Seoul (Fides Service) - The chairman of the Catholic Council for Lay Apostolate in South Korea, Joseph Yo Kuy tae, said recently that more than 60% of south Korea's members of parliament are Catholics, in a country where Catholics are only 7.4% of the population. The fact is that Catholic education is an important service offered by the Church in Korea. Fides spoke with Bishop John Chang-yik of Ch'unch'on, secretary general of the Bishops' Conference, about the Church's activity in the field of education and the formation of national cadres.
"Our situation is very different to that of our neighbours in Hong Kong and Japan where the Catholic Church runs a numerous elementary, middle and high schools and universities. In South Korea the Catholic community is a small minority 7.4% and schools are run by dioceses and religious institutes. We have two universities. This means that our influence on the formation of a public conscience in national cadres is not to be compared with that in the other two countries I mentioned. The Church has worked hard in the field of education despite difficulties, scarcity of funds, qualified personnel, bureaucratic obstacles and laws regulating private education in South Korea. This small numerical presence offers an enormous and recognised contribution to Korean society in terms of values, experience and specific and qualified knowledge. Our Catholic universities have the same variety of faculties as public universities and they offer highly qualified formation, equal to other public or private institutions such as those run by Protestant communities".
Catholic schools are different in that they are more selective for exams, competence of teachers, high scientific level of research centres, which means our graduates are competitive and in great demand on the labour market. Moreover, Catholic universities offer specific courses, which are not compulsory, such as Christian anthology, Sacred Scripture, theology, Religions, studies offered only at Catholic or Protestant institutes. Spirituality is another special mark of Catholic education. The atmosphere in schools and colleges is very different. The staff includes priests and religious as well as lay Catholics, which enables the students to combine study with spiritual growth. Every school and campus has its own chapel and provides catechesis and prayer groups. The education provided by Catholic institutions in Korea is praised by everyone: only 12% of the pupils and students are Catholic. This shows that this type of education is in great demand. Bishop Paul Ri head of the Bishops' Commission for Education told Fides Service that in the future the Church intends to make greater efforts to guarantee professionally qualified teachers and to find funds to improve the overall system of Catholic education in schools and colleges. The Bishops said he is satisfied with the work of the Catholic Church in this field. In the last hundred years the Catholic community devoted more time to social work than education. Nevertheless the 7.4% of Catholics in the population has produced 60% of Korean members of Parliament: a sign that Catholic education is appreciated and valid. PA (Fides Service 16/1/2003)