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DECLARATION ON OUR CATHOLIC FAITH AND THE MESSAGES AND MIRACULOUS SIGNS
THROUGH MRS. JULIA KIM OF NAJU, KOREA
by the Witnesses of
Naju
1.
We totally accept and firmly believe
(i) that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ entrusted to His Church the most
sublime and full truths necessary for human salvation revealed by Himself or
through His Apostles and (ii) that these truths contained in the Sacred
Scripture and Tradition have been explained, clarified, and transmitted to us by
means of the catechisms, the papal teachings, the Council documents, the Saints'
examples and writings, the shepherds' sermons, and so on so that people of every
time and place may come to the knowledge of God and His truths and be
saved.
2.
We believe (i) that Our Lord has
invited all the members of the human race to His Church and called all the
members of His Church to participate in His work of human salvation so that His
truths may be propagated to all peoples and the graces of salvation earned
through His Passion may be widely distributed and also (ii) that He established
an hierarchy of shepherds in the Church to teach the truths to the faithful and
distribute the sacramental graces to them so that they may not deviate from the
truths or become negligent in keeping the commandments but adhere faithfully to
the Church's teachings on faith and morals and grow in divine
grace.
3.
We believe (i) that the Holy Spirit
is always guiding the Church so that the whole body of the faithful including
both the clergy and the laity in the Church cannot err in matters of belief
(Catechism of the Catholic Church
#92) and (ii) that, when the Pope or the
Ecumenical Council in union with the Pope formally proposes a doctrine
pertaining to faith and morals as divinely revealed and as the teaching of
Christ, the Holy Spirit bestows on them the charisma of infallibility so that
their pronouncement of the doctrine may be free of errors (Catechism of the Catholic Church #891).
4.
We believe that "divine assistance is also given to the successors of the
apostles, teaching in communion with the successor of Peter, and, in a
particular way, to the bishop of Rome, pastor of the whole Church, when, without
arriving at a 'definitive manner,' they propose in the exercise of the ordinary
Magisterium a teaching that leads to better understanding or Revelation in
matters of faith and morals"
(Catechism of the Catholic
Church #892).
5.
Therefore, we believe (i) that
"the Christian faithful, conscious of
their own responsibility, are bound by Christian obedience to follow what the
sacred pastors, as representatives of Christ, declare as teachers of the faith
or determine as leaders of the Church"
(Canon Law #212 (1)) and, at the same time, (ii) that this
obedience is not to be coerced. The Church teaches that "man's response to God by faith must be
free" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #160) and that "nobody may be forced to act against his convictions, nor
is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience in
religious matters in private or in public, alone or in association with others,
within due limits" (The Second Vatican
Council, Dignitatis
humanae #2). When some members of the
Church embrace erroneous ideas concerning faith and morals and even propagate
them to others either out of their ignorance or out of their pride and vanity,
the shepherds will need to give them proper guidance so that they may repent of
their errors and come back to the truth and, if they still persist in their
errors, will need to warn them and take even stronger measures, if
necessary. However, when people remain faithful to the Church teachings and
promote sound Catholic devotions, the shepherds will have no reason to
discourage them from doing so.
6.
Humans have been created in the image
and likeness of God and, thus, have intellect and free will. Accordingly, we
believe that the members of the Church—not only the laity but also the
shepherds—must make their best efforts to use their intellect and free will
properly so that they may remain faithful to the Lord's truths. If we compromise
truths and accept errors for any reason, we become unfaithful to the Lord and
fail in doing His Will. We need to remind ourselves that the purpose of our
being in the Catholic Church is to learn the Lord's truths, bear witness to them
and defend them to the end so that we may attain eternal life.
"All the faithful share in understanding and handing on
revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who
instructs them and guides them into all truth" (Catechism of
the Catholic Church #91).
"The eighth commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth
in our relations with others. This moral prescription flows from the vocation of
the holy people to bear witness to their God who is the truth and wills the
truth. Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit
oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in
this sense, they undermine the foundations of the covenant" (Catechism of
the Catholic Church
#2464).
7.
Based on the above teachings, we have
genuine respect and love for the shepherds in the Church: the Pope, bishops, and
priests, and intend to be obedient to their teaching and guidance as children
obey and follow their parents. At the same time, we recognize that, in those
cases where the shepherds teach something that does not seem to conform to the
truths or take some action that unjustly infringes upon our freedom and rights
as members of the Church, we are free to make it known to the shepherds and
petition them for correcting the problems and also to make it known to others in
the Church: "The Christian faithful are
free to make known their needs, especially spiritual ones, and their desires to
the pastors of the Church. In accord with the knowledge, competence and
preeminence which they possess, they have the right and even at times a duty to
manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the
good of the Church, and they have a right to make their opinion known to the
other Christian faithful, with due regard for the integrity of faith and morals
and reverence toward their pastors, and with consideration for the common good
and the dignity of persons"
(Canon Law #212 (2) & (3)).
8.
We believe that public revelation of
all the truths necessary for human salvation was completed in the times of Our
Lord and His Apostles, but, for the purpose of keeping His people faithful to
the already-revealed truths, God sometimes sends great Saints and even the
Blessed Mother to warn, enlighten, encourage, and strengthen His people
especially in times of widespread apostasy, heresy, or moral degradation. The
Church teaches as follows: "So that she
can fulfill her mission, the Holy Spirit 'bestows upon [the Church] varied
hierarchic and charismatic gifts, and in this way directs her'" (Lumen
Gentium #4). Therefore, there should be
no conflict between (i) the graces that we ordinarily receive through the
Sacraments and other pastoral activities of the hierarchy and (ii) the
charismatic graces including the special revelations (The term: special revelation was used in a doctrinal pronouncement by the Council of
Trent, DS #1566) that God sends to His people in particular
needs. When people respond well to the special assistance from God, they can
experience much progress in revitalizing their faith, invigorating their
missionary fervor, and enhancing the effectiveness of the Church's efforts to
fight moral corruption in the world. A good example of this is the massive
conversion of the Mexican people to the Catholic Faith and the end of the evil
practice of human sacrifices thanks to the Blessed Mother's special help in
Guadalupe in the 16th Century. Of course, as not all the reports of
apparitions, messages and miracles are genuine, we must not be credulous toward
them but discern them carefully based on our faith and reason and also follow
the official discernment by the Church when it becomes available. It should also
be kept in mind that the duty of the Church concerning the reports of special
revelations is to find out whether they are genuine or not and is not to
arbitrarily accept or reject them as if the Church authority were above the
truth (cf. Catechism of the Catholic
Church #86).
9.
As to the matters concerning Naju,
the Kwangju Archdiocese formed the Naju Investigating Committee at the end of
1994 and announced a negative declaration on Naju on January 1, 1998. We believe
that, when there are serious reports of supernatural events, the local diocese
has an obligation to conduct an objective and thorough investigation based on
the authentic teachings of the Church, scientific tests, and many testimonies
and that the faithful have a duty to accept the official judgment of the
Church. In the case of the declaration on Naju announced by the Kwangju
Archdiocese, however, many clergy and lay people inside and outside Korea have
raised serious questions concerning the contents of the declaration. It has been
hoped that the Kwangju Archdiocese would either give a sincere and convincing
explanation in defense of its declaration or recognize the problems and make the
necessary corrections. If the questions raised were merely trivial matters or
unreasonable fault-findings, it would not matter much even if they were
ignored. On the contrary, the questions raised so far have been considered to be
of such a serious nature that the validity of the declaration itself is deemed
to be at stake and the integrity of a bishop's teaching authority itself is
thought to have been compromised.
Despite the
seriousness of the situation, the Kwangju Archdiocese has not addressed the
problems concerning its declaration at all. The only position it has taken so
far has been to demand unconditional acceptance of its declaration by the
faithful simply because it was issued in the name of the Archbishop. The
continuing refusal by the Kwangju Archdiocese to conduct a proper investigation
of Naju and to look into the questions of doctrinal errors in the declaration
and its persistent demand for unconditional obedience from the faithful are
serious violations of the following principles: (i) The bishop's teaching
authority is not an unlimited one but has been entrusted to him by the Lord for
the purpose of protecting the faithful in the truth; and (ii) "Man's response to God by faith must be
free" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #160) and that "nobody may be forced to act against his convictions, nor
is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience in
religious matters in private or in public, alone or in association with others,
within due limits" (The Second Vatican
Council, Dignitatis
humanae #2). The Kwangju Archdiocese
emphasizes unity in the church community as its major objective and mentions it
as the justifying reason for its rejection of Naju, but is actually making true
unity in the Church impossible by violating the above principles that must be
followed in seeking true unity.
Then, what are the
problems in the declaration on Naju issued by the Kwangju Archdiocese?
(1)
In the Kwangju declaration, it is
stated that the doctrine of the Catholic
Church says that even after the bread and wine are transubstantiated into the
body and blood of Christ with the formula of priests' consecration, the species
of bread and wine remain (The Korean
original of the Kwangju declaration says "the species of bread and wine must remain") and, based on this, condemned the phenomena in Naju of
the Eucharistic species turning into visible flesh and blood and, in effect,
condemned all of the Eucharistic miracles that had occurred in Church history,
many of which had already been officially approved by the Church. It is obvious,
however, that the Church doctrine on this subject only explains that, even
though the substances of bread and wine change into the substances of Our Lord's
body and blood at the time of priests' consecration, the species of bread and
wine remain unchanged. In other words, this doctrine describes what the effects
of the priests' consecration are and is not intended to indicate that the
Eucharistic species must continue unchanged even after the consecration. The
Kwangju declaration distorts the Church doctrine in order to condemn the
Eucharistic miracles in Naju. If anyone says that the species of bread and wine
also change by the power of the priests' consecration, it will clearly be a
violation of the Church doctrine, but this has never been said or implied in
connection with the Eucharistic miracles in Naju. Underlying the rejection of
the Eucharistic miracles by the Kwangju Declaration is a denial of the
possibilities of miracles that occur by special interventions by God. The First
Vatican Council condemned any attempt to reject the possibilities of miracles or
deny that miracles are certain proofs of the divine origin of the revealed
truths (DS #3009 & #3034).
(2)
The miracles of the Eucharistic
species changing into visible flesh and blood are signs from God that externally
reveal the inner reality normally hidden behind the Sacramental signs of bread
and wine and are intended to strengthen our faith in the Real Presence of Our
Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. Denying these miracles, even by distorting the
Church doctrine, is an act that does not uphold this teaching on the Eucharist
but opposes it. In fact, Rev. Peter Soon-Sung Ri, the secretary general and
dogmatic theologian of the Naju Investigating Committee of the Kwangju
Archdiocese contributed an article to the Pastoral Care
magazine published by the Korean Bishops' Conference (the March 1998 issue) just
two months after the announcement of the Kwangju declaration on Naju for the
purpose of justifying the contents of the declaration. In this article, Father
Ri said, "The real reason for the
rejection of the Eucharistic phenomena in Naju in the Declaration of Archbishop
Victorinus Youn of Kwangju was to pursue the grand proposition of pursuing unity
with our separated brethren." What
Father Ri means is that, as the Protestants oppose the Catholic teaching of the
Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist with His Body, Blood, Soul, and
Divinity, the Eucharistic miracles which affirm the Catholic teaching could not
be recognized for fear of offending the Protestants. This is to abandon the
truth for the sake of seeking a false unity and represents a betrayal of the
Lord who is the truth itself. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council sternly
warned against compromising the Catholic teachings under the pretext of pursuing
unity with the separated brethren: "Nothing is so foreign to the spirit of ecumenism as a
false irenicism which harms the purity of catholic doctrine and obscures its
genuine and certain meaning"
(Unitatis Redintegratio, November 21, 1964). Father Ri further said in his article
that there had been different views on the Eucharist in the past centuries and,
even in our times, some of the theologians are trying to find ways of presenting
the doctrine on the Eucharist which would be acceptable to both the Protestants
and the Catholics. His remark implies either that there is no definite Catholic
teaching on the Eucharist yet or that, even if there is one, it could be revised
according to the theologians' new formulas. This view, however, is totally
unacceptable to those who want to remain faithful to the authentic Catholic
Faith. The Catholic dogmas are God's teachings infallibly defined by the Church
with her teaching authority entrusted to her by the Founder of the Church, Our
Lord Himself. To avoid taking a clear position may be a shrewd tactic in the
secular world but is not the correct attitude that we expect from those who are
faithful to the Lord's truths. In Chapter 6 of St. John's Gospel, there is an
account of Our Lord explaining the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist and many Jews
no longer following Jesus. Seeing them leave, Our Lord did not call them back by
promising to modify His teaching but challenged His disciples to affirm their
faith. If we also have had a weak faith and a cold and indifferent attitude
toward Our Lord really present in the Eucharist, it is now the right time to
correct our mistakes by becoming truly devoted to Our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament and to His Mother through whom His Incarnation has been
accomplished.
(3)
The Kwangju declaration also said,
"The doctrine of the Catholic Church says
that only through the legitimately ordained priest's consecration does the
sacrament of the Eucharist begin to exist," and, based on this, condemned the miraculous descents
of the Eucharist in Naju and, in effect, also condemned many miraculous
Communions that the Saints had received directly from the Lord or from the
angels throughout Church history. This was another serious distortion of the
Church doctrine on the Holy Eucharist, as the Fourth Lateran Council stated in
1215: "Surely no one can accomplish this
sacrament except a priest who has been rightly ordained according to the keys of
the Church which Jesus Christ Himself conceded to the Apostles and to their
successors" (DS #802) in order
to counter the Waldensian heresy that rejected the hierarchy and claimed equal
powers for all the faithful. Its purpose was not to preclude the possibility of
Our Lord Himself miraculously coming to us in the form of the Eucharist without
the intermediary of His priests on earth. This teaching is clearly different
from the assertion in the Kwangju declaration that says: the Eucharist can begin to exist only through the
priest's consecration. The Eucharist is
not a lifeless object but Our Lord Himself. He is fully capable as the Son of
God to appear in His proper form as He did sometimes or in the form of the
Eucharist as He did other times.
(4)
The Kwangju declaration also
condemned the miracle of St. Michael the Archangel taking the Eucharist from a
priest in sin and taking It to the Chapel in Naju while Archbishop Giovanni
Bulaitis, the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio in Korea, was visiting on November 24, 1994
quoting the Church teaching that says that the validity of the Sacraments does
not depend on the sanctity of the celebrating priest. Even though this
presentation of the Church doctrine was correct, it was incorrectly applied, as
the Eucharist was brought to Naju after the consecration and a valid
consecration was never denied. Archbishop Bulaitis mentioned that a small corner
of one of the two halves of the Eucharist received in Julia's hands was missing,
which was an indication that the priest put the tiny piece of the Eucharist in
the chalice and was about to consume the Eucharist.
(5) Relying on
these incorrectly presented and applied Church doctrines as its pretexts, the
Kwangju Archdiocese has not ordered any scientific tests of the miraculous
evidences in Naju. Nor has it considered the results of the tests conducted at
Seoul National University (in its Department of Forensic Medicine), hospitals in
Kwangju, and laboratories abroad. Thorough scientific examinations of miracles
are necessary before the Church makes decisions concerning beatification and
canonization, and the same is true in the cases of the Marian apparitions. Many
priests and lay people in Korea said, "The miracles in Naju must have been fabricated!"
and spread this groundless and
irresponsible accusation. Many others said, "I don't care whether these miracles are true or
not. Miracles are not important!" This
is a dangerous, erroneous statement, as true miracles are God's own testimonies
that confirm the divine origin of His teachings so that we may believe in them
more strongly and adhere to them more firmly. In the Scripture, we read that Our
Lord sternly scolded those who heard and saw His sermons and miracles but did
not believe (Luke 10:13-16). If we have become overconfident because of
our secular wisdom and scientific knowledge and despise the supernatural
teachings and signs from God, we will be despising God Himself who sent these
teachings and signs to us. The true miraculous signs are special manifestations
of the omnipotence and love of God the Son (together with God the Father and God
the Holy Spirit) who became incarnate and dwells among us. They are His sacred
and loving touches and pulses that remind us of His presence among us and the
fact that the true lord of this universe is not us but the living God
Himself.
(6)
The following do not concern the
Kwangju declaration itself but are problems that have occurred in the process of
applying the declaration to the pastoral care by the Kwangju Archdiocese and the
Naju Parish.
(i) On May 11,
2002, Monica Chung, Julia's mother-in-law, passed away. She had been a faithful
member of the Dongrim-dong Parish in Kwangju. Simply because she was Julia's
mother-in-law, she was denied a funeral Mass at the Naju Parish Church and her
own parish church in Kwangju. More shocking was the remark by Fr. Luke Hong-Chul
Song, the Naju Pastor, that the order to prohibit Masses for Monica Chung had
come from Archbishop Choi.
(ii) In recent
years, Korean and foreign pilgrims to Naju have been denied entrance into the
Naju parish church. The same thing has also been happening in some other
parishes in Korea and some of the Korean parishes in the United
States.
(iii)
In June 2001, Fr. Song of the Naju
Parish said that he would welcome Julia and Julio, her husband, back into his
parish, if they declared before the parishioners during a Sunday Mass that all
the messages and miracles had been fabricated and they would never spread them
again. By saying this, Fr. Song made it impossible for Julia and Julio to lead
an ordinary faith life in the parish. What he did was something that was
unimaginable in the Catholic Church, as he was in fact asking Julia and Julio to
abandon their conscience and deny the messages and works of the Lord and the
Blessed Mother. Archbishop Choi has done nothing about this, even though he was
informed about it.
The above problems
are serious usurpations of the faithful's right as well as violations of the
power entrusted to the clergy in the Church. The following are the relevant
Church laws:
"The Christian faithful have the right to receive
assistance from the sacred pastors out of the spiritual goods of the Church,
especially the word of God and the sacraments" (Canon Law
#213)
"One who abuses ecclesiastical power or function is to be
punished in accord with the seriousness of the act or omission not excluding
deprivation from office unless a penalty for such abuse has already been
established by a law or a precept"
(Canon Law #1389).
In addition, the act
of the Kwangju Archdiocese (and other dioceses in Korea to the extent they are
cooperating with the Kwangju Archdiocese) of demanding from the faithful
unconditional acceptance of its declaration on Naju that contain doctrinal
errors and other serious problems is also an abuse of power. The reason is that
Our Lord has entrusted His teaching authority to the shepherds for the purpose
of protecting the faithful in the truth (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church #890 & 896), but this teaching authority has been
used not to defend the truths but to enforce errors. This is a serious abuse of
power in the Church and disloyalty to the Lord.
Currently, the
atmosphere in the Church in Korea is suffocating as in a society under
dictatorship and repression. Many of the faithful in Korea are experiencing
severe difficulties and pains under the pressure from their bishops and pastors
who demand a full compliance with the Kwangju declaration on Naju which rejects
the messages and miracles in Naju as false and distorts the Church doctrines to
justify its negative decision on Naju. The faithful who are being subjected to
this pressure probably have never disobeyed their bishops or pastors; nor have
they been accused of breaking law and order in the Church or harming unity in
the church community. Let us remember, however, that our ancestors of the
earlier centuries suffered worse persecutions and hardships but successfully
overcame them with their firm faith and trust in the Lord and the Blessed
Mother. We are definitely not seeking to be disobedient to the teaching
authority of the Church. We love the Church and want to be faithful to her
teachings and obedient to her shepherds. Nevertheless, we are experiencing a
painful conflict now, because the local church leaders in Korea demand that we
accept distortions of the Lord's truths which we have pledged to uphold and deny
His works which we have witnessed. The church leaders in Korea are resorting to
coercion to make the faithful accept the Kwangju declaration on Naju despite all
its errors and shortcomings. If we surrender to this misused power, we will be
consenting to the doctrinal errors contained in the declaration and also joining
those who say that the messages and miraculous signs in Naju have been
fabricated. By doing this, we may avoid the current criticisms and other
mistreatments by those who are around us, but will have to answer Our Lord who
may ask us why we compromised with errors and turned our backs to the presence,
messages, miracles, and graces of Our Lord and Our Lady. If we say that we were
forced by our bishops, priests, and friends, will the Lord accept these
excuses? Now is the time for Our Lord's separating good grains from empty heads
of grain as mentioned in one of His messages in Naju. God is infinitely merciful
to those who repent of their sins and reform their lives but is stern to those
who remain in evil. Also, we must not neglect the unity in the universal Church
while pursuing unity in the local church. The unity in the local church alone,
which ignores the unity with the Holy Father, many Bishops and priests, and
countless lay people around the world, is not true unity worthy of the Catholic
Church. Unity that does not stand on truth will collapse like a house built on
sand. Besides, the Catholic doctrines cannot be different between the universal
Church and the local churches or between Rome and the local churches. Let us
hope and pray that those who persist in errors realize their mistakes soon,
humbly kneel before the Lord, and join the true unity in the universal Church by
restoring truth and charity in their minds and hearts.
The current uneasy
and difficult situation will not last indefinitely. Let us not become impatient
or have any doubt about the approaching total triumph by Our Lord and Our Lady
but pray fervently that this triumph will be realized in ourselves as soon as
possible, always meditating on the truths from the Lord, and thus become loyal
children of the Lord and the Blessed Mother. It will be easier to accept the
messages and signs in Naju after its official approval, but it will be more
precious if we defend the Lord and the Blessed Mother and bear witness to Their
messages and works now when it is so difficult to do so. Let us not lose heart
despite the pressure that keeps pushing us away from the truth and away from
being faithful to the Lord. Instead of trembling and worrying before the
coercion, let us together become the light and the salt for saving this world as
the children and servants of Our Lord and Our Lady.
Witnesses of Naju
May 31, 2005
More
readings
In Italy 2001
Doctrinal errors in the Kwangju Archbishop's declaration on
Naju
Another Deviation from the Truth on the Holy
Eucharist
Some Questions for the Kwangju Archbishop
Letter from Mary's Touch By Mail on the
occasion of the election of Pope Benedict XVI
I Status of Naju I Our Declaration I Scientific
tests I Videos on Naju I To all our friends I
Prayer
meetings I Pilgrimages
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