Numbers leaving the North for South Korea continue to decrease. This year, according to an article in the Catholic Times, up until October, 978 escaped to the South, which would be about 98 a month: first year the numbers have dropped to under a hundred.
Many
are the reasons for the drop, but in first place is the strengthening
of the borders between China and North Korea under Kim Jong-un. Once the
route for leaving the north is closed, natural to see a drop in the
numbers. Expenses are now higher since the dangers are greater than the
past: "High Risk, High Return." Although they have a strong aversion to
the principles of capitalism, they still are experienced in their use.
It was only a few who could take the freedom train for the South.
Living conditions in the North have improved so that many don't
feel the need to risk their lives in leaving. Citizens are permitted to
use personal funds in the market which has made the market a different
reality. They are able to take care of their needs for food and
shelter; living is no longer what it was.
In
third place is the difficulty in adapting to life in the South.
Coldness which the refugees feel and the financial difficulties they
experience, becomes big news in the North. It is well known that those
who fail to make Korea home, try to get refugee status to go to Europe.
When
the numbers decrease not because of the better living conditions in the
North but because of the treatment in the South and opting for a third
country should make us think.
Refugee response to life in the South comes to us by the media in many different ways.
When we have a scuffle with the police, leaflets are distributed; we
have the women with heavy makeup and short skirts bringing up in
conversations the strange things that happen in the North which adds to
the distance and curiosity towards the North, and a 'we against them'
scenario.
If
we want unification, says the columnist, should we not emphasis what
we have in common instead of what divides, to embrace instead of shun.
Are we as citizens and government doing what we can to include them and
co-exist with them using our resources to facilitate the relationship?
He doesn't feel there are many who appreciate the question.
We
have 28,000 from the North living in the South. If we can't
accommodate them in our society, and we talk about unification, he feels
this is hypocrisy, and to consider unification a desired goal and
continue acting in this way are we justified, he concludes, in speaking about unification?
The spiritual column in the Peace Weekly reminds us we live in relationships with others. We might think we are called as individuals for the spiritual journey but that is not the case. Relating with others is the way we grow in the practice of virtue and in the spiritual life.
He reminds us of the first Christians whose spirituality was relating with the other members of the community. "They spent their time in learning from the apostles taking part in the fellowship and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers" (Acts. 2:42). They partook of the Eucharist and maintained the unity of their oneness with Jesus.
One of the early Church Fathers Ignatius of Antioch in his letters to the communities stressed their oneness with the bishop and the importance of their relationship with one another. "It is therefore, befitting that you should in every way glorify Jesus Christ who has glorified you, by a unanimous obedience, you may be perfectly joined in the same mind, and in the same judgment, and may all speak the same thing concerning the same thing and that, being subject to the bishop and the presbytery you may in all respects be sanctified" (Letter to the Ephesians Ch. 2).
He gives us the story of St, Francis of Assisi who gave everything he possessed back to his father and was covered by the mantle of the bishop, symbolizing his oneness with the bishop and the community. At that time, many were leaving the Church but Francis embraced it more firmly in its poverty.
St.Ignatius of Loyola
in the Spiritual exercises also stressed the obedience to the Church.
He was one who wanted his followers to think like the Church. Bernard,
Charles Andre who taught spirituality at the Gregorian in Rome in the
present times also stressed the need for those on the spiritual path to
be related closely to the Church and its teachings.
The column concludes with a look at shamanism and the influence it has on Koreans. Folkways in Korea will show us the desire of many to go at spirituality as loners, but that is not the spirituality that is Christian, but we find many who find this more attractive in their way of thinking. Christian spirituality is through the Church, with the Church and in the Church.
Pope
Francis has proclaimed an extraordinary Jubilee with mercy at the
center. He wants us to live the Holy Year of Mercy starting on Dec. 8th
which will continue to the Feast of Christ the King of 2016, remembering
the Lords words: Be merciful, just as you Father is merciful (Lk.
6:36). Yesterday, we began our liturgical new year with the first Sunday of Advent and Mercy is the theme.
A
seminar, sponsored by the Catholic Pastoral Research Center, and written up in the Peace Weekly reflects on the work ahead. They wanted to
study the direction the Church should be going with the new
evangelization in connection with the teachings of Vatican II which
ended 50 years ago. Hope was expressed that we will have a new turning
point within the Korean Church for they all agreed that the
implementation of the Council left a lot to be desired.
In
the keystone address the previous head of the bishops' Conference
stressed Pope Francis' vision for a synodal Church at every level with
everyone listening to each other, learning from each other and taking
responsibility for proclaiming the Gospel. The bishop mentioned the need
to listen to the people and be companions with them in their struggles.
One
of the participants mentioned we don't see mercy expressed in society,
and in our culture but neither is it prevalent within the church.
Another mentioned the need to understand two words collegiality and synodality if we want to bring about renewal.
Another participant listed the assignment the Church of Korea has to implement:
to see the signs of the time and prepare for it pastorally; concern for
the weak, the common good, and seeking peace; renewal and dialogue
with the world, efforts to change the way we do politics, finances and
the culture is our prophetic call. These are the elements that have come
from the Second Vatican Council.
This
kind of reformation will require a great deal of effort in the local
areas of the Church. In recent years we have had Synods in many of the
dioceses which were meant to renew the local church but it was like the listing of problems and tasks as they would be in an encyclopedia without priorities, and follow ups. We need targets and
priorities, if we want to see change.
In recent weeks, we continue to hear the news about violence throughout the world. Islamic State has taken credit for the killings in Paris. Korea's demonstrations against the government for its education, and labor policies was met with violence to stop the demonstrators. A past president of a diocesan Catholic Farmers group was struck by a water cannon and injured seriously, and is hovering between life and death.
In a Column of the Peace Weekly, we are asked what should be our attitude in the face of all the violence we see in the world? We have been given at baptism the mission as prophet and what does this require of us in this present reality?
We will not arrive at peace in the world with a few people of good will acting righteously; it is a task for all of us. Popes have made it clear that peace is the work of all, and we will not have it without justice.
From the first, we were created to enjoy the gift of peace. In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us: "Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children!"
Jesus' teachings are clear. "The precondition for peace is the dismantling of the
dictatorship of relativism and of the supposition of a completely
autonomous morality which precludes acknowledgment of the ineluctable
natural moral law inscribed by God upon the conscience of every man and
woman. Peace is the building up of coexistence in rational and moral
terms, based on a foundation whose measure is not created by man, but
rather by God (Pope Benedict's Peace Message for 2013).
This desire for peace is not a dream or a Utopia. Not just a wish we have but a real good we work to achieve. Consequently, Christians have to work against all kinds of injustices, and work in solidarity with all movements for the common good. We have to resist all kinds of selfishness, violence, greed, thirst for power, and structures that breed hate and injustices: working on the side of the weak for their rights and dignity.
Peace we all know is not something we achieve quickly nor merely a distant ideal, but something with daily little steps, we persistently and gradually work to realize: difficult though it be. In the fragmented society in which we live, working to realize this peace is carrying out the mission we have received from Jesus at baptism. And we start with ourselves.
A recent symposium with the theme of Crisis in the Church considered
the reasons why people are leaving. Representatives from the German and
United States Church gave examples and compared their own problems
with the Korean Church's problems. Parents are not able to hand down
their faith life to the children. People are thirsting for
authenticity; one of the participants believes it is this lack of
authenticity that people are looking for and not finding.
The
failure of the Korean Church to grab the attention of the Catholics
is not unique to Korea. A professor from Germany explains that the
secularization of the population has led to the turning of their backs
to the Church. In 2010 there were more people leaving the Church in
Germany than entering.
Germany is emphasizing the role
of the laypeople. The Church is discovering the value of the lay person
and working to get them involved. The future of the Church is with the
layperson and not the clergy. He further stressed that the Church is the
people of God and in this they are not disconnected from the clergy. We
need to put down our authoritarianism and make the joy of the Gospel
come alive.
The professor from the States reminds those
present that women are not taking their rightful place within the
Church. In the States those that approved of women priests within the
Church in 1987 was 35% in 2011 it rose to 55%. Within Protestantism over half
of the Churches allow women clergy within the ranks. In Lutheranism
and Anglicanism they are accepted as bishops. This is not
the direction we should go, he makes clear, but we should see what the
laypeople are telling the Church about women's role within the Church.
A
Korean seminary professor says we need to find a way of having the
women participate in the workings of the Church in an enthusiastic way.
We have to find ways of being more persuasive in our teaching and in
communicating with our Christians.
In the discussion that followed there was a question about the new religions that are appearing on the scene.This
is a sign the the Church is not fulfilling the role that it should have
in society. People are not interested in what is the oldest and most
original of the religions but one that serves them the best. It
is not the teaching that attracts but how it is received by the hearts
of the people.
We have to find ways of being more authentic and closer to the Gospels if we are not to follow the ways of the West.
A column by a teacher emeritus tells the readers of the Peace Weekly of an e-mail he received about an elementary school child who had a health problem that prevented him from growing. He was a well adjusted, happy child, who got along with his classmates but short of stature.
At an autumn field day at the school, the child was in a race with his classmates. The older sister of the child and family seeing the child run brought tears to their eyes, but shortly this was the case for all who were in attendance for just before the end of the race the one who was in the lead stopped, and all the others as they came to the finish waited for the lagger, and all crossed the finish line together.
All made first place together. This is not the adult world in which we live. The columnist reviews his own life and realizes that more than considering the feelings of his children; he wanted them to be # 1. As a teacher, he was always interested in having his students number one. Not only in studies but in comparison to the other homerooms in cleanliness, singing or whatever, nothing was better than number one.
There are many other things one can be proud of besides being number one. He has made the transition. Those that have made it to first place, hopefully will realize that they have the privilege to be of service to others.
Each has special gifts, and these should be developed but society has a different set of values that it selects to prize and reward. We don't realize the harm this does to many who like the child, was not gifted as a runner.
We have in the Scriptures two disciples who wanted a better position within the group. When the others heard of this, they weren't pleased. Here we have a case even with those who were closest to Jesus for the first places. This did not help to develop harmony within the first community of disciples. Our Lord's words are very clear: Any one who wants to be first among you must be the slave to all (Mk 10: 44).
Competition is a part of life, and we will not see it disappear, but we can make it less harmful for the many who are not in the running. Even those who are in the running: the person who comes in second feels the loss of not being first more so than the person who comes in third.
Society for many different reasons makes those who are first in many different fields the object of adulation. We even have it within the Church with the making of saints, but it goes without need of explanation, that these persons considered the first place of little value, and in the degree they felt so, were closer to God.
During the last week of the liturgical year, the Korean Church celebrates Bible Week, hoping for a larger reading audience for the Scriptures. Articles and the editorial of the Peace Weekly remind the readers the importance of input from the Scriptures to see the world through the eyes of Jesus.
This year the theme
for the week is taken from Genesis: "God saw all he had made, and indeed
it was very good" (Gen. 1-31). We are urged to go to the Scriptures to
find answers to our problems with the environment. Bishop's message
reminds the readers that to undo some of the harm to nature we need to
heed the Gospel of reconciliation and intimacy with God's creation.
God has ordered us to take care of his creation. Reading the Scriptures we learn how precious creation is, and in Jesus, we see his intimate connection with nature and helping people to return to the family of humanity from their ailments and alienation.
In Korea, we have many who have taken to transcribing the Scriptures: copying each word by hand. In this issue of the Peace Weekly, we have those who have done this not only once, but one woman has copied the Old Testament 8 times in the last 18 years, and the New Testament 11 times. She says it deepened her faith life, and gave her more joy. She spends about 1 hour and 20 minutes each day in this way.
One young girl of sixteen heard that the diocese would give a gift of an overseas pilgrimage to all the students who copied the Old and New Testaments. She began with the desire to go abroad; in the beginning, it was tedious and difficult, but she began to enjoy what she was doing.
There are many of these stories and those who accomplish the task find that it gives them a chance to mull over each word and reflect on what they are writing. It is not to have another copy of the Bible but to meet God. We are forced to slow down and become reflective when we read.
Reading, writing, and reflection on the words of Scripture are meant to activate us to live them. Knowledge we don't use is not really helpful to us. We need to live it daily. Hopefully, we will get more who will be attracted to reading of Scripture, doing it more frequently, with a change in lives.
