By Kim Yong-bom
Staff Reporter

SEOUL The Korean Catholic church Dec. 3 confessed its sins and errors for the last 200 years since Catholicism was introduced into Korean society.

The statement of confession issued by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Korea under the title of "Reformation and Reconciliation" outlined seven-points of their sins and errors, but it did not single out specific historical incidents.

The mea culpa which came in the Sunday Mass only referred to general categories of sins committed mostly in the course of the foreign religion? encounter with domestic norms and culture as well as during the Japanese colonial rule of the nation (1910-1945).

It is considered a follow-up to the Pardon Mass on March 12, 2000 in which Pope John Paul II asked for forgiveness of Catholic sins. It is the first of its kind in the 200-year history of the Korean Catholic churches.

The statement read: "In the dark age of suppression of the religion, our churches have relied upon foreign forces to defend churches and religious freedom. And in the course of introducing the Western culture, we have caused a cultural friction (in the Korean society). In addition, as the historical incidents which left pain and wounds testify, we even solicited unjust foreign pressures upon the nation."

The confession apparently referred to the churches ban on the traditional Confucian ritual of ancestor worship and the French invasion into Kanghwa-do island in 1866, which was called "Foreign Disturbances of 1866" according to officials of the Korean Catholic churches. But the bishops conference refused to confirm whether certain historical incidents resulted in the confession.

During the late part of Choson dynasty, French Asiatic Squadron invaded the island in the West Sea in a retaliatory action against the dynasty? suppression and execution of French missionaries.

The incident of 1801 involving a Catholic believer, Hwang Sa-yong, remains another example of the Korean Catholic church? efforts to use the Western powers influence to attain religious freedom.

When the Choson dynasty conducted a massive persecution of Catholics in 1801, Hwang sent a "silk letter" to the Catholic bishop in Beijing to ask Western nations to dispatch naval forces to compel the Korean government to grant religious freedom.

The church also acknowledged its failure to speak out against the Japanese colonial rule of the country.

"We feel regrettable that churches, in the time of national predicament under the foreign pressures and the yoke of the Japanese rule, sometimes took punitive actions in the pretext of the separation of church and state against those who fought for the national liberation."

One of the concrete examples is presumed to be the excommunication of the independence fighter An Chung-kun, who assassinated Ito Hirobumi, head of the colonial government, in 1909.

In the mea culpa statement, the churches also admitted to their lack of effort for national reconciliation amid the division of the nation and for protection of human rights of the less privileged and alienated.

"We repent our insincere efforts to overcome the national division under the new world order after the Second World War and to achieve national reconciliation." The homily concluded, "Through confession and repentance, the church must undergo a reform to build a world of justice and peace following the teachings of Jesus Christ."

The members of the Bishops Conference are all diocesan bishops and those equivalent to them, auxiliary bishops and titular bishops.