Take off your shoes.
Take off your new shoes.
And prepare your heart.

This is what the experience of three weeks in Korea has meant to me.

It was a moment to take off my shoes, to enter into the Korean way of being at home, in slippers, leaving the “outside” shoes in a cupboard in the hall. But then it was necessary to take off even the new shoes that were given in exchange in order to enter the bedroom or the bathroom. A call, indeed, to prepare the heart for the new ways of being and of doing that would mark the weeks ahead. I had visited Asia before- in 1964 with my mother, and then with JRS in the 90’s. This time I had the joy of getting to know a province of the Society, not just visiting as a tourist or for the specific purpose of working in a refugee setting.

The meeting took place at the Retreat House run by rscj in Paju, about 45 minutes from Seoul. When the property was bought five years ago, it was a very rural area, but now the fields are gone and the house and the adjoining noviceship are dwarfed by high rise buildings on every side. Each detail was looked after with care, and attention to detail so that each one felt special. Meals were very interesting, with some familiar ingredients put together in new and colorful ways, and with sesame oil, ginger, hot paste, and the ever-present kimchee which is beyond me. Definitely different…. but accessible to our foreign palates! I found the chapel a real invitation to prayer of simplicity, with its tabernacle in the shape of a Korean house and ceramic cross made by one rscj. Creativity is a hallmark of the Korean rscj: playing the violin, singing, all shared in very meaningful liturgies and prayer services. Something of the oriental contemplative touched me very deeply, and I found myself eager to learn the way of prostrations, or keep my back straight in prayer, but above all, to listen to the silence of the gong.

Seoul is a modern city, bristling with tall buildings built in groups of 6-8, identical, with a only a number on the side for identification. Swamps, rivers are crisscrossed by elegant modern bridges. There are ample freeways, but rush traffic is there, all the same! Palaces and temples are tucked into corners, and traditional roofs peek here and there in between cement and glass. We passed Baskin Robbins, Pizza Hut, KFC, Fench Baguette, “Golden Arches” with Korean writing…. Leaves changed color during our stay, and it was the first time that some rscj from other latitudes saw this happen, and were delighted. I don’t know what I was expecting, but the maze that is downtown Seoul and the aggressiveness of the hard lines of modern buildings presented quite a contrast to the delicacy and gentleness of the rscj of the Korea Province.

I loved the way that our sisters enjoyed sharing with us, showing us their national treasures, their way of life, their culture, the treasures of their country and of the Korean province. We visited vast, harmonious palaces with brightly painted woodwork. I loved looking at the roofs with unique chimneys and tiles with lovely details. We visited the Museum of Folklore, with its beautifully crafted exhibitions of daily life, of occupations and celebrations, and of life cycles. I could have spent days there. On a free afternoon some of us went to visit a temple in the middle of the city. A monk chanted while many came to pray and make offerings for the success of their children’s entrance examinations. We were surprised to find such “loud” worship, as we were expecting something rather along the lines of silent contemplation… We visited the Sacred Heart School where many find a very meaningful and needed ministry, and talked with other rscj who are involved in Workers’ Unions, L’Arche, counseling for religious, a shelter for runaway girls, and, of course, with the members of the Retreat House community. The sense of history is something that remains with me: history of the country, of the church, of the Society. The novices and YPs certainly looked beautiful in their butterfly-like Korean dresses.

When we visited the Church of the Korean Martyrs, built in the shape of a typical hat and of the guillotine used for beheading, I had strong sense of a “church of martyrs”, a church built on blood and on the laity…. and heard nostalgia for a church once egalitarian and based on participation.

Quite different from the church of today.

During our most welcome free day, some of us went on a tour to the DMZ, the “38th parallel” that I remember from childhood and the tales of relatives who were then in the US Army. But we were disappointed because it was such a commercial tour. The guide’s comments were full of “we-they”, “good-bad” rhetoric, and of harrowing stories such as the need to work the land under the protection of armed guards, or the tunnels that are being dug to prepare an invasion from the north, “Freedom Village” (South) and “Propaganda Village” (North) blasting music at each other and boasting about who has the largest flag and mast…. The military presence of the US looms very large…

The meeting itself was interesting to me, as I sensed that the Society is in a very different place from many years ago. Conversations did not go along the lines of opposing ideologies or visions, of “north-south”, “east-west”, “developed/developing” and all our other labels that often pepper usual conversations. The differences of focus, of life styles, and certainly where each provincial was coming from were all there, but the fact that there has been a movement from “I” to “we – from provinces to regions, was very significant. I was struck by the fact that the provincials of Europe worked together as “Europe”, not thinking of merging into one province, but having a focus, a thrust coming from the currents that affect the continent as a whole. Latin America, was, as always, vibrant, mindful of “el pueblo”, of the grassroots, calling us to be attentive to the feminine dimension. Asia was thrilled that as rscj we want to be open to their treasures, to their spirituality, that the Society is taking on a more Asian face. North America brought the gift of clear thinking and analysis. And Africa dances to its own drummer, speaking from life and not from theory or analysis. The provincials discussed in different groups: home (mixed), by language, by regions. Every morning they reflected and shared on the following questions: What happened? – not just material, but in me. How did I feel? What did I learn? Where does this lead me?

There was great interest in the international website. The image of used for the inequality of access to Internet in the various provinces. The image used was that of a train – local, milk train, TGV (fast train), commuter… but all riding on a train… There was no sense of having to catch it or look for it. All are on board, and the train is moving albeit at different speeds!

It was difficult to present something substantial in the Communications, because there was a definite process, and it was difficult to share without giving wrong impression on something that was not finished but evolved form day to day. Definitely, at the end of the meeting there was a feeling that there are no answers, but that each provincial was going home with questions, questions to be shared with the province at large. Not being a Chapter, there was no need to produce a document or to make decisions, so there was a larger scope and more freedom to the discussions.

At the end, Clare Pratt said, referring to account of the work to date presented in the Report of the Central Team,

“Some people wonder what we are going to do during the next five years!” Work is cut out for all after this Assembly!

When I left Korea, I felt that I had befriended the change of shoes, mastered which slippers to be worn where, to the point of forgetting which shoes I had worn on arrival!

At the DMZ	General Assembly	Our Korean novices
Eucharist in the Chapel of the Retreat House	Going forth...	Take off your shoes...