Seoul: the Daughters of St. Paul celebrate 50 years of mission
Seoul (AsiaNews) – The promotion of Catholic culture among young people through new media, the evangelization of China and a website in three languages for mission in Asia, these are only some of the new challenges of the Pauline sisters, who in 2010 celebrate 50 years of their mission in Korea. The community of the Daughters of St. Paul in Korea arrived in the country in 1960, now have 234 sisters, including 18 on foreign missions, 12 convents and 15 bookshops located throughout Korea. AsiaNews interviewed Brazilian Sister Maria Antonietta Bruscato, superior of the Order since 2001.
What do these 50 years of mission in Korea represent?
I am very grateful to God for our history in this land blessed by the blood of the martyrs, where we arrived on December 13, 1960. In all these years the Lord has worked wonders with and through the Daughters of St. Paul of Korea. From nothing, with sustained, patient and creative efforts the first religious sowed the Word of God in the minds and hearts of the Korean people. The fruits are plentiful: vocations have multiplied, community centers and apostolates are scattered throughout the major cities across the country, the apostolate has been developed in an intelligent and daring manner, with traditional media and now with new technology. Today, after years of intense mission, our Korean sisters have begun to cross borders to bring the Gospel throughout the world in America (Chile and the United States), Europe (France, Italy, Germany, Poland), Asia (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, the Philippines).
How do you face the new challenges of the media in your apostolate?
The situation is very complex and difficult and we are trying to use both traditional and new media. In many parts of the world we work with books, postcards, slides, etc.. through our chain of bookstores. But for the past several years we have also been working with the Internet, CDs and DVDs. In the United States, Japan and Korea we also work with the new digital media such as iPods and we have created an application dedicated to the Gospel. But we have yet to find the right way to exploit these technologies. Young people are very attracted by the new media. They have also changed their way of communication; they prefer mobile phone text messages with short syllables instead of complete sentences. How can we transmit the Christian faith to these young people? This is a great challenge for us. We must change the way we think about the use of means of communication media. Already a century ago, Blessed James Alberione, our founder, realized the need for a religious order that used mass media to propagate the Gospel in the world. Like him, we are trying to absorb the new media according to the technological progress of today, adapting oursleves to new circumstances through research and discernment for our apostolate.
What is evangelization, especially among young people, for you?
In our work we try to never distance oursleves from the true mission, which is the communication of the Gospel, that gives hope to people living in trouble, in pain. Today helping these people means showing them that God exists, that He loves them and has prepared eternal life for them. We use new media with the sole aim of reaching the hearts of people through various forms of dialogue. To date, young people allow themselves to be easily manipulated by the media and those behind new media are not interested in young people’s growth, only in personal gain by encouraging young people to consume more and more. So the younger generation seeks comfort in material wealth and once drawn into this vortex find only a great emptiness, prompting them to take drugs and to become hedonists. Our goal is to help them rediscover the true value of life: true happiness, true freedom. Pope John Paul Ⅱ always challenged young people, encouraging them to find this true value that can quench the thirst of all. However, there are young people who are responding to this call and who are dedicated to the commitments of its true value. Recently, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Chiara Luce Badano, a young woman of the Focolare Movement, as an example for children to follow; Clare lived her terminal illness with faithful to Christian brotherly love, in small every day things. It is crucial for us to communicate these values.
How do you see the future of your mission in Asia, especially China?
In China, the Protestant churches have more than 200 bookshops, we still do not have even one. The content of our books arrive in the country but through local agencies, with other publishers who buy the copyright. We also try to cooperate not only with Catholics, but also with other Christian churches and we are checking the most appropriate method of getting closer and closer to the Chinese people. One example of this effort is the imminent launching of a website for our mission in Asia in three languages: Chinese, Vietnamese and English.
What do you expect from the missionaries in Korea?
For us the most important thing is to respond to the plan God has for us, sanctifying our lives, living as it fully as Christians. The Korean Pauline sisters are known to be very deep. We are dedicated to study and are very creative in our apostolate. These qualities will also be of help to other religious women in other countries in the future. I expect them to become increasingly open to the world as members of the universal family of the Pauline sisters. We are citizens of the world. We can not be satisfied by remaining only in one country.
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