Roman Catholicism in India and South Korea

Editor’s note: The following post arises from small group reflections from The Rise of Global Christianity, 1910–2010, taught by Dr. Todd Johnson at Boston University in the Fall of 2010. Led by doctoral students, the small groups discussed lectures given by Christian scholars in various disciplines, including significant changes that have occurred in global Christianity over the past 100 years.

During our class session of November 10, 2010, Fr Vincent Machozi of Boston University lectured on the History of Catholicism. As with previous presenters, he packed a lot of information into his lecture. This week our follow-up discussion group included two people from South Korea, one from India and one from the United States. We shared first about our impressions of Catholicism in India and South Korea. In India the church is known to have some of the best schools in the country; devout Hindus will often send their children to those schools because of their quality. The church also is quite involved in social programs. Our South Korean participants noted that there Roman Catholics have a reputation of being positively engaged in society while their Protestant counterparts are often seen as corrupt. In addition, Catholics are often thought of as being united while Protestants are split into many different factions. The strong and clearly defined hierarchical leadership structure is also a plus in Korean society which values those kinds of structures rather than more egalitarian ones. We wondered if perhaps that is why Christian Base Communities which were so popular in Latin America have not been part of the Korean Catholic experience.

In both Korea and India Roman Catholics are known for being open to an engagement with indigenous cultures and other religions. They are involved in inter-religious dialogue with Buddhists and Hindus, and in India many apply the bindi spot on their foreheads, a Hindi tradition. In Korea Catholic liturgy appropriates certain aspects of the traditional ancestor veneration. Protestants, on the other hand, include recognition of the ancestors but have changed significantly the way it happens in the liturgy so as to distance themselves from traditional ceremonies.

As our discussion time ended, we had just started to discuss Peter Phan’s Boston 2010 presentation about inter-religious dialogue at the 1910 missionary gathering and Vatican II. We were trying to decide if we agree with his suggestion that Christians need to be open to being converted by our interlocutors as we dialogue with those of other religions. If we accept that premise, what then does mission look like?

Bruce Yoder, discussion moderator