MISSIONARY

 IN A CONCRETE JUNGLE

by Father Vincenzo Bordo, OMI

The Oblate Mission in Korea is entrusted to the Vice-Province of Japan, but the Oblates working there come from Italy and Sri Lanka.  Italian-born Fr. Vincenzo reflects on the new missionary reality in the world of the 21st century.

In Asia in the 1970’s there were only 8 cities with a population of more than five million. By the 1990s there were 31. By 2020, metropolitan areas in Asia will have a total of more than 2.4 billion residents, which will be about half the population of the entire continent. Today in Asia, there are 13 cities with a population exceeding 10 million ... I live in one of these: Seoul, the capital city of South Korea.

What does it mean for an evangelist to live in such an environment? Why is a missionary called to live in one of the most wealthy, modern and developed cities of the world? Last year's World Cup soccer competition showcased these aspects of Seoul. Towards the end of 2002 the Asian Games were also held in Korea. Prior to this, the World Exposition came to Daejeon (1993) and before that, in 1988, the Olympic Games were held in Seoul.

The mission in Korea, as in every wealthy part of the world, is a profoundly  quiet one. Like the Eucharist, the mission here consists of silent presence, loneliness, sincere effort of sharing and willingness to let others receive first. This missionary vision not only applies to me, living in the Far East, but to all evangelists called to carry out their work in economically advanced countries. It is in these countries that we find pockets of poverty; it is where the "new poor" live.

If we were to simply define this newly emerging reality, we might call it the "Fourth World." I am aware that decades of literature, slides and videos about missionary activities have brought us to associate the word "mission" with Africa, with poverty, with the heroic and the extraordinary.

The word "mission" evokes green and forbidding forests, stormy rivers to be forded, and dusty, dangerous paths to be trodden. This is probably the image of the third world, the mission in Africa for example.

Slowly, from beside that reality, is emerging a new one where we do not talk about forests but instead about a jungle of concrete. We don't talk about stormy rivers to ford, but rivers of people that fill and flood the already chaotic modern metropolis. We don't talk about the beaten track, but about motorways, the Internet and satellites. This is the mission of the Fourth World: a modern world. Neo-capitalistic, rich, secularized, where communication has become easy and there is rapid development of the economy. But living on the fringes of this world are a myriad of those who have been marginalized--handicapped people, alcoholics, disabled people, laborers from other countries, drug addicts, people with AIDS, old people, the poor and the jobless; In a phrase we can call them the "new poor," who, rather than being dressed in rags, are stripped of their human dignity. Nobody cares for these people; even their presence is ignored. Yet this is a reality that is close to everyone because it is common in our very own cities.

These new poor are found in Osaka (in wealthy Japan), in the ghettos of Chicago, in the slums of Nairobi, in the favelas of Sao Paolo, in Seoul, in Rome.... (In Rome around the main train station, Termini, Caritas operates a soup kitchen for the poor  and runs a shelter where 300 homeless people sleep.) The Fourth World is not a geographical reality, far away and difficult like the mission in the Third World, but a cultural reality on everyone's doorstep, since it is present in every modern capital city. It is an easy situation to approach, because rather than requiring tremendous wealth, men and women can, with relatively few resources, become involved through listening and dialogue, to try to solve the problems of these "new poor" with a creative and compassionate presence.

We can therefore say that the mission of the Fourth World that comprises the new poor and the reality of marginalization, is a mission close to home that we find in every modern society. It is easy because it doesn't require vast resources. It can be carried out with basic means; it is simple because it concerns each of us without exception. Do you understand, now, how the horizons of the mission have enlarged enormously for me, for you? It is here that human suffering is in need of consoling and, like Jesus on the cross, cries out to feel the close presence of God. That is where brothers walk together, sharing the portion of love received through the Eucharist.

The missionaries of today--the missionaries of the Fourth World--are not so much people who build or distribute goods; they are men or women who live together with the people, sharing the same joys, hopes and concerns. They are a simple sign of the rich presence of God among the people. They are the bread broken for the poor.

This has been my missionary experience in Korea.

As a small Christian community in Seongnam, a city of one million people adjacent to Seoul, we are unable to solve the big problems that seize the city. But, following Jesus' example, we believe that we can meet the poor where they live; we can listen to them and address their needs. We can give hope, selfless help and pure love.

Now, after many years, Anna's House has been born, a social center for the urban poor. Here, every day, we care for some 300 people who normally live on the street.  There are also abandoned old people, children who have escaped from orphanages, mentally disabled people, handicapped people, ex-convicts, and so on.

To these people we not only offer an evening meal and take care of  primary needs such as a place to sleep, medicine and clothing, but we also try  to guide them to change their way of life through the help of specialized counselors. All these things are done accompanied by deep dialogue and concern for the basic reality, a lot of creativity and courage--and very little money because it is all based on voluntary work. (There are more than 400 volunteers who offer their services, among whom some are Catholic, some Protestant, some Buddhist and some agnostic). Moreover, the city administration has no money to help the "new poor" that it doesn't acknowledge and therefore doesn't see. We wish to follow the command of Jesus to go and preach the Kingdom of God and heal the sick.

While we are healing the wounds of the souls and bodies of these brothers of ours, we desire--in our quiet life, humbly living in this concrete jungle—to shout out to everyone the wonders of the Lord.

Fr. Vincenzo working with the poor.