At the Mass for young people, there are more adults than young people. No, it's not that they are busy studying for exams but rather the community of faith is not reaching them; we are becoming a church of old people. A professor of humanities writing in the Kyeongyang magazine would like to know where they have gone.
Protestants are doing a better job relating to the young he says. At times the methods are not always without criticisms but they are closer to the young. Can Catholicism embrace the young?
When he is out with his classmates drinking at a cafe` he notices some will take out their smartphone and furtively glance at it and he says, without doubt, they are looking at a picture of their grandchild. They are attracted more to their grandchildren than their own for they are no longer busy with raising a family and its concerns. However, each day 7 young people commit suicide. Is there any guarantee that these children in twenty years will not be one of them. This children's generation is the first that will not be living as well as their parents.
When Pople Francis came to Korea in 2014, one of the main reasons was to attend the Asian Youth Gathering. He was very close to them and spent time with them; after he left the writer feels embarrassed that the church has not continued this concern for the young. He feels that the present generation has forgotten them.
Our generation had a difficult time but we didn't have problems with finding work, getting married or bothered with thoughts of suicide. No matter how hard they try getting a job they are approaching an ironclad bastion. Instead of changing the structures they are getting worse. Wealth continues to increase and is distributed among the wealthy, injustice continues and few speak out.
Generally, Catholicism compared to Protestantism is passive and subdued. Here in Korea, however, the church continued to grow especially because the church stood up to the military take over of government. Ironically Korean Catholicism is much more progressive than Protestantism, how come?
The Church in Korea has been on the side of the weak in their struggle for justice. Catholicism became the spokesperson for workers, the marginated. They were ridiculed for it but continued and persons came to the door of the church. The Gospel message was always before them. Nowadays the young people are the ones who are marginated and weak and need persons to speak for them. The professor feels that the church has not been attentive to the plight of the young people and have limited their interest only to statistics and passive concern.
"I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not walk in the dark; he will have the light of life" (Jn. 8:12). He finishes the article by wanting us to give the young people hope for the future and asks us to feel shame for what we have not done.
The Korean Catholic Church from 1982 has selected the second Sunday of Advent as Human Rights Sunday and the second week as Social Doctrine Week. This year is the 50th anniversary of the publication of the encyclical of Pope Paul VI on the Development of Peoples.
The message for the week is social renewal, peace, and interest in the socially disadvantaged. One continually emphasized by the church. With these words, the editorial of the Catholic Times reminds the readers of the interest necessary to seek change in society.
With the help of many citizens, we have seen the beginning of a new government but the evils that have been accumalated will not be easily dislodged in a short period of time. But this is the time to begin.
Renewal is the word most appropriate for what is necessary for society at present. Christians should be "people hungry and thirsting for what is right" (Matt. 5:6). With prayer and solidarity with others we work for the building up of God's kingdom here on earth.
The teaching on Peace by the Church is very clear. In a talk given at the Blue House in 2014, Pope Francis said we are faced with the: "perennial challenge of breaking down the walls of distrust and hatred by promoting a culture of reconciliation and solidarity." Military competition, rivalry, criticism and military parades are useless in bringing about peace was the message. We must think deeply about what will bring peace to the peninsula.
The Justice and Peace Committee stressed the need to be concerned with the care of the weak in society. A first interest of the Church is to be with those who can't defend themselves: farmers, fishing populations, migrants, workers, against the abrogation of the law against abortions, and against the death penalty. Christians have this mission of building a culture of life and working for the protection of these values.
This week is one in which parishioners should become familiar with the church's teaching on human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was approved by 48 votes, none opposed and eight abstaining. It was a big step that was made for the first time accepting fundamental human rights to be universally protected. The Church has made the declaration something that should be followed and made known.
Pope John 23rd in his Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris commends the Universal Declaration of Human Rights not withstanding certain defects: "Nevertheless, we think the document should be considered a step in the right direction, an approach toward the establishment of a juridical and political ordering of the world community. It is a solemn recognition of the personal dignity of every human being; an assertion of everyone's right to be free to seek out the truth, to follow moral principles, to discharge the duties imposed by justice and to lead a fully human life. It also recognized other rights connected with these."
In the
Catholic Peace Weekly, an article starts with a four-letter phrase in
the writings of Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching: 上善若水 (highest good like water). Water never brings attention to itself and always seeks the
lowest places and nourishes everything on the way. To live in this way
is to be close to saintliness. Its opposite is to live contrary to right
reason and rashly.
The writer lists two recent cases that make him appreciate the wisdom of the
four words that begins his article. One case a person in a
government post was arrested but shortly after with a change of judges
the person arrested was released because there wasn't sufficient reason
for the arrest. Many citizens questioned the difference in the way the
law was read. Many in the legislature censured the judge.
The
second case mentioned is the signatures of 200,000 citizens on the Blue
House bulletin board, asking for the abrogation of the law against
abortion. You have a highly contested issue: those who strongly feel
you are killing a fetus and you have the others saying it's against
the right a woman has over her body. A new aspect entered the picture
when the Blue House representative of the people mentioned the problems
with the issue.
All
these events occurred naturally but it is not right for the
legislative branch of government to censure the judicial or
the executive to control the direction of legislation. Law, the compulsory
code of the state is not different from the law of water. Western
natural law thinking and ordinary law both seek the source of law in our
natural life and in Asia the very word law is an icon of
water seeking harmony.
Our
understanding of the law is that when we have a wrong law we follow
procedures to revise or abolish the law. All the citizens have the right
to express their opinion. However, on the principle of the separation
of powers, the legislative, executive and judicial should not exceed the
conduct that is given to them in their office. The democratic system
collapses if the legislature disputes the interpretation of the law by
the judiciary of if the executive forces their view on the legislature.
Man
is an imperfect being and even if I am convinced I am right I may be
wrong. The natural flow of water we should imitate, my
self-righteousness does not produce good results. When we seek to
achieve justice by force the results often destroy our common sense.
In
1919 lawmakers in the United States Congress passed a constitutional
amendment that prohibited the production of alcoholic beverages in the
United States. This made thousands of Americans outlaws until abolished
in 1933. As a result the ban has remained synonymous with excessive
reforms that have caused public dissatisfaction and social disruption: the result of abandoning the wisdom learned from water.
The writer finishes the article by saying that fortunately, our
Christians do not fall into this foolishness because they pray that "the
will of the Father, not my will be done" (Luke 22:42).
In the Catholic Times, an article on Hansen's disease has the headline: Approaching those with Hansen's disease is still difficult. The journalist writes about the 29 cured with a history of Hansen's disease now living in a village as a family.They left the home for the first time since birth for a three day trip to Jeju-do.
Before they left the priest in charge made reservations at a hotel. However, when they arrived they were told there was a mistake made and a group of young people on their school excursion trip were accepted and are sorry for the inconvenience.
They had to go to a pension they knew would accept them.
The group was elated with the joy of the trip to Jeju-do but the prejudice and discrimination were present in many different ways. At a restaurant when they ordered a pot stew dish the waiter wanted to know if the priest accompanying the group wanted a separate pot. He politely refused. Prejudice gives birth to discrimination and discrimination to prejudice and this has been the case for thousands of years.
Discrimination has been the attitude of world and the church for centuries. The church is partialy responsible for making the sufferers from this disease 'outsiders'.
Leper was used but now after the Norwegian doctor, Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen (1841-1912) discovered the bacterium that causes the disease the name was changed.
In the Old Testament, the disease was considered a penalty from heaven, a curse from God. This is seen often in the Old Testament. Leprosy is seen also in the New Testament but treated differently. Jesus touches lepers, breaking a tradition that was present for centuries. Jesus went to the homes of lepers but today after 2000 years, the priest asks: are we still living in the Old Testament times or New Testament times?
According to statistic, we have 10,402 Hansen's patients. Only 87 are positive and are being treated the other 99% have been cured. Many are living in homes for those with a history of Hansen's disease but 6,213 are living in their own homes. The average age is about 74 and in the near future, the disease will disappear into history.
Within a year, less than 10 are diagnosed with the bacterium.The common opinion of the medical practitioners who work in the field, those taking medicine are cured and the danger of contagion is slight.
We have entered the stage where the disappearance of the disease is envisioned but an important step has still to be taken. We have persons cured of the disease who live separately from others and this is true within the church. Even if our intellects tell us and we want to come closer to them, we see believers whose body recoils when in their presence.
"You were born to be loved" is the title of an article in Bible & Life by a therapist of her own happiness research institute. She tells us the story of a mixed-blood child that she met some 5 years ago who was attending a kindergarten and was diagnosed as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She was brought to her institute for counseling.
To the therapist, the 6-year-old child, Mini, was a normal healthy child with great curiosity and full of energy. She was the child of a Korean mother and African American father who was found after birth and brought to a foundling home to be raised. She received much love but because of her skin color, curly hair and large eyes she was the attention of all who saw her and not always for the good. Mini's reflex action was to defend herself and when she did cry out and make a fuss she was punished.
Since her appearance was different from the others she was an object of ridicule and harassed, when she defended herself she alone was punished. She suffered unfairly and cried a lot making for a difficult situation in which she was reacting in a scattered brain way and finally diagnosed with attention deficiency and given drugs to control her actions.
The therapist rather than medicine Mini needed to be treated warmly. During vacation time she went to the home of the therapist and away from the harassment at the foundling home. She was warmly received and radiated joy in all she did.
When the therapist was studying in the States a couple she knew came to Korea when Mini was in her home. The couple were attracted to Mini because of her behavior and energy. They wanted to adopt the child but because of the impression Korea has given to the rest of the world, as an exporter of children, they made the regulations to adopt a Korean child difficult and for those within the country much easier. The American couple were over 45 years old, they were 47 and this was too old for foreigners but not for Koreans.
The therapist thought that as she would be entering her teens she would be dealing with many more conflicts and the therapist began to worry. On entering the 4th grade of elementary school the therapist thought of a great adventure: she would take Mini to the United States. Mini would meet many others with her features; better than words, to experience this would be important.
However, in entering the United States she was asked if she was the related to the child and from there on problems arose. She was questioned, missed her plane but finally did arrive at her destination. Mini met many with her skin color who were enjoying life and she no longer saw herself as a person from out of space. Meeting the couple from the States was also a help in Mini's development
On her return to Korea Mini found great confidence in herself and from a look of despondency was developing into a girl full of joy and charm, the therapist ends the article with the words of the song: "You were born to be loved."
Last week the liturgical year began with the first Sunday of Advent. A time to sanctify our own temples waiting for the birth of Jesus. At this time in Korea, the church and the world are concerned about the abolition of the abortion law and those in opposition are geared up for a fight. A religious sister writes in View from the Ark on the issue.
The Bioethics Committee of the Bishops has made clear the position of the Church. Despite the clarity of Christian opposition to abortion Christians are not agreed on the evil of abortion. More than half of the people in Korea think the law against abortion should be abolished. In a poll that was made by a survey of 516 men and women aged 19 and older nationwide 51.9% said the law against abortion should be abolished. 36.2% wanted the law continued and 11.9% didn't know. 59.9% of the women wanted the law abrogated and 30.1% wanted it continued.
"None of the women who had an abortion were ignorant of the sanctity of life. Of course I think that abortion should be reduced. Women suffer considerable stress and psychological distress because of abortions. The problem is that abortion is a crime. Because abortion is illegal women are punished and women's health is jeopardized." These are the words of an activist wanting the repeal of the law.
There is a sharp confrontation between the right to life of the fetus and the right of self-determination of the woman. Sister does not think it is a matter of choosing or giving up either one of them. It is the state that is responsible for life and safety of the people. Care, protection, and respect for the weak and the marginalized lives that are innocent and unable to protect themselves are the common interest of the nation.
What is necessary now is not to have a change in the law but rather to find ways to strengthen the responsibility of the state and men. The church also should consider ways to provide more practical and concrete assistance to problems faced by women so they are allowed to cherish the lives of the unborn.
The church is now carrying out a prayer campaign to gain a million signature to oppose the abolition of the abortion laws. We need to participate in this prayer movement so we can find the will of God, the master of life in the culture of death that is so prevalent in our lives and consciousness.
During this season of Advent, we are waiting for the birth of Jesus and thinking of the Blessed Mother and her response to the angel. She was prepared to be God's servant. She overcame all her fears to participate in God's work of salvation. Her constant and strong trust should find a place in our hearts during this season.
A professor in the Kyeongyang magazine brings to the attention of the readers the way we educate monsters. John Stuart Mills the economist and philosopher is paraphrased: "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests."
In a world that praises those who abandoned their beliefs in order to make secular monetary gain is a present day reality and many are awed by those who follow their beliefs. However, those who follow their beliefs not infrequently bring fear and pain to those around them.
The professor then gives us a profile of Anders Behring Breivik, a mass murderer who killed 8 and injured many others in an explosion in Oslo, Norway, and going to an island where a youth labor group was meeting killed another 68. He was against multiculturalism that the labor party sympathized with and helped. The professor asks the readers what prepared this young person to perpetrate this horrendous act and publicize it on SNS with the above quote from John Stuart Mills.
On Facebook, he made known to the world that he spent on self-study 14,500 hours on business adminstration and history and another 3,000 hours studying religion and finances, sufficient, he says on Facebook to get a master's degree in the subjects.
Of all the animals on the earth humans have the ability to think but at the same time are the cruelest. When some judge another to have done something not liked we hear of cases where they kill and justify their acts.
Moreover, when justification is made as a group or on a social level, the result is beyond imagination. The Nazis were able to kill six million people in six years and justify their actions at the collective level. Scholarly studies often fosters this ability to justify our actions.
We all understood that study and knowledge make us better persons. This was the way we looked at learning because in the past education was to cultivate our humanity and was consistent with our reason. Consequently, the more study the chances that such a person would have a well formed character and moral sense was taken for granted.
However, scholarly study at present is not what it was years ago. Today study is to enable a person to logically systematize thoughts so as to convey ideas. To study a lot is to master the subject with no concern for the person's self-betterment and building of character. A person misunderstands dialogue as the ability to present his position, his or her efforts to elaborate their opinion is what is important and when not accepted they despair and often express hostility.
Korea's devotion to study is second to no other country in the world. The numbers that go on to college is high and the years spent in study continue to increase but at the same time horrible and shocking events continue to appear in society.There are many varied reasons but our educational system can't be excluded.
Thoughts can help to destroy ourselves and others but also to sacrifice ourselves for others. From an early age, we need to educate to see the pain of others and want to help, this will make the world a different place in which to live. Otherwise, we will be producing 'philosophers' like Breivik who think what they do is for the betterment of humanity.
