Catholic priests call for Pres. Park to resign

Priests and laypeople from the Jeonju diocese of the Catholic Priests‘ Association for Justice (CPAJ) marched after a special mass on the evening of Nov. 22 to hold a candlelight vigil in front of a Lotte Mart in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. (by Kim Bong-gyu, staff photographer)

Interference in last December’s presidential election and highhanded response prompt calls for Park’s resignation

By Park Im-geun, North Jello correspondent, Jung Dae-ha, Gwangju correspondent, Kim Kwang-soo, Busan correspondent and Choi Sang-won, South Gyeongsang correspondent

Priests from the Jeonju diocese of the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice (CPAJ) held a special mass on the evening of Nov. 22 at the Susong Cathedral in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. At the mass, the priests declared that the presidential election was illegal and rigged because of the interference by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and other state institutions. The priests also called on President Park Geun-hye to resign.

Up to this point, Catholic priests and laypeople in dioceses around the country had held special masses at which they presented statements and asked for Park to apologize and punish the those responsible for the election interference, but this is the first time since she took office that priests have explicitly demanded that she step down.

The mass was independently planned by the Jeonju diocese of the CPAJ. However, since the position they took reflects the views of a considerable number of the Catholic clergy, it is now possible that demands for Park to step down will spread to other dioceses.

The priests from the Jeonju diocese of the association read their manifesto aloud during the mass. “If the president does not meet our demands for her to apologize, reveal the truth, punish those responsible, and announce her resignation, we will continue to hold special prayer meetings and masses calling for her resignation, and we will declare that she is no longer the president of South Korea,” the statement said.

The Jeonju priests said that the systematic election interference that state institutions were revealed to have carried out in last December’s presidential election suggest that the election was illegal and rigged, something that is unacceptable in a democratic country. Since Park is the person responsible for governing the country, they argued, she ought to take the ultimate responsibility for this.

The manifesto by the priests quoted several passages from the Bible, including Luke 8:16-17 (“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed...For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open”) and Matthew 18:17 (“…if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector”).

The mass was officiated by Song Nyeon-hong, priest at Susong Catholic Church. Song is the head of the Jeonju diocese of the CPAJ. The sermon at the mass was delivered by Park Chang-shin, a veteran priest who was one of the leaders in the democratization movements of the 1970s and 1980s.

After the mass was over, the priests and laypeople marched for about 900 meters through the neighborhood and took part in a candlelight vigil with local residents.

The CPAJ released an official statement on the same day, explaining that “the Jeonju diocese was acting alone when it called for President Park’s resignation.”

Nevertheless it is now possible that when priests from other dioceses express their position or take action by holding a special mass they may also call for Park to step down as the Jeonju priests did.

“While it may seem a little erratic for the Jeonju diocese of the CPAJ to ask President Park to step down, when you look at the underlying trends in the organization, they did not make this decision lightly,” said a source with the Seoul Archdiocese who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Backing up the demands for the president’s resignation is a strong consensus that has formed within the clergy.”

The source explained that Catholic priests had been using special masses and lectures to demand that the truth be revealed about the NIS’s interference in the election and that democracy be restored. The government made no kind of response to these efforts, however. With distrust in the government increasing throughout the Catholic Church, people in the Jeonju chapter of the CPAJ finally started talking about calling on Park to step down.

The cancellation of a meeting between Park and the council of Catholic bishops that had been scheduled for last month also could have affected the demand for the president to resign. Park was scheduled to have a lunch meeting with seven bishops on the council, but the Blue House unilaterally canceled the plans, explaining that the president was too busy.

Distrust of the president has increased in the Catholic Church, with people believing that Park was ignoring the church and was unwilling to communicate with it.

Priests from the fifteen Catholic dioceses started calling attention to the political situation on July 5. Through September, they delayed regular masses and issued manifestos criticizing state institutions’ illegal interference in the presidential election.

The Busan diocese was the first to issue an emergency manifesto in July, and on Nov. 4 it held a mass condemning state institutions’ illegal interference in the presidential election. The mass took place at the Seomyeon Cathedral located in the Bujeon neighborhood of the Busanjin district of Busan. It was the second such mass, following the first mass in September.

A total of 715 people took part in the mass on Nov. 4, including 162 priests from the Busan Diocese and 553 monks and nuns. During the mass, a manifesto was presented, which said, “We can no longer stand by and watch the current administration’s highhanded attempts to cover up the illegal interference in the election and to obstruct the investigation into the same. With heavy hearts, we offer a grave warning to the administration whose actions compel us to once hold a special mass and issue a statement. This is the last chance to choose the truth and to reform.”

The Committee for Justice and Peace at the Masan Diocese is planning to hold a third mass about the political situation.

“We held two special masses calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor into the National Intelligence Service’s illegal interference in the election. The first was at the Myeongseo Cathedral in Changwon on Sep. 9, and the second was at the Okbong Cathedral in Jinju on Nov. 18,” said committee chair Baek Nam-hae. “While we haven’t settled on the data or location yet, we are planning to hold a third special mass depending on how things go in the political situation.”

The Committee for Justice and Peace in the Gwangju Archdiocese, which had been holding a regular protest mass each Thursday, is also mulling over how it should respond.

“Just the facts that have surfaced so far about state institutions’ illegal interference in the presidential election was enough to bring us to this point [urging Park to resign],” said Lee Yeong-seon, the committee chair. “We will discuss what action we should take in the future after attending the protest mass in the Jeonju Diocese.”

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