The CBCK Committee for Justice & Peace Held a Seminar on "Justice"

On October 26, 2011, a seminar with the theme "What Is Justice in Today's Korean Society?" was held by the CBCK Committee for Justice & Peace (President: Most. Rev. Matthias Ri Iong-hoon) at the 7th floor auditorium of the Catholic Hall in Myeongdong, Seoul. It was a good opportunity to discuss the social justice in terms of faith. The Church in Korea has expressed concerns about the social issues, such as Four Major Rivers Project, the constructions of nuclear power plant in Sam Cheok and naval base in Jeju, in accordance with the teaching of the Church. Thus, Korean people are more interested in the social justice that the Catholic Church teaches.

This seminar began with the presentation of papers for the topics: "Bible, Social Teaching and Justice" (Rev. Park Dong-ho, Director of Justice & Peace Committee of Archdiocese of Seoul); "Justices and Laws in Korean Society" (Professor Kim Do-kyeun, Seoul National University); "How Does Justice Cope with Another Justice" (Professor Lee Jin-kyeong, researcher of study group "Suyunomo N"), and followed by panel discussion of the experts on the issues of women, law, environment, and mass media.

Bishop Matthias Ri explained that the purpose of the seminar is "to look at the meaning of justice in philosophy of law and humanities, and to seek the way to realize justice in different sectors of our society in the light of the teaching of the Catholic Church which has illuminated the way toward justice and peace in the world since the promulgation of the social Encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891."

Rev. Park pointed out in his presentation that “most of the faithful do not practice the Word in the Church or society, furthermore in the modern world. They read the Bible just for individual devotion. We should make efforts to read the messages in the Bible, such as a cry of the prophet Amos who criticized Israel for its extravagance and said 'let justice roll on like a river' (Am 5,24), lives of the poor described in Psalms, and the parable of a rich man who turns his back on a beggar lying at his door (cf. Lk 16,19-31), in the light of the reality of today."