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Seek equality and abandon privilege, Korean church told

Country's martyrs believed all people are 'equal as sons and daughters of God'
Seek equality and abandon privilege, Korean church told

A man passes in front of a huge wall painting for Korea's Catholic martyrs at Solmoe Shrine in Dangjin, in this file photo. (Photo by AFP)

Published: September 21, 2016 10:02 AM GMT
Updated: September 22, 2016 05:17 AM GMT

The Catholic Church in Korea has been urged by an academic to follow the example of the country's martyrs by pursuing equality and abandoning privilege.

"The core of the spirituality we should learn from the martyrs is the pursuit of equality and the abandonment of privilege," said Ignatius Cho Kwang, honorary professor at Korean University, in an address to a Sept. 10 symposium about the 1866 Byeongin persecution.

"Those values are taken for granted these days but they were the revolutionary ideas at that time," Cho said at the event that was held at Hwasudong church in Incheon.

Approximately 9,000 people, almost half the total Catholic population at the time, were killed for their faith during the Byeongin persecution.

Cho argued that their martyrdom was the result of their new joy in experiencing God.

"They practiced the teaching that all people are equal as sons and daughters of God and they gave up their privileged social status to share love with other people," he said.

"The Catholic Church has became a middle-class religion. We should learn from the faithful of the early Korean Church who got along with one another regardless of their social status."

The symposium was organized by the National Culture Research Institute of Incheon Catholic University and the Incheon Church History Institute.

The Catholic faith was introduced in the country in 1784 during the Choson Dynasty. The Shinyu Persecution in 1801 was the first large-scale bloody suppression of the new religion by the government, which considered Catholics traitors for abandoning Confucianism, the established religion. The 1886 Byeongin persecution is seen as the harshest persecution of Catholics in Korea.

Widespread, violent persecution occurred in several spurts throughout 19th century Korea. It is believed that more than 10,000 Christians were martyred during those periods.

Earlier this year, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Byeongin persecution, issued a pastoral letter urging Catholics not to forget their heritage and to follow the examples of the martyrs.

The bishops advocated three ways on how those early Korean Catholics could be an example for today's Catholics. They urged laypeople to be a witness of love, to do charity work for the poor and to form meaningful church communities built on the virtues of mercy.

Of the thousands of Korean martyrs, Pope St. John Paul II canonized 103 during his visit to Korea in 1984 and Pope Francis in 2014 celebrated Mass in Seoul to beatify 124 Korean martyrs.

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