YONGIN (UCAN): Catholic academics and researchers at a symposium themed, Peace in East Asia and Promotion of Christianity, urged Church leaders in Asia to make better and proactive efforts to promote peace and Christianity in the region.
The East Asia Evangelisation Centre at Cheonjinam Shrine, known as the birthplace of Korean Catholicism, organised the 14th academic symposium together with the Catholic Times, the oldest Korean Catholic weekly, at Yongin in Gyeonggi-do province, on October 16.
Catholic Times reported that the symposium brought together Catholic scholars and researchers for discussion and deliberation.
Professor Shim Hyung-ju, a senior researcher at the Institute of Life and Culture at Sogang University in Seoul, made a presentation on the topic, Exploring the role of the Catholic Church for the formation of a peaceful community in Asia: referring to the European Union model.
He argued that Asian Christians need to be in solidarity and the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference [FABC] should play a major role for promotion of peace and Christianity in the region.
He pointed to situations in Asian countries where human rights are frequently violated by authoritarian governments in the name of development and security.
“In order to build peace in Asia, it is necessary to pursue development based on equality and human rights in accordance with international justice. We need to work hard to implement human rights law,” Shim said.
The researcher said that the FABC leadership should make efforts to present the views of the Church to Asian governments on their “sense of human rights and to pursue a common policy of peace.”
Shum added, “The Church should recognise that peace is a human rights issue, not just a national issue, and Church leaders need to take the lead in laying the foundation for peace in Asia through the protection and promotion of human rights.”
Andrew Lee Min-suk, a researcher from the Korean Institute of Church History, made a presentation on the life and works of Maryknoll Father Joseph A. Sweeney, who pioneered the Church’s services to lepers in China and Korea.
The priest paved the way for public awareness and capacity building in East Asia to tackle the once-dreaded Hansen’s disease [leprosy] named after Norwegian scientist and physician, Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen, who first discovered mycobacterium leprae, the causative bacterial agent of the disease.
Lee recounted that Father Sweeney was ordained a priest in 1920 and was assigned to China. He worked in both China and Korea and raised awareness about leprosy.
Father Sweeney was arrested, imprisoned and expelled after the communists took power in China. He returned to Korea in 1955 and founded the Naidong Medical Team to offer treatment for lepers. Father Sweeny worked in Korea until his death at St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul in 1966 at the age of 71.
