Inter-religious sharing 종교 간 나눔

               (written in 2005)

 India is an ancient country with a rich cultural heritage and various religious traditions. At the moment, India is also growing fast in the information technology(IT) sector. It is true one can be really proud of Indian ingenuity and intuition. But one cannot deny the problems of corruption, dowry, caste, and ethnic discrimination. Because of the caste system in its society, some of them feel they are higher while some of them feel some people are lower than others.

 This creates constant tension and conflict among people. It may be one of the reasons for slow development. The Catholic Church in India is aware of social problems and works for solidarity among people. When John Paul II passed away, it is said that even other denominations closed their school to pay homage to the Holy Father. 

 Mahatma Gandhi and Blessed Mother Teresa, great Indians of the last century, greatly contributed to building solidarity and freedom among Indian people. Both have inspired not only Indians but all people in other countries as well. Gandhi worked for the liberation of the nation, and Mother Teresa worked for the liberation of the poor.  Gandhi once said, "I love Christ, but I don't like Christians." He was inspired by the sermon on the mountain, that is, Beatitudes in Mt. 5.

 At this point, I would like to introduce a Catholic priest from India. His name is Rev. Dr. Sebestian Periannan who is the fifth among four sisters and two brothers. At the moment, he is the rector of St. Peter's Pontifical Major Seminary with 300 students in the Seminary and 600 students in the Institute in Bangalore, India. He is also the head of the Department of Social Communications at St. Peter's Pontifical Institute. He was born in Myanmar in 1958, but his family moved to India in 1964.

 He felt God's calling after his high school studies. He was ordained as a diocesan priest in the year 1984. After serving five years as a diocesan priest, he was selected to be the director and coordinator of Tamil broadcast in Radio Veritas Asia in Manila, the Philippines. He worked as a radio broadcaster and journalist for seven years. It was in the Philippines that I met him for the first time.

 He pursued his doctoral studies in development and communications at the University of the Philippines at Los Banos. After 10 years of work and study, he went back to India in the year 1999. His book on social research methodology is a textbook at the University of Madras, Chennai. He writes a number of scientific articles on communication and gives lectures on social communications. He is an FABC consultant for the Office of Social Communication. Being conscious of the importance of inter-religious and ecumenical dialogue, he joins in Asia Region World Association of Christian Communication.

 The most important value in his life is to share the Gospels of Christ, to communicate the love of God, and serve society so as to bring peace to the broken heart. Following the footsteps of John Paul II and Mother Teresa, he is giving more priority to communicating God's love, service to the poor, and love to all those who are in need.  So, his goal or vision is that the Catholic Church should engage and involve more in religious and pastoral communication, which is more dialogical and participatory with media ethics.

 While staying at our convent, he gave us a good and effective homily so I asked the secret. Then, he said he does constant reading and research. Through this search, he is able to add some other stories to the homily. He suggests we should have the word of God as well as human experiences and life stories to be a more effective preacher. In fact, giving an effective homily during Mass or meetings is every preacher's problem and homework.

 He says Korea is a beautiful country with promising people. People are hardworking, honest, religious, and family-minded. The country is really growing as a modern electronic city. He is also happy about the growth of Christianity in Korea. It is true that we can see the number of crosses on the top of the church buildings. He hopes various denominations will not create competitive evangelization and sheep stealing. Inter-religious dialogue and ecumenical action always help us understand, accept and cooperate with one another to create a better world in harmony. 

 The Korea Times/ Thoughts of the Times/ May 21(Sat), 2005