CBCK News
2009-08-27 11:34
7,861
Communication on May 23, 2008

* Statement opposing 'the Revised Bioethics and Safety Act'


 


As the bill amending 'the Bioethics and Safety Act' was passed by the National Assembly of Korea at an extra session on May 16, the CBCK Committee for Bioethics (President: Most Rev. Francis Xavier Ahn Myong-ok, Bishop of Masan) issued a statement of regret entitled "With solicitude about the retrogressive revision of 'the Bioethics and Safety Act'."


 


The statement pointed out that the revised Bioethics and Safety Act contained new poisonous articles: to allow embryonic stem cell research which destroys human embryos; to allow ovum donors to be compensated for all expenses incurred in the process. Then it said that the revised Act tried to reduce human life to mere material for biological experiments and it legalized de facto ovum trafficking.


 


In the statement, Bishop Ahn said, "Irrational consequences follow from the National Assembly's retrogressive revision of the Bioethics and Safety Act without an earnest discussion or debate." He continued, "I wonder how the National Assembly could enact a law to violate the dignity of life of the people and whether the members of the National Assembly supported the bill with full knowledge."  


 


In this regard, the Permanent Council of the CBCK at its regular meeting on May 19, 2008 decided to print this statement as a leaflet and distribute it to all dioceses in Korea to inform the faithful of the problems and the seriousness of this Act.


 


* Message for the 14th Day for Life


 


On the occasion of the 14th Day for Life on May 25, 2008, the Most Rev. Francis Xavier Ahn Myong-ok, President of the CBCK Committee for Bioethics, issued a message and urged all the faithful to safeguard the dignity and value of human life.


 


In his message entitled "To Retrieve the Dignity of Human Life," Bishop Ahn analyzed that the phenomenon to justify technical interventions upon human life derived from the fact that today's society has been deprived of its soul by material values and so it has forgotten God, the Life itself. Then he expressed regret over indiscreet experiments and manipulations by some biotech scientists.


 


Bishop Ahn continued, "Some parts of biotechnology to destroy and deny the dignity of human life are to deny God. Therefore it is not too much to say that they are new forms of atheism." He affirmed that we Christians are entrusted a mission to denounce those forms of atheism which destroy human life and to safeguard the dignity of human life.


 


* Statistics of the Catholic Church in Korea 2007 Published


 


The Catholic Conference of Korea published Statistics of the Catholic Church in Korea 2007 on May 15, 2008.


 


According to the Statistics, as of December 31, 2007, the number of the Catholics in Korea totaled 4,873,447 or 9.7% of the total population (50,034,357). Compared to the previous year, it increased 105,204 or 2.2%. About one fourth of Korean Catholics attended Sunday Mass regularly in 2007.


 


The number of the faithful was highest in the Archdiocese of Seoul with 1,355,950, followed by the Diocese of Suwon (697,160), Daegu (436,596), and Incheon (418,227). The Statistics categorized the faithful by sex, (male 41.7% and female 58.3%), and by age (19.1% of the faithful as the highest percentage were in their 40s.).


 


The Statistics also indicated that the number of clergy including bishops was 4,148 (32 bishops and 4,116 diocesan and religious priests), an increase of 142 from the previous year. Thus the number of priests exceeded 4,000 for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church in Korea. The number of parishes was 1,511, an increase of 35 from the previous year, and the number of mission stations was 1,084.


 


Those newly baptized were 149,358, an increase of 1,611 from the previous year. The number of Sunday Mass attendants was 27.2% of the whole faithful, a decrease comparing with 30% of ten years ago.


 


* The Catholic Church in Korea Joins in Providing Relief Aid to China & Myanmar


 


The Catholic Church in Korea arranged to help the victims affected by the cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China.


 


'Caritas Corea', the CBCK Committee for Social Welfare (President: Most Rev. Lazzaro You Heung-sik) announced through a press release that it would send emergency relief aid of USD 30,000 considering that such extensive damage from the Sichuan earthquake in China would require long-time support. The Committee also informed 15 diocesan 'Caritas' officies of the devastating situation and asked their cooperation to collect donations and pray for the victims. In advance, 'Caritas Corea' had decided to send emergency relief aid of USD 50,000 to Myanmar damaged by a cyclone.


 


The One Body One Spirit Organization of the Archdiocese of Seoul (Catholic NGO of Korea for  sharing and upholding life all over the world) decided to send emergency relief aid of USD 50,000 to Myanmar on May 9, 2008, and it is prepared to send a team for development and relief to Myanmar. It has also searched for a way to give aid to the district damaged by the earthquake in China.


 


Each diocese in the country also informed the faithful of the desperate situation in Myanmar and in China through the diocesan letter or through the diocesan weekly bulletin. All have been invited to participate in prayers and donations for the victims.