Letter to Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea on Kwangju Archbishop's 'Decree'

February 25, 2008 

His Excellency
Bishop John Ik Chang
President
Korean Bishops’ Conference
643-1 Joong-Gok 1-Dong
Kwangjin-Ku
Seoul, Korea  143-912

Your Excellency,

We present this letter to the Korean Bishops’ Conference with a profound sense of gratitude and respect to Your Excellency and other Bishops in the Conference for promoting the spiritual wellbeing of the faithful in Korea.  

We have read the Decree issued by the Kwangju Archbishop on January 21, 2008 concerning the subject of Naju.  Needless to say, we respect and obey the Archbishop in exercising his episcopal teaching and pastoral authority entrusted to him by the Lord, but, we also believe that, when there are certain reasonable doubts about the conformity of his teaching and other pastoral actions to the orthodox Church teachings and/or the true facts, we can and should let the shepherd(s) know about them and petition for the necessary corrections.  We are aware that, according to Canon Law (#212 (1), (2) & (3)), it is not only the faithful’s right but also their duty to report to their shepherds regarding their concerns about religious matters.  Based on this Church teaching, we hereby express our concern about the Kwangju Archbishop’s recent Decree.

1.     “I have reached the judgment that Julia Yoon of Naju and those who believe in the phenomena associated with her do not have the intention to form unity and harmony with the Catholic Church any longer”

We consider unity and harmony one of the most important goals in the Catholic life and also testify that Mrs. Julia Yoon and those who accept the truthfulness of the messages and signs through her have always pursued and prayed for the unity and harmony that is based on our obedience to the Holy Father and our Bishops.  We have never abandoned respecting the teaching and pastoral authority of the Archbishop of Kwangju and have only expressed to him our concern that the Declarations and the Decree on Naju seem to contain some serious inconsistencies with the Catholic Faith and the facts in Naju and asked him to make the necessary corrections, certainly not to weaken or defy his dignity and authority but to stop and repair the damages to the Church that have been caused by the erroneous teachings.  As we have not received any earnest response from the Archbishop but only received more warnings and restrictions, we have appealed to the Holy See as well.

We believe that the teaching and pastoral authority will shine with its proper splendor worthy of its divine foundation and the true unity and harmony in the Church will become possible only when both the shepherds and other members of the Church adhere faithfully to the truths from the Lord.  We, who believe in the truthfulness of the events in Naju, have always pursued and prayed for such unity and harmony with our whole hearts.  The Church also teaches that the teaching authority is not superior to God’s truths, but is its servant (Catechism of the Catholic Church #86).  If we ignore or compromise God’s truths for the sake of pursuing the unity in the diocese (or for any other purpose), this will be a blind obedience that cannot please the Lord.  For this reason, we believe that it is unjust if we are branded the disobedient simply because we have made our pleas and petitions to the Bishop.  Is the Church not a school where we learn the truths from God and practice them?  In any school, it is possible that the teacher makes a mistake while teaching in class.  When this happens, the students should be allowed to ask questions and demand correction if necessary.  Would it be an act of disobedience to ask questions and demand correction deserving of criticisms and punishments?  Or would it be a true obedience and proper attitude on the part of the students to blindly and unconditionally follow whatever the teacher teaches even when there are reasonable doubts and concerns?

 

(2)  “They do not resume their ordinary faith life in the parish church” 

That Julia has not been going to the Mass in the Naju parish church has not been her voluntary choice but has been forced upon her against her will.  A few years ago, Fr. Luke Hong-Chul Song, the former Pastor of Naju, said to Julio Man-Bok Kim, Julia’s husband, as follows:  She will be welcomed back into the parish, if she brings the Blessed Mother’s statue to him, close down the Chapel and the Blessed Mother’s Mountain, and publicly declare during a Sunday Mass that she has been fabricating the messages and miracles and promise not to do so again.  In other words, Julia was given the choice between a normal life in the parish and the adherence to the messages and miracles.  Julia did not want to give up either, but was forced to choose one.  To abandon the messages and signs that the Lord and the Blessed Mother have given her for the common good of the Church would be to totally betray the Lord and the Blessed Mother and to abandon the mission from Them.  Julia could not do so, even if it meant that she had to suffer the enormous pains from being unable to go to her parish church.  It is also our conviction that the shepherds do not have the right to force anyone to betray his or her faith or conscience.  The Kwangju Archbishop has been informed of this predicament of Julia’s several times, but he continues accusing her of not leading her ordinary faith life in the parish, and this is not fair or just.

(3)  “They are criticizing me, the College of Korean Bishops, and the Korean Church”

It seems very incorrect to equate anyone’s effort to inform the Bishop about probable problems in his document and to petition for corrections with an act of disobedience.  The Second Vatican Council stressed the importance of individuals’ freedom in following their conscience especially in religious matters (Dignitatis humanae 2 (2)), and the Church also teaches that all the faithful including the laypeople participate in the preservation and propagation of the divine truths (Catechism of the Catholic Church #783 & 900).  This, of course, does not mean that the laypeople participate in exercising the teaching authority or in defining the truths, but only means that the laypeople also have the right and duty to faithfully defend and promote the Church teachings.  They have a grave obligation to follow the guidance of their shepherds, but, when they have serious and reasonable doubts about what they are being instructed, they should be allowed to express their concerns and ask for corrections.  Such acts should not be criticized as disobedience.  

(4)  “predicting the construction of the so-called ‘basilica’ to raise money” 

Without any question, the construction of the basilica requested by the Blessed Mother in her message through Julia can begin by the Church only after Naju is officially recognized.  In Naju, nobody has predicted or announced the construction of the basilica, nor has anyone collected money for it.  There is no one who can testify that such things have occurred, because they have never occurred.  This is just another of the numerous groundless rumors and accusations against Naju.  It is difficult to imagine that such an accusation of raising money for the construction of the basilica in Naju was made in the Bishops’ official document.  We sincerely hope that the Korean Bishops’ Conference will not give any credence to such misleading information.

(5)  In addition, many innocent individuals all over Korea and in other countries have been suffering enormous damages to their honor and religious freedom because of a TV program on Naju, filled with malicious distortions and fabrications and aired nationwide and abroad since November 2007.  For example, MBC TV, the producer of this program, included in this video a scene of several women drinking Julia’s urine hoping for the cure of their illnesses.  Even though there was a caption on the screen indicating that this was only a dramatization, this small caption has been missed by most of the viewers.  The true fact is that it is not even a fair dramatization, because nobody has ever done what was suggested by this scene.  It is unimaginable that a well-known TV company abandoned its public honor and social responsibility by producing such an error-filled program in collusion with some of the clergy in the Kwangju Archdiocese.  Even more shocking is the fact that the Archbishop of Kwangju brought this video to the Holy See during the recent ad limina visit to damage the reputation of Naju.  Julia has always intended to keep the mysterious phenomena in her urine hidden from the public, and will keep it that way.  This subject has been exposed to the public by a clergy in the Kwangju Archdiocese who received information from a volunteer helper in Naju who had a personal grievance and learned about the mysterious phenomena in Julia’s urine.  The priest gladly embraced her story without any investigation and released the superficial, incorrect story to MBC TV. 

The same MBC video also accused the Naju volunteer helpers of selling the water from the Blessed Mother’s spring and claimed that this water was polluted with many bacteria.  When the City of Naju heard about this, it asked the water and sewage department in a larger neighboring city, Mokpo, to test the water from the same spring.  The test result was that the water was extremely clean, free from any harmful minerals and bacteria, and had a mild alkalinity, which is known to promote human health.  We hope that the Church authorities fulfill their duty of protecting the people from errors and false accusations by promptly looking into this matter and stopping these criminal activities of spreading false information and, also, by warning and punishing the clergy involved in them.  More detailed rebuttals against the false accusations in the MBC video are available.

Now, we hear that the Archbishop of Kwangju will propose during the regular spring meeting of the Korean Bishops’ Conference which starts today that the Decree of the Kwangju Archdiocese be endorsed by the Korean Bishops’ Conference, and are deeply worried.  By presenting this letter to the Korean Bishops’ Conference in person today before the meeting begins, we intend to make our conviction clear that the contents of the Decree do not conform to the true facts and the teachings of the Catholic Church.  This letter is our sworn testimony, formally submitted to the Korean Bishops’ Conference.

Your Excellency, whom we respect!  We pray that the Lord’s blessing and the Blessed Mother’s Love will always be with Your Excellency.

Sincerely yours,

(This letter has been signed by the following individuals.)

John Do-Hyun Choi, Seoul   

Paul Jae-Uk Kim, Taegu

Peter Kyung-Won Suh, Seoul

Romulo Tae-Ho Lee, Incheon

Augustine Hyo-Il Kim, Busan

Peter Gwi-Je Cho, Masan

Peter Jae-Suk Kim, Taegu 

Albino Dong-Myung Kim, Kwangju

Peter Young-Sun Park, Seoul

Peter Jung-Ho Han, Anyang

Juliana Hwa-Bong Lee, Busan

Lucia Hye-Sung, Bucheon

(Note:  The original of this letter in Korean for Bishop John Ik Chang, President of the Korean Bishops’ Conference, and a copy for each of all other Bishops in the Conference were brought to the Korean Bishops’ Conference and received by Sister Violata Lim, the secretary to the Present of the Conference in the morning of February 25, 2008.  The Conference’s first meeting was to start at 3 p.m. on the same day.)