Catholic churches initiate nationwide Four Rivers opposition campaign

Posted on : 2010-03-26 11:59 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
This marks the first time the church has participated in a broad social movement in over 20 years
” March 25. From the left
” March 25. From the left

Ever since the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea issued a position statement opposing the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, Catholic churches nationwide have begun a movement in earnest to oppose the project. For the first time since the Great June Struggle in 1987, a broad social movement is spreading in the Catholic Church: at churches all across the country, placards calling for the project to be suspended are being hung and signature campaigns are underway nationwide.

At about 200 Seoul churches, placards with the slogans “Stop the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project Immediately, Which Goes Against the Order of Creation!” and “In Every Place Through Which this River Passes are Living Things” have been hung under the name of the Seoul Diocese Committee for Priests of the Environment. The committee said they have been receiving requests from other churches for placards, and about 50 churches in Incheon and 50 in Gwangju are also hanging placards.

The Catholic Alliance to Stop the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project said its preliminary count of a signature campaign it started last month had about 30 thousand signatures. Since the Catholic Bishops’ Conference issued its statement opposing the project on March 12, dioceses everywhere have been actively participating in the signature campaign, so the total number of signatures is expected to greatly increase in number.

Some 116 churches in the Gwangju Diocese are collecting signatures, while 119 churches in the Suwon Diocese plan to begin collecting signatures starting this weekend. With the Daejeon, Daegu and Masan dioceses also initiating signature campaigns, the signature wave is spreading across the nation.

Churches are also handing out 250 thousand copies of the comic brochure “Stop the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, Which Goes Against the Order of Creation” to parishioners, produced by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea’s Justice and Peace Committee.

Churches located near the four rivers are also planning to hold large-scale masses. Priests of the Suwon, Uijeongbu, Incheon and Seoul dioceses will hold a mass on Saturday at the Paldang Organic Farm Complex in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, where farmers are protesting the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project. An estimated 2,500 parishioners will attend the mass. Another large-scale mass is planned next month for the Geumgang River.

Priests at dioceses near South Korea’s four major rivers are also initiating a movement for voters to ask each regional election candidate to state their position on the project. The Suwon Diocese invited candidates for Gyeonggi Province governor for a policy discussion, while the Seoul and Incheon diocese are sending policy inquiries to candidates in the Seoul and Incheon mayors’ races. Kim Jae-ok, secretary-general of the Alliance for the Realization of a Common Good of the Suwon Diocese, said they would convene a policy discussion with the Gyeonggi Province gubernatorial candidates with about 100 priests, giving parishioners a chance to see if each party’s campaign pledges accord with church teachings.

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