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L. del Castillo: Critical Issues, 2010-2015
Written by Bishop Luis del Castillo, Secretary General, Catholic Bishops Conference, Uruguay
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Seoul, Korea, February 18, 2010
Unofficial notes of presentation
Let me address all of you as brothers and sisters with the hope that this will be the only relationship between human beings some time in the near future. We are speaking about critical issues for the next five years. But with the description of the situation of our economy, obviously we have to start as soon as possible. But these issues will not be less critical in five years’ time.
A human being is a noun, but being human is precisely a critical issue. We need a world that is friendly to human beings, and human beings have the responsibility of being human and making this world humane, especially in some areas that show the weakest parts of our humanity: unborn babies, children in general, sick people, people with disabilities, marginalized and segregated people, and the elderly.
As religious people, we have a responsibility in all these fields. Our concept of creation and the responsibility we have towards nature is that this world and this universe should be human-friendly.
This is my first time in Korea. I arrived one day early and took a city tour. This city tour started at a Buddhist temple. The guide, very appropriately, invited us to pray. Obviously we were not all Buddhist. However, we respected the people who were praying there. We lit candles and incense and then bowed as a sign of respect to however we understand God.
This is a call to religion today—to put God back into the marketplace. In the city where I was practicing until a few months ago, Christmas had become just a pagan holiday. So 15 different Christian denominations got together to hold a Christmas celebration with prayers and songs in the central square of the city. This is a small example of what can be done. The challenge in our secular society to put God back into the marketplace is clearly a critical issue for our immediate future.
When I got back to the hotel, I found that interreligious dialogue was already taking place in our room. I opened the drawer and found several books. Two were clearly in dialogue. One was the New Testament of the Bible, and the other book was The Teaching of Buddha. I think that is very appropriate in this country. A chapter called “Building a Buddha Land" (I imagine this is a way of saying “The Kingdom of God on earth”) starts with a very ingenious description of a country lying in darkness and people walking around without acknowledging the others. Suppose a person with a torch appears: then everything around him becomes bright and clear, and the people who had been in solitude will be happy to look around at each other and find companionship.
If we compare this to religions today, we may be in darkness, not acknowledging each other, not recognizing that we have a common faith in one God. We need, in this darkness, a light. In the darkness, there is no trust. We are afraid of each other. We are suspicious of other people's intentions. The first step toward understanding—especially being proactive in the challenges of peace and human rights in the world today—is to recognize each other. For that, we need light.
In this book on Buddhism, we find suggestions and recommendations as a way towards this knowledge, understanding, and recognition. Three kinds of organizations are described: those based on the power, wealth or authority of great leaders; those organized for the convenience of the members; and those organized around good teaching. Only in the latter type of organization will harmony, satisfaction and happiness prevail.
Six elements are listed as necessary to living in harmony:
- sincerity of speech
- sincerity of action
- sincerity and sympathy of spirit
- equal sharing of common property
- shared common values
- the right use of everything
Then the text lists rules to follow if brotherhood is to succeed:
- Gather together frequently to listen to the teachings and discuss them. This is a practical suggestion for people from different groups. We should mingle freely, pray in the other’s temple, mosque or however your place of prayer is called.
- Respect one another; don’t go to proselytize but to share a common faith in God.
- Revere the teachings and respect the rules, without changing them (your own teachings and other people’s teachings).
- Teach each other with courtesy.
- Love all people, treat visitors cordially, and console the sick with kindness.
These points mean dealing with the issue of migration and being open to all the differences that we find around us, in humankind in general and in the different religious groups.
Now I turn to a second book, which is the New Testament, in English and Korea. I couldn’t manage the Korean, so I had to make do with the English.
In a passage from 1 Corinthians chapter 12, there is a comparison to the body that I think applies to all of us that come from different organizations. Our bodies don’t have just one part; we have many parts. We may be fearful of differences. However, people speak today of biodiversity as the wealth of this world that should be cared for and respected. If biodiversity is wealth, maybe religious diversity is also wealth. We have to understand the value of diversity. Paul says that our bodies don’t have just one part; they have many parts. A body isn’t really a body unless there is more than one part. It takes many parts to make a single body. That is why the body cannot say it doesn’t need the hands, and why the head cannot say that it doesn’t need the feet. God put the body together in such a way that all parts of the body are valuable. If one part of our body is hurt, the whole body hurts. If one part is honored, the whole body will be happy. Can you see how this applies to our interreligious dialogue?
From these texts we develop proactive attitudes:
- We need light in order to recognize each other beyond the darkness that makes us fearful and in order to develop mutual trust.
- Meet frequently and mingle freely.
- Make a distinction between the faith in God that is common ground and the different paths towards that common ground, for they are religious groups that we have to know more about.
In the Gospel of John there is a dialogue that shows what kind of attitude we need. This is a paradigm of dialogue between Jesus and someone who is clearly different, by gender, ethnic group, and religion: the Samaritan woman. The woman says to Jesus: "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus said to her, “The time is coming when you shall worship the father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. The time is coming when the two types worshippers will worship in Spirit and truth, because God seeks such worshipers. God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
These recommendations and the proposals for building buddhaland are useful in taking on the challenges we have received from the Universal Peace Federation: to meet, learn to know each other, and work together for world peace.