Attendees of the 2016 Peace Sharing Forum held at the Seoul Major Seminary Aug.19-20. (Photo by The Catholic Times of Korea)
Church leaders from the Middle East and Balkans have attended a major forum in Seoul to share their experience of uniting divided communities.
It is the first time high-ranking Catholic officials have been invited to discuss the role of the church in reconciling the Korean peninsula.
Organized by Seoul Archdiocese's reconciliation committee, the 2016 Peace Sharing Forum took place at Seoul Major Seminary on Aug. 19-20.
On the forum agenda was the role of the Catholic Church in achieving peace, the efforts of the international community in solving disputes, and solutions to the current reality on the Korean peninsula.
Speaking at the forum were Cardinals Bechara Boutros Rai of Lebanon, and Vinko Puljic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Also addressing the event were Jude Lal Fernando, professor at Trinity College Dublin, and Wang Yizhou, deputy dean of the School of International Studies, Peking University.
Meanwhile, the archdiocesan committee held a special discussion session on Aug. 22 at the Familia Chapel of Myeongdong Cathedra. Cardinal Rai, Archbishop Stanislav Hocevar of Beograd, Serbia, and Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina spoke during the session.
Bishop Komarica recounted his experience of having his diocese empty out during the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s when 90 percent of his flock fled. At the session, the bishop promised that his diocese "will tie a 'spiritual sisterhood' with Pyongyang Diocese under the North Korean communists' control and pray for Catholics there."
The North and the South have been divided since right after Korea's liberation from the Japanese at the end of World War II. The Korean War (1950-53) made them bitter enemies.
Seoul Archdiocese has long stressed the church’s role in reconciliation and for the reunification of the Korean peninsula. It established the Korea Reconciliation Committee in 1995, to foster an atmosphere of forgiveness and reconciliation, and to help in the formation of peace workers.