Putting the Cart Before the Horse

In the Peace Column of the Peace Weekly, we have a summary of a discussion the writer had with some close friends some 10 years ago. He doesn't remember all the discussion but what still remains with him was the worldliness within the church.

Authoritarianism and self-importance  of the clergy were an issue that must be remedied but more than that was the secularization of the church. After the Second Vatican Council, the laity had the task of bringing about the kingdom of God in society. This is the particular task of the laity. They are to help spread the fragrance of Christ and help to improve the society in which we live but here, he says, it was just the opposite: society's values entered the church.

Lay people  are related to the clergy like those in the workplace are related with their superiors: laity try  to please the clergy. Works of service are considered like a government position, and this spreads to all the areas within the community. This evil pushes out the good.

A priest was the person that brought this to the attention of the group. For the writer more than what was said was the reason behind the change in thinking. In the later years of the 1970s and 80s, we had an increase in the numbers entering the church. Many were not able to filter out the behaviors in society that were not proper for a Christian, and these ideas entered  the  church community. They became the current within the church. What is important, said the priest, is not just to increase the numbers but to form Christians who think like Christ. 
 
Pope Francis has often repeated we are a community of sinners. Consequently, we will have both large and small problems to face. The vast majority of the Christians are immersed in our culture, and the temptations that come from making ourselves the center of everything.

However, we have to be careful for there is much the church  can learn from the society in which we live:  knowledge gathered from the sciences and the humanities which can greatly help the community of faith. At the same time, we keep out the wrong  behavior, and work to change it to Gospel values.

This requires that all the Christians together work to examine and discern what is happening in society. Accept the good and work to change the wrong. However, we have to begin with ourselves. When we see what is not in harmony with the Gospel, we resolutely work to overcome it. When we have the correct order of things in ourselves we will be able to work wisely to correct the problems in society.

Korean Martyrs of the North

Martyrs who have died for their faith are many in the history of Korea. In recent years we heard about the  martyrs that died during the years of the communist take over of North Korea.

The Korean bishops have asked the Vatican to open the beatification process for the bishop of Pyongyang Hong Young-ho and his 80 companions after the division of Korea in 1948. Rome has approved the request and the study of the information has begun.

On the list, we have a number of foreign priests of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, the Columban Fathers, foreign missionary nuns, Korean priests, religious sisters, seminarians and lay people and on the list are two Maryknollers: Bishop Patrick Byrne and Maryknoll Korean Sister, Chang Chong-on Agneta the sister of John M Chang (Chong Myon) who was ambassador, vice president, and prime minister of the Republic of Korea from 1960-1961.

Bishop Patrick James Byrne  a member of the Maryknoll Fathers was the first missioner chosen in 1923 to begin the work in Korea and is listed as one who has died for the faith in North Korea. He was named Prefect Apostolic of Pyongyang but in 1929 had to return to the States after being elected Vicar General  during the first society chapter. He returned in 1935 to a new mission in Kyoto, Japan where he helped to calm the people during the American occupation. In 1947  he was appointed as the first Apostolic visitor for Korea and in 1949 the first Apostolic Delegate to Korea.

In 1949 he was consecrated bishop in Myong Dong Cathedral,Seoul, and the following year the Korea War began. Knowing the imminent fall of Seoul to the invading army the Americans were advised to flee to Japan but he didn't want to leave his responsibility to the Church of Korea. He complained about the   persecution of the Church in the North and the imprisonment of Bishop Hong and the priests and Christians.

He was arrested in July and before a people's court with many other foreigners was imprisoned and was sentenced to die. He was transferred to Pyongyang and imprisoned again on July 19th. On Oct. 8th he was moved to Manpo and shortly after began the four-month death march.

Bishop Byrne became ill and finally died of pneumonia. Before he died he told those who were with him: "After the privilege of my priesthood. I regard this privilege of having suffered for Christ with all of you as the greatest of my life." He received the absolution the night before from Father William Booth a Maryknoll priest who was his secretary. Bishop Quinlan, A Columban priest and Prefect Apostolic of Chunchon recited the prayers at the gravesite. He died on November 25, 1950, at the age of 62 and was buried in an unmarked grave.

The great sadness is the fact that the age of the martyrs has not ended as we know from the daily news. In North Korea, we have no way of knowing the suffering of the Christians that remain.

For those who may be interested in more information about the Maryknoll Society and its  work in Asia you are invited to go these sites: 


https://maryknollsociety.org/

http://brianbarrons.typepad.com/  

Chinahands-typePad

What Do We See?

A Catholic University professor writes in the Catholic Times' View from the Ark column, about something he saw on the Internet which moved him greatly. An elementary school teacher presented to his class a picture of a child bent over scavenging for food with the caption: Let us think. Followed again with the question:What is the child doing? After 5 minutes of thought--How happy is the life that I am now living?

According to the professor, the school teacher was expecting to have the children reflect on their own life and respond with gratitude. One student,however, after seeing the picture wrote: "Seeing the picture of another's misfortune and being thankful for my blessings is not what it should be. We should work together to find a solution to the problem so we  all can eat and live well."

The voice of the elementary school child moved the professor and he uses the words of the child to express his opinion on happiness. What do we see that makes our living worthwhile? What makes us happy? The child mentioned 'together' and  was not interested in a happiness that comes from a comparison with another. The professor wonders if the individual happiness is really possible without the other. What really is happiness that is not in someway related to others?

Is there a happiness that separates us from others? When we have plenty of material goods,and receive praise and are envied by others can that be a reason for true happiness in life?

In society we have many who work in jobs that are subcontracted and at a lower salary, this is besides the irregular workers. The column mentions a young person who was working in a subcontracting job who was making much less than would be the case for a regular worker and saving over three quarters of what he was making to go to college. Money comes with education, and gives us dignity.

Isn't this our culture? We accept that discrimination  comes with a lack of education and money. A person who is making about a thousand dollars a month is distressed  and society forces him to learn if he wants to be accepted. Dignity of a person comes from what he has achieved in life.  Our columnist wonders if  some of the joy many have comes from this comparison with others, who do not have what they possess.

Those who have spent their lives looking for wisdom will advise us to look beyond what we possess for an answer. We need to look inside of ourselves to see who we are as persons. What makes us tick, our inner being should be the object of our examination. Our elementary school child could do this and gave our columnist his topic.

Why Hell Jeoson?

The Catholic Times featured on the front page of the recent issue an article under the caption: Leave class-consciousness and expand social consensus. Often heard are the phrases: 'Hell Jeoson' and 'gold and earth spoons'. A reference by the young people that what they received from their parents at birth, no matter what, will be what they will have at the end of life, which makes life similar to the  feudal days of the Jeoson dynasty. (1392-1910)


Two forums were conducted; one had as a topic: How do we overcome the golden and earth spoon thinking? (Born with a silver spoon in mouth) And the other forum considered:  How do we see the culture of the young people with this 'Hell Jeoson' phenomenon? Expectations for the forum were to seek solutions in facing the issue, for it also makes its appearance within the community of faith.

Addiction to study makes Korea hell for many. At one time the prevalent thinking was education at the best of schools will guarantee a good job and life. This is the thinking of the 486 generation the parents of the young ( refers to those in the 40s who entered the university in the  80s and were born in the 60s).
Young people no longer see study as the way to success but rather frustration, failure and scorn.  

One of the  participants in the forum, mentioned how the sensibilities of the young are different from other generations, because of the digital culture. They are immature in their social relations; problems of life are missing in their education. However, he does thank the parents for raising children who are steady and reliable.

They agree that education should not be to raise one's position in society or make money but to solve problems of life. Church should emphasize non-market values and work for the common good where we give without desire of a return.

Another participant stressed: the gap between the rich and poor is not only a question of economics but affects our democracy and the whole of society. Problems are many and will not disappear as they get older. The job market is not good, finding a decent place to live, retirement and the like remain social problems, and require interest among the young in finding solutions.

Church needs to show there is another way of conducting our affairs in society. We want to bring God's kingdom on this earth with our common concerns; with our belief and with our mutual giving and receiving in a non-market way of living. This is  the beginning in solving the problems we face.

Conversation, Reconciliation and Peace In North Korea

The Catholic Korean Catholic Pastoral Information Magazine had an interview with the local Maryknoll Superior, Fr. Gerard E. Hammond, which was carried by both the English and Korean editions of the magazine. We have summarized briefly from the English edition.

Fr. Hammond  visits  North  Korea usually twice a year with the Eugene Bell Foundation to help  MDR TB patients in the North. This form of TB infection is caused by bacteria which are resistant to common drug treatments, highly infectious and fatal if untreated. Only about 10% of the sick  can be treated because of the amount of financial support required.

TB is the biggest killer in North Korea. Over the past 20 years they have treated about 250,000 patients. Fr. Hammond considers his visits to Korea as a pilgrimage, because of the number of martyrs, including Maryknoll Bishop Byrne, Bishop Hong Yong-ho and many Christians who died for their faith. 

Maryknoll began work in Pyongyang in 1927. Bishop Patrick Byrne, who was Prefect Apostolic of Pyongyang,  along with  Bishop Hong  both died in North Korea and are now candidates for beatification. North Korea still suffers from a lack of religious freedom.

In his own life he feels the work of a missioner is to build a loving relationship with a mission field. More important than speaking, for a missioner is acting, doing, because of the language barrier. He has always tried to delegate financial and administrative duties to others, and dedicated himself to spiritual activities. Eating together was always an important spiritual activity. Setting time aside for others is a important work for the older members of the Korean region.

Fr. Hammond asked about his views on the North South situation, responded that North and South need to keep talking  to each other. The United States, Japan, China and Russia put their own needs first so they should be excluded from the discussion table.  Before reunification comes we have to work hard to achieve the following: conversation, reconciliation,  and peace. North Korean Catholics were invited to the Mass for Peace and Reconciliation but they didn't come.

He mentioned how he experienced the presence of God in one of his meetings with a  North Korean. He was traveling in a Jeep on a four-hour trip to Sinuiju  to collect sputum samples. He was sitting in the passenger seat saying the rosary when his rosary broke.  He asked the driver for a pincer. The driver wanted to know why. Seeing the rosary he replied, "Oh, I can fix it."  While repairing he added: "My grandmother used to have this kind of thing." Father Hammond asked again, "She was a nice person wasn't she?" He said yes but the conversation was interrupted by another person but he remembers it vividly.

At the conclusion of the interview he was asked what does he want as an  epitaph, since he made  known his desire to die in Korea. Fr. Hammond wants to say just before he dies: "Yeongwoni Hamkke" ( Together forever).

Gender and Sexuality

A professor at a research center for women in her column in the Peace Weekly wants her readers to reflect on sexual harassment issues that continue to appear in the news. A few years ago, a staff member with the President on a trip to the States was accused of sexual indiscretion with an Embassy intern.

He was removed from his job and returned to Korea. In his interview with the press, his explanation was: he patted the back of the Korean guide. From that time on he has been secluded in his home. Seeing how public opinion was not happy with what was happening the President apologized for the incident. Since the intern was assigned by the Korean Embassy to help the staff member, the relationship was one of superior and subordinate. The writer sees this as sexual violence. Staff members considered the person a guide and tried to minimize the seriousness of the incident as did others who were dealing with issues involved in the incident.

The government has decreed that in the future public officials on overseas duty will not be dealing with interns. The writer does not believe the authorities realize  the problem is a structural one and  tries to remedy it with makeshift solutions. Many, overcome with anger, sent an open letter to the President in which they want what happened seen  through the eyes of the young woman;  the staff member undergo investigation in the States; and provide  provisions that will prevent this from happening again.

1,000 women from Korea have voiced their disapproval of the handling of the case. It is a criminal case. They want the case to be tried before the district public prosecutor's office. Since the staff member has denied any wrong doing this has resulted in harm to the victim's reputation. If we ignore what happened, we are facing a future where politicians will continue this kind of behavior. They want to make clear these actions are violence against women.

Since the statute of limitation ends this year, the staff member is free to  express the unfairness(?) of what he  experienced. Both the States and Korea are in a fog on how to look upon what happened. The need to bring up the subject after three years is to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents: inaction and using a cotton bat are no help. Often they  blame it on too much drinking or the victim's behavior which takes the concern for the violence off the perpetrator. Without growth in respect for human rights, democracy does not mature, and she hopes that this incident will help  promote our understanding of gender and sexuality.

All Embracing Love of the Mohists

In a bulletin for priests the writer introduces us to Mo Tzu a Chinese Philosopher who followed Confucius and was in opposition to his ideas. At the time he was as influential as Confucius but not as successful in winning people's hearts. Mohism has almost disappeared.

He uses the book written by a professor who writes about the all embracing love without discrimination, in Mo Tzu's teaching. According to Mo Tzu  that are three things that bring disorder to our society: the hungry have nothing to eat,  those who are cold have no clothes, and those that work can't rest.

When we don't have universal love the  strong will oppress the weak, the majority will bully the minority,  the rich will despise the poor, the aristocracy will  lord it over the lowly, the smart will deceive the foolish, and we have chaos. 

Mo Tzu lived  around the 390 BC and his times are not much different from our own times. We have not been able to heal the wounds of war and have not become any more mature in our love for others. Altruism instead of  growing appears to have decreased. All our attention is on money. We seem to agree that to live better we need to amass more money. Not only true with the wealthy but with those who sorrow with little, but agree that money will solve all problems.

The rich want more and are absorbed in its acquisition while those who sorrow without it want to join the club and are oblivious of those who are left behind. This is the kind of society that we are in and the future doesn't look bright.

With the eyes of faith we see this search for idols as unhealthy, and the teaching of universal love that the Mohist school professed as the solution. Apparently the demise of this philosophy was its impracticality, and unrealistic demands.  In many ways his way of love is very similar to Jesus' way and for many also seen as impractical.

The caption  for the article is Mo Tzu's expression of his all inclusive love. IF UNDER THE HEAVENS WE HAD LOVE FOR EACH OTHER, A LOVE THAT I HAVE FOR MYSELF,  WOULD WE HAVE ANY IMPIETY? Can we imagine what Asia would be today if instead of Confucianism we had Mohism as the mainspring of Asian Culture?