2023-12-27 14:22:00
Monsignor Jeong Eui-chae passed away on the 27th. /Chosun Ilbo DB
Monsignor Jeong Eui-chae (98), who was called the ‘intellectual of Korean Catholicism,’ passed away on the 27th. Monsignor refers to a high-ranking Catholic priest who is not a bishop and is appointed by the Pope.
In 1925, Monsignor Jeong, a native of Jeongju, North Pyongan Province, experienced liberation while attending Deokwon Theological Seminary near Wonsan. After a death-defying escape from his communist hometown, he came down south, graduated from seminary, and was ordained a priest in 1953. He recalled, “When I was in Vietnam, I prayed earnestly, ‘Please let me offer mass as a priest just once.’” He studied at the University of Urbana in Rome in 1957 and received a doctorate in philosophy in 1961 for ‘a comparative study of the pragmatism of John Dewey and the thought of Thomas Aquinas.’ He served as a professor at the Catholic University of Korea from 1961 to 1984, and served as the chief minister of Bulgwang-dong Cathedral and Myeong-dong Cathedral in Seoul, president of the Catholic University of Korea, and chair professor at Sogang University (1992-2009). In 2005 he was appointed ‘Monsignor’. In 1991, when there were incidents of self-immolation by activists and kidnappings and murders of children, the Life Culture Research Institute was opened at Sogang University to spread the concept of ‘life culture’, which was unfamiliar at the time. He also took the lead in intellectual missionary work, such as guiding novelist Park Gyeong-ri and his daughter Kim Young-ju, former director of Toji Culture, in their study of doctrine and getting them baptized.
In 1985, he began translating Thomas Aquinas’ masterpiece ‘Summary of Theology’ and translated up to 16 volumes into Latin-Korean translation in 2000. In 2010, he published his memoir ‘Everything Was Grace’ and ‘Korea in the midst of a tectonic shift in the common human culture’ (3 volumes). Monsignor Jeong said through ‘Common Culture…’, which runs to 1,000 pages in each volume, that the spirit of the new 1000s will be ‘coexistence, cooperation, and co-prosperity’ and that the key keyword will be ‘love’. emphasized.
It is well known that in 1987, Monsignor Jeong received 24 questions from Samsung founder and chairman Lee Byung-cheol, asking 24 questions regarding the fundamentals of life and faith, such as ‘How can you prove the existence of God?’ and ‘If God loved humans, why did he give them misfortune and death?’ While Monsignor Jeong was preparing his answer, Chairman Lee passed away, so the answer was not delivered.
Monsignor Jeong was the spiritual focal point of the priests of the Pyongyang Diocese who went to South Korea. Although he was basically a conservative, he was a clergyman who did not spare bitter comments regarding the regime beyond the progressive and conservative when it came to national issues. Regarding the ‘386 generation’, which was the core of power during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, he said, “The three nothingnesses of ignorance, incompetence, and recklessness. Criticizing it as “a water polo among water polo,” he said, “President Roh should replace the wrong-turned steed he has been riding so far with a compliant, skilled, and unifying steed.” Regarding the ‘examination of past history’ at the time, he lamented, “It is really a mixed feeling that people are making such a fuss regarding a problem that should be ignored by public welfare and left to historians.”
He also said in an interview with this newspaper in June 2008, when the ‘mad cow disease incident’ was in full swing, that “the current government’s difficulties are not simply because of the beef issue, but because it has not won the hearts of the people.” He added, “President Lee Myung-bak must be prepared to ‘die to live.’ “I do it,” he said.
Regarding North Korea, he used to say, “Human rights in North Korea must always be emphasized,” and “We must strengthen our national defense under the assumption that North Korea will definitely use nuclear weapons.” I was always positive regarding Korea’s future and young people. Among the countries that became independent following World War II, South Korea was the only country that went from receiving aid to giving aid, and because it did not invade other countries, it was said that it might act as a ‘bridge’ between powerful and weak countries. In particular, he said, “Young people these days have an attitude of service and dedication,” and said that Korea’s economic territory will expand when young people go out to developing countries and help them.
Monsignor Jeong’s funeral will be held in the underground cathedral of Myeongdong Cathedral, and condolences will be available from 11 a.m. on the 28th. The funeral mass will be held at Myeongdong Cathedral at 10 a.m. on the 30th with Archbishop Chung Soon-taek and the priests jointly celebrating. The burial site is the clergy’s cemetery in the Yongin Park Cemetery of the Archdiocese of Seoul.
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