Speaking behind a person's back is an expression easily understood. Korean has a number of these phrases--some considered slang.
On the opinion page of the Peace Weekly, a columnist gives us his understanding of backbiting, gossip. Usually saying unsavory things about others. As people of faith, it is confessional matter, an enemy of the virtuous life.
The columnist quotes the words of Pope Francis at a morning Mass: "If you are capable of not speaking badly of someone, you are on the path to becoming a saint," These words startled the columnist and considers it a ban on gossiping. In his own life, few are the days that he has not participated in gossiping and feels embarrassed.
He feels this kind of talk arises from a feeling of inferiority or jealousy. More readily seen with the weak rather than the strong. There is a strange kind of pleasure that comes when we attempt to take down another, who appears better than oneself; it makes us feel superior. It's an attempt to hide our frustration and shame. When truth and justice are at stake we should honestly be open and say what we think when our logic and moral position is not clear we lean towards gossiping. A sign of failure, those who don't shrink before authority will not resort to gossip.
Gossip is a sign of helplessness. We sacrifice those at a distance to gain a feeling of intimacy with those close to us. A pleading for comfort and a pathetic way to try to cover over the hurt to our spirit. Often, he says, it is a way of allaying our problems by blaming others for our own involvement.
Gossip is our enemy, it hurts us and others in the community; it's like a fog that spreads and destroys harmony and peace. Rare is the positive talk in gossip. Pope Francis returns often to the topic of gossip in his talks: "Gossiping is like terrorism...who throws a bomb and runs away, destroying: with their tongue and not making peace...Every day I get the urge to say something that sows discord and division... Bite your tongue!"
He concludes the column with the experience of many of the politicians using blunt and unreasonable language and finding fault. However, one day he was faced with the fact that this blunt language was not gossip, but saying what they felt in their heart. He felt he was not in the right to criticize them. Gossip and blunt talk both lack virtue but if we are to choose--gossip is worse.
In the English Parliament, they address each other by the title 'Honourable Member' he would like us to address each other with this same attitude and if we tend to hesitate it may mean the words we utter may not be as honest as we believe. He wants us to dream of being saints, which will allow us to retire at night with a clean conscience.
Internet access and the value of the smartphone is a great blessing and beyond dispute but as with all technological advances, even with the good, there are stumbling blocks and negative results needing the discernment of the user.
In the Kyeongyang Magazine, three articles written by a psychologist, priest and a specialist in computer science, consider the effect on communication of the smartphone. It does facilitate communication but at the same time can be an obstacle to communication at a deeper level."Social networks can facilitate relationships and promote the good of society, but they can also lead to further polarization and division between individuals and groups. The digital world is a public square, a meeting-place where we can either encourage or demean one another, engage in a meaningful discussion or unfair attacks." (Pope Francis' Communication Sunday Message)
Smartphone's benefits as a tool of communication are many. What may be difficult in face to face conversation is easy with the smartphone. In the work place and in social activities it becomes invaluable. The handicapped feel strengthened by its use. However, communication is not only about convenience in conveying information. We want to express our feelings and our life and to feel with others. This is not easily done with the smartphone.
We can downplay the part of voice, facial expressions, and gestures in communication. One article mentions the work of two scholars who have studied the results of our bodily movements on communication. When we agree with another it is not a simply saying: "I agree" but a nodding of the head, sounds emitted by the mouth: 'ah', 'yeah', 'indeed', with these brief expressions we become fellow travelers. With the smartphone this is missing, we are not conveying our live emotions and are left with sterile words.
Often we can be under the illusion that we are conveying our deep feelings; gratitude, sorrow, repentance with the smartphone but we lack sincerity. A more serious problem is that we can lose touch with our feelings and think that what is happening in the digital is real communication of ourselves which can be a deception. We are faced with the paradox: the more we communicate the less we succeed in communicating.The easier it becomes the less we communicate.
The digital world allows us to communicate with the like-minded and form homogeneous groupings but at the same time becoming isolated from others. We imagine what is at a distance as present and ignore those nearest to us. In the home, we see family members with their smartphones and less human contact. The abbreviated kind of communication militates against the heart to heart communication that humans need, and forgotten is the importance of listening.
Real communication wants the gap between the old and young to decrease. Communication wants a sense of stability and solidarity to exist between ourselves and others. Even though we disagree in the way we see reality, we are ready to listen, working to breach the gap. Communication begins by listening.
Ahn Jung-geun and his relationship with Father Wilhelm, a Paris Foreign Missioner, who baptized him has received much study and interest. An article in Theological Perspective Quarterly by a seminary professor who has studied the issue in depth gives us his understanding of what was involved.
The issues highlighted in this brief article are those that continue to bother us both as citizens and as people of faith. Our attitudes depend a great deal on the perspective that we have and duties that we have in society and in our different communities.
In 1909, Ahn killed the Japanese Ito Hirobumi, resident general of Korea, in the Harbin Railway station. Ahn shot Ito three times on the railway platform. He was arrested by Russian guards and turned over to the Japanese colonial authorities. He didn't consider himself a criminal but wanted to be treated as a prisoner of war. When he heard the news that Ito had died he made the sign of the cross in gratitude.
When Ahn was in the Lushun Prison his mother asked Fr. Wilhelm to visit her son. He hesitated for he knew Bishop Mutel and many of the priests considered such a visit political while he saw it as religious.The Japanese authority gave permission for the visit but the bishop required that Ahn repent for his act: it was wrong to kill Ito Hirobumi and he wanted this expressed publicly.
Bishop Mutel since he was responsible for the church's mission in all of Korea, felt there would be difficulties for the priests since Japan was the de facto ruler of Korea. However, the priest looked upon his visit only in a religious way without any political overtones.
Fr. Wilhelm after much thought made the visit to the Lushun Prison. From the perspective of the personnel involved in the Lushun Prison, it was difficult to understand the visit only as religious. Since the priest asked for the full text of the proceedings against Ahn.
After his return to Korea Wilhelm was relieved of his priestly duties by the bishop. Fr. Wilhelm found this difficult to understand for going to a person that was on death row was the work of a priest and he appealed to the Catholic Mission Headquarters and the Congregation of Propaganda Fide.
Bishop Mutel found it hard to accept the resistance of the priest because the visit to the prison left plenty of room to interpret the visit politically. The bishop thought his visit would be harmful to the work of the church in Korea and have an impact on the Korean priesthood and the ministry of the church. The matter was concluded by Wilhelm leaving Korea.
Father Wilhelm accepted the fact that he couldn't return to Korea but justified his actions. He was vindicated by the church; Ahn is now considered by most as a patriot who carried out an 'uprising', for the cause of independence of the Republic of Korea and peace of East Asia.
South
Korea is the world's largest user of smartphones and no surprise in
having the most internet addicts. The cell network is so good that even
elementary school children carry smartphones and use them which poses
many problems for parents and teachers.
The government seeing the need has established internet dream camps for the addicted, to help them overcome their addiction. This is not only a gaming addiction but addiction to the whole digital world.
The
Peace Weekly gives us some understanding of the problems in an article.
This is not the first article, and Korea is not alone with internet
user problems. She is trying to do something to solve the problem with
rehabilitation camps and programs for the young.
91% of the population has a smartphone: the highest in the world. With these numbers, they have seen the fallout from the use and it is mostly with the young. 10% of the total number of students in high school are in danger of becoming addicted.
There are many different harmful results from this addiction: information overload, captivation in messaging,
estrangement from their living reality, extreme use of SNS sites,
continuing downloading of Apps, overuse of games, and addiction to
using adult content sites with pornography.
Health
problems: lack of sleep, social inability to relate with others,
turtleneck and dry eye problems. Children under 6 are given the
smartphone to quiet them which is not good for mental health.
Recently
in a discussion group, religious leaders considered the problems of
smartphone addiction. The bishops' committee on the media has recommended that all the programs for the young explain the dangers of internet addiction.
With
the increase of problems in society, programs need to be established:
certain fix times with no use of digital equipment, education on the
different facets of mass media, and camps for the addicted.
One article concludes with the signs of addiction. Without the smartphone, you see restlessness and agitation. When using the smartphone they want to put it down but continue using it. They can't plan on how to use the smartphone. They are always fingering the smartphone and hearing this from family and friends. There are many sites on addiction but (www.iapc.or.kr) is also in English.
Everybody, no matter the nation, culture, race, religion, all ultimately are seeking happiness and peace. Even if presently it is not attained, persons do not give up their hope and courage. With these words, a religious sister gives us her opinion in the Catholic Times on some problems society faces.
Is the search that Christianity has for happiness and peace only to do with the individual? No, God has created all, she says, and his spirit is not only in our hearts but in all of creation. Consequently, all of creation should be filled with joy and peace. The worries of the world should be the worries of the Church, and she quotes pope St. John XXIII. Pope Francis is of the same opinion, and she wants to search for the hope that we have.
At present many see the condition for happiness in money, family, and health. They are the foundational desires for life, love and material goods. Young people have coined a new word to express their sadness in what they see: 'Hell Joseon'( the period of the Joseon dynasty where the feudal system determined who got ahead). They see how many things they have to give up and their use of sarcasm shows this with the new words they coin. An individual before this mammoth power of money feels like a candle flame before the big wind that is blowing.
Recently when hearing the speeches of the party leaders, at the 20th National Assembly, the sister felt a sense of peace in that all was going in the right direction but the scandals of corruption of our public servants that continued to hit the press, took away her peace.
One public servant, while drunk, compared citizens to dogs and pigs, satisfied by eating, which was picked up by the press. The sister uses the words of Martin Buber to express the relationship that should exist with the citizens. It should be an 'I-Thou', but instead, it is 'I-It', meaning they don't feel connected with the citizens but seen as a third person reality. She feels the whole of society has a touch of 'Hell Joseon' syndrome to deal with and it also appears within the Church.
What is going on in society is affecting the church community and our spirituality is being deformed. This was true in the time of Jesus and in the present. Privilege and acting autocratically, satisfied with the status quo, is making us more Roman than the Church of Rome. We are afraid to leave our middle-class understanding of church. We have to understand the equality of old and young, men and women, rich and poor and be able to communicate with all. We need to feel for the suffering of others and work with our hearts and minds with nonviolent means looking for solutions.
This is the way of holiness shown to us by Jesus and the way of showing mercy. The way of the Gospel and the citizens way of working for the good of the whole earth. Walking along this road we will experience the mystery of 'death and resurrection' and in the process be a light to those who are looking for peace and joy.
In a column of the Catholic Times, the writer wonders whether economics isn't the greatest strength of our society. All the other values: moral, human, and of life, lose their meaning in its presence: law and logic have no place.
Values from life and the environment take a second place to the comfortable and abundant life offered to society by the nuclear power stations and other scientific advances. Solidarity with community, concern for the poor, all surrender to efficiency and competition. Economics is of the greatest value and its logic surpasses all else.
For many, the difficulties surrounding eating and just living trumps all the other values. Easy to understand, but at the same time materialism, and our need to adapt to the present reality is bitter to the taste.
It's a fact that when humans work for their own ends and competitively they accomplish great results. However, this is looking at the situation narrowly and superficially. For humanity working for the good of others, cooperating has also seen great economic results.
Economics the word itself comes from the work of housekeeping. 'Oikos', the ancient Greek word, means house, (family) and it can be equated to the work of family to support and achieve all that is necessary to live.
"Economy, as the very word indicates, should be the art of achieving a fitting management of our common home, which is the world as a whole. Each meaningful economic decision made in one part of the world has repercussions everywhere else; consequently, no government can act without regard for shared responsibility. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find local solutions for enormous global problems which overwhelm local politics with difficulties to resolve. If we really want to achieve a healthy world economy, what is needed at this juncture of history is a more efficient way of interacting which, with due regard for the sovereignty of each nation, ensures the economic well-being of all countries, not just of a few." (Joy of the Gospel #206).
St. Irenaeus used the phrase 'economy of salvation' to describe the workings of God. Even the word ecology wants to include all of our natural environment.
Our society sees competition and efficiency as all important. They appear to bring us all the wealth and development made. This advancement has not benefited all of humanity. Difficult to call this an abundance when so many are shut out from attaining or participating.
More important are cooperation, community, solidarity, compassion. Values of life and concern for the environment will bring even greater abundance. This is the way of reconciliation, and living in peace with all of creation. We have examples of this in cooperatives, community possession, and community responsibility.
Two of the best known Christians in the present society are Pope Francis and Mother Theresa of India. They have received respect even outside the church. However, both of them had a different understanding of donations that came from what is called black or dirty money, (money made from illegal or nefarious means).
In an article in a bulletin for priests, the writer mentions that both of them received praise and blame for the way they looked upon dirty money.
Mother Theresa used the money for the poor and sick which makes understanding her actions easier. However, there are those that did not look benignly on the money she took from dictators and from those who seemed to lack any moral sense in the way they made their money.
Pope Francis was reported to have returned a million dollars given to his charity Scholas which was an initiative he began while Archbishop of Buenos Aires. The government of Argentina gave the money to the charity and the pope was not happy when he heard the charity asked the government for help because of its situation. The government has raised the prices of the public utilities of the country and he rejected the public money because they should focus on the needs of the people.
Pope Francis told benefactors to forget about donating money to the church if their earnings came from mistreating others. "Please, take your check back and burn it," he said in one of the general audiences. "The people of God -- that is, the church -- doesn't need dirty money. They need hearts that are open to God's mercy."
Scholas Occurrentes, connects technology with arts and sports in order to promote social integration and the culture of encounter for peace. It is present in 190 countries through its web made up of over 430.000 schools and educational networks in five continents. Pope Francis did not appreciate the help for he wanted the charity to be financed by personal monies and not public money.
The charity has no right to ask the government for help in developing their programs and was a good lesson to those who heard his talk. The government was quick to give a response to the request for their own reasons and the pope returned it for the reasons given.
Dirty money is not cleaned by use in the church. To prevent any misunderstanding money received should be vetted to see from whom and where the money is coming. The pope's message was heard loud and clear and our writer would like this to be understood by all those who are receiving donations of money.
