An Opinion Survey on the Priestly Vocation
The Department of Vocations of the Seoul Archdiocese released recently the results of the one-year-long opinion survey on the priestly vocation which was conducted in cooperation with the Seoul Archdiocesan Research Center for Integral Pastoral Ministry. The Present and Future of the Vocational Development was published on April 13, 2008.
The respondents of the survey included pre-seminarians, seminarians, priests, and parents. According to the survey 68.5% of the pre-seminarians started to have an interest in the priestly vocation before the beginning of their middle school years. 46.1% of the pre-seminarians said that the experience of being an altar boy had influenced them most to have an interest in the priestly vocation. The seminarians said that the retreat programs of the pre-seminarian meeting were the most helpful element for their resolution to become a priest.
89.1% of the priests have special interest in the pre-seminarians of their parishes and have regular meeting with them.
Parents proposed the following for the enhancement of the vocational development: establishment of a vocational development system in the parish; more interest on the part of pastoral ministers in vocational development; development of practical and interesting programs for the pre-seminarians; integral education for the seminarians, including pre-seminarians.
Rev. Luke Koh Chan-geun, Director of the Department of Vocation of the Seoul Archdiocese, said, "The number of good vocational aspirants reflects the faith life of our age. A faith life without active engagements and prayers cannot induce good vocational aspirants." He hoped that this research might provide an opportunity to reflect on faith life and to promote better pre-seminarians.
A New Guideline for Catholic Medical Ethics
The Catholic Medical Center in Seoul recently published a new Guideline for Catholic Medical Ethics, which presents ethical guidelines and a practical code of conduct for medical staffs engaged in the treatment of patients and for medical researchers at Catholic medical institutions.
This new guideline proposes for all medical staff members of Catholic medical institutions that treat patients the basic spirit of respect for the dignity of human life and of love of Jesus Christ who is a healer and a role model of all medical doctors.
The guideline also puts emphasis on the respect for the rights of every patient as a human being and on humanistic and integral treatment. It also urges that the results of bio-technological and medical research should serve humanity and not be in opposition to divine providence or lead to the destruction of the human race.
The new Guideline for Catholic Medical Ethics is the result of cooperation between the Catholic Bioethics Institute and the Committee for Life of the Seoul Archdiocese. They revised and updated the old Guideline of Catholic Medical Ethics (1991). The new guideline proposes a resolute ethical criterion based on the teachings of the Catholic Church for new controversial matters resulting form the rapid development of bio-technology and medical science, such as human genome research, human embryo research, and adult stem cell research.