아시아 10/03/26 KOREA - Cardinal says ‘Patriot An’ a devoted Catholic

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KOREA - Cardinal says ‘Patriot An’ a devoted Catholic

Published Date: March 26, 2010

The photo taken before the execution of Thomas An Jung-geun

SEOUL (UCAN) — Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul has exalted and “officially” confirmed renowned Korean patriot Thomas An Jung-geun as a devoted Catholic.

“Thomas An was a devoted Catholic and we cannot understand his life without his faith. That’s why we celebrate this Mass remembering his death,” he said at a memorial Mass in Seoul’s Myeongdong Cathedral. The Mass marked the 100th anniversary of An’s death.

An killed Ito Hirobumi, Japan’s first prime minister and the first Japanese resident general of Korea, on Oct. 26, 1909. He was executed by the Japanese on March 26, 1910.

“Pitifully, for a long time, the Korean Catholic Church hadn’t recognized An as a good Catholic,” Cardinal Cheong said.

“[The late] Cardinal Kim corrected Church perceptions of Thomas An. This Mass means the Church confirm‎s his Catholic identity officially.”

Cardinal Cheong also reminded the people of what the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan said during a Mass held for An in a parish in Seoul in 1993.

During that Mass, Cardinal Kim said, “An acted in righteous defense of the nation and its people when Korea was about to be annexed through armed aggression. I feel joint responsibility for the Church not having made the right eval‎uation and for making many mistakes about him.”

The Catholic Church condemned his act as “murder” for many years but changed its position when the late Cardinal Kim conducted the first public Mass for An in 1993.

Koreans regard An’s assassination of Ito as a symbol of Korea’s struggle for independence from Japanese colonial rule, which lasted officially from 1910 until Japan’s defeat in World War II in 1945.

“Although it is a bit late, I welcome An’s official reinstatement,” Isidorus Han Sang-bong, editor of the on-line Catholic News Here and Now, told UCA News.

“But it should not have been made without Church repentance over its role as a Japanese collaborator at that time. It’s a precondition without which the cardinal’s words are simply lip service,” he argued.

Meanwhile, another Mass for An was held in the city where he was executed.

Bishop Matthias Ri Iong-hoon of Suwon presided at the Mass in Dalian, Liaoning province in China.

Some 200 Catholics attended, including 40 Japanese led by two Japanese bishops.

Bishop Ri and the two Japanese bishop concelebrated the Mass with the help of eight priests from Japan and Korea.

“It was quite meaningful for us to attend the Mass especially since bishops and priests from Japan and Korea concelebrated together. Forgiveness and healing happened in the very place where Patriot An was executed,” said Stephania Kim Eun-ju who attended the Mass.

The coordinator of Jesusari (Jesus-life), a lay-youth group based in Seoul, said An has been “the role model” for the group since it was founded in 1998.

“I am really sure that without his strong and deep faith in God, he couldn’t have gone through all the hardships and even his own death,” the 27-year old lay activist said.