories and to begin dialogue between the
religions and work to incluturate.
Mission in the future may be working
with the atheists and unbelievers whose numbers continue to increase and believers decrease. Life has meaning-- may be the clarion call of the missioner to those who trusted in themselves and what they could see and touch, and found that it sapped their energies and
left them without hope. Missioners will have the need to evangelize themselves to bring hope to the many who have lost a reason for living, less in Asia, but numbers continue to increase.
Marriages in Korea do no better than any other part of the
world. Last year Korea was listed as number 8th in the list of
countries with the most divorces. The efforts of the Church to stem
the tide is ongoing with movements, literature, and efforts to
educate parishioners. One of the diocesan bulletins is running a
series of articles on understanding the problems in marriages, and offering solutions.
There are many commonly held ideas about
marriage while common are not helpful. An aspect that is basic to all
of them is trying to change the other. When we achieve this, problems
will disappear but they don't. We look for the answers outside of
ourselves.
What is important is to change ourselves.
These wrong notions that we have about marriage make finding the
solutions more difficult.The wrong headed ideas:
1) Both have to change.
2) Working hard to change the partner.
3) My partner is every thing.
4) My partner has to satisfy all my wants.
5) Marriage does not require a great deal of work.
6) Efforts continue with no change.
7) Love is in the feelings.
8) Ideal love is outside marriage.
9) My parent's marriage went smoothly so will my marriage.
10) Great change is required for a good marriage.
The
relationship of husband and wife is the most important relationship in
the family. When this is healthy the other relationships grow. Children
learn from this relationship: the values that make for a happy life and
the way they will see the world. After children are born often the
concern is for the children. The couple's relationship becomes less
important, and ignored, will surface again after the children leave. The
estrangement will appear in their awkward relationship: silence and
avoidance will just make the bond more difficult. This relationship will leave scars on the children that will last a lifetime. This reality is well know by most parents,
and a prod to nurture the love they have promised
each other. A precious gift to the children.
April 16th is the first anniversary of the sinking of the Sewol;
both Catholic papers continue to write about the tragedy and the
problems that are appearing as they begin the investigation of
the tragedy.
When the bishops of Korea were on
their ad limina visit to the Vatican, Pope Francis asked them how were
the problems associated with the sinking of the ferry working out. One
of the columnist mentions that he doesn't know how the bishops
answered, but they were no doubt confused.
Families
want the government to raise the ship, find the bodies of the missing,
and get to the truth of the sinking. A year has passed and Lee Suk-tae
who was nominated by the families wants to start the investigation but
obstacles are put in their way, preventing an objective search
for the truth. Politics continue to enter the picture. The families do not want the government
to influence the outcome by appointing officials to committee posts.
Confucianism
is strong in Korean society and not finding the bodies of the dead
is a difficult situation for the families to face--without closure
that comes with a funeral.
The Catholic Church
continues to be a strong voice siding with the families and keeping the
issue before the public with Masses and meetings throughout the country. Society has felt the pain of the families and has shown respect and
sympathy for them, and those involved in the
tragedy. Even those who did not die in the tragedy have suffered trauma
that will be with them for life.
Chairman Lee Suk-tae
payed a visit to Cardinal Yeom of Seoul asking for help to give the
committee the strength to do its work. The investigation will uncover a
great deal of corruption, laxity, ignoring of safety standards, all in a
desire for economic growth. Cardinal expressed the opinion that
the very essence of the investigation is to find the truth behind the
tragedy.
The special committee has to be given freedom
to begin the investigation, and politics should have no place in the
workings of the committee was the strong statement made in one of the
editorials.
