A Korean bishop has called on priests to forcefully address the pro-life
issue in their country, where abortions outnumber births 3 to 1.
In a recent pastoral letter, Bishop Boniface Choi-Ki-san of Inchon exhorted
priests to adopt clearer positions against the killing of unborn children,
Vatican Radio reported.
"If pastors keep silent on this problem, the culture of death will dull
the conscience of Catholics," he said.
"Abortion is a particularly heinous form of murder, because it kills an
innocent child who cannot defend himself in its mother's womb, which should be
the safest place in the world," he added.
The bishop also challenged priests to be more courageous in reaching out to
faithful who have opted for abortion.
There are a staggering 1.8 million abortions compared with 600,000 births in
Korea each year. The abortion figure is 20 times higher than Germany's and 11
times higher than Italy's.
Many of the faithful are ill informed on the Church's teachings regarding
abortion, and it is precisely in this area that the preparation of Korean
parish priests is often inadequate.
"Many priests do not speak openly of sexuality because they consider it
taboo," explained Anna Jang Eun-ja, diocesan director of the Office of
Family Pastoral Care.
Her office is adopting measures to overcome this mentality, to promote
education programs on natural methods of family planning, to study preventive
measures and offer pastoral assistance to those have already who opted for
abortion.