Daily Catholic masses to be held in protest of Four Rivers project

Posted on : 2010-04-26 12:49 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
The masses, which will be held in a central Seoul location, are expected to have a significant impact on the movement against the Four Rivers project
 Daegu
Daegu

Catholic priests and believers are planning to hold daily life and peace masses calling for an end to the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project at Myeong-dong Cathedral starting on Monday. Since these masses are scheduled to take place daily in the heart of Seoul amid rising religious opposition to the Lee Myung-bak administration’s Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, the impact is expected to be considerable.

The Catholic Alliance to Stop the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project announced its decision to hold life and peace masses attended by priests and believers nationwide at Myeong-dong Cathedral every day at 7:30pm. After the masses, the priests plan to hold all-night prayer vigils.

The alliance explained the rationale of the masses, saying that priests have continuously demanded the government end the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, which runs counter to preserving the order of God’s creation and destroys a wide array of living things, and reconsider the project, but the government has not changed its attitude and pushed through with construction. Accordingly, priests disappointment connected to their faith and conscience, believing they could not longer just sit and watch, they said.

The Catholic Alliance to Stop the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project is an alliance of groups such as the Justice and Peace Committee and Committee for Environment, both under the Catholic Bishops Conference of Korea (CBCK). In March, the alliance issued a position statement by CBCK calling for an end to the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project. The 15 dioceses plan to convene life and peace masses in an alternating fashion nationwide. The Life and Peace Masses for the Suspension of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project and the Preservation of the Paldang Organic Farm masses, which have been held for 68 days at Dumulmoeri, Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi Province, will be held separately.

Alliance executive committee member Kim Jae-wook said since the Lee Myung-bak administration has not extended the courtesy of listening to the bishops’ position statement. Regarding this as a failure of promotional activities, the priests have decided to hold daily masses. He said until the administration changes its attitude, the masses would continue on.

In addition, the Catholic Alliance to Stop the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project has decided to hold a 10,000-person mass, attended by priests and believers from all over the country, at Myeong-dong Cathedral at 2 p.m. on May 10.

Meanwhile, in light of the National Election Commission’s (NEC) recent moves to designate civic groups’ anti-Four Major Rivers Restoration Project events, even placards placed in front of church gates, as violations of election law, attention is focusing on how they will respond to these masses. In response, an official from the Catholic Alliance to Stop the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project said the church activities to see the project brought to an end are a realization of biblical teachings, and that there is a good deal of public consensus, as over 100 thousand signatures have been collected from the Seoul archdiocese and Suwon diocese alone.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

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