CBCK News
2009-08-25 16:19
2009-08-25 16:19
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Communication on April 1, 2005



*  Material Aid Directly Delivered to North Korea Overland

On March 25, 2005, the Committee for the Reconciliation of the Korean People of the CBCK (President: Most Rev. Lucas Kim Woon-hoe, Auxiliary Bishop of Seoul) delivered 300 tons of vinyl cover for agricultural use to North Korea via the Association of North Korean Catholics. It is for the first time in 60 years after the national liberation for the Catholic Church in Korea to send material aid to North Korea overland.

The vinyl, prepared by the diocesan Committees for the Reconciliation of the Korean People in Seoul, Kwangju and Masan and the Association of Major Superiors of Religious Women in Korea, will be used for rice seedbeds in collective farms in Wonsan and Deokwon, once the seedbed of the Church in North Korea before the national division. It also has significance that the Church provides agricultural supplies so that North Korean brethren can become self-supporting in food supply.

From the South Korean Customs, Immigrations and Quarantine (CIQ) office near the DMZ, sixteen 25-ton trucks carrying the vinyl left for North Korea with 40 other trucks carrying relief supply prepared by other civic organizations. It reminded people of the late Mr. Jung Ju Young, founder of Hyundai Business Group, who donated some 1,000 cows and took them to North Korea in person in 1998.

Prior to the delivery, the Committee held a ceremony of blessing at the CIQ office and wished this aid to be meaningful Easter gifts to North Korean brothers and sisters. The Rev. Jerome Jang Geung-seon, Director of the Seoul Committee for the Reconciliation of the Korean People, presided the ceremony and said, "I am so pleased to give our North Korean brethren the presents prepared by the love of Catholics in South Korea, especially at this time when the Easter is coming."

*  Dioceses Provide Home-based Nursing Care System in Collaboration with Hospitals

As home-based nursing care system is considered a medical service of missionary character for the marginalized sick in local community, dioceses set about this project hand in hand with hospitals.

This kind of service, initiated in September 2003 by three parishes in the Archdiocese of Seoul in connection with Kangnam St. Mary Hospital, an affiliated hospital of Catholic University of Korea, is being benchmarked by other dioceses, including the Dioceses of Daejeon, Suwon and Pusan, and probably the Archdiocese of Kwangju.

At present, 46 parishes in Seoul are collaborating with the Home-based Nursing Care Center of the Catholic Medical Center, and three more parishes are in preparation for the service. In the Diocese of Pusan, four parishes, linked with the Nursing Science Research Institute of Catholic University of Pusan and the Maryknoll Hospital, started to offer home-based nursing care this month.

This form of service seems to spread more widely as it is expected to respond to the need of local community and to be a way for implementing the evangelical spirit required in this time. However, for further activation, it is necessary to guarantee more nurses specialized in this field. In this regard, Sr. Park Young-hye from the Home-based Nursing Care Center said, "It is not easy to find qualified Catholic nurses who are inspired by Catholic spirit and also have the necessary clinical experience," and called on pastors for positive support.

The Rev. John Bosco Kim Hong-eon, pastor of Yeomju-dong parish in Kwangju which is soon to offer the service, stressed its significance, saying, "Nowadays, the Church should walk along with and make contribution to local communities in order to evangelize them."