Presidential office perplexed over friction with Catholic Church

Presidential office Cheong Wa Dae is perplexed as its criticism of a Catholic priest`s recent remarks about North Korea`s 2010 shelling of a frontline island gave the impression that it was in conflict with the Catholic Church. Some criticize the president for marginalizing the church because she invited Buddhist and Protestant leaders to her office but has never gotten together with Catholic leaders since she took office in late February.

"We cannot say this openly because of fairness with other religions but the president`s love for the Catholic Church is very special," a Cheong Wa Dae official said Wednesday.

In fact, the president had special relationships with the Catholic Church during her days as a student. She graduated from Sacred Heart Girls` Middle and High Schools run by a Catholic foundation. She also studied at Sogang University, a Jesuit university in Seoul. President Park was baptized Juliana when she was a middle school student. Juliana is a 13th-century Christian female saint who devoted her life to charity work, taking care of the needy.

Park is said to be still having social exchanges with Catholic priests and nuns. One of them is Kim Jae-sook, a nun and teacher of Park when she was a high school student. The president is said to be in steady contact with the nun and met separately with her during a visit to the alma matar last year. The president is also said to have grieved the passing in 2011 of Kim Jae-soon, also a nun and a sister of Kim Jae-sook. The older Kim was also Park`s teacher and served as president of Songsim Women`s College, a Catholic institution. While attending university, Park learned English from Clarence Herbst, a Catholic priest and professor at Sogang.

The president has good impressions about the Catholic schools. When she visited Sacred Heart Girls` High School last year, she said, "I learned how to love life and people and was able to overcome my difficult times later. I want to model the education I dream about after the precious experiences that I had at Sacred Heart schools."

Alumnae from the high school contributed to Park`s election campaign last year, providing box lunches for the president and her aides on the campaign trail. Some of Sogang University alumni also helped her campaign. Park is refraining from meeting separately with Sogang alumni lest she gives the impression that she favors people with Sogang diplomas. Until before the presidential election, however, she made regular visits to Sacred Heart Girls` High School,appeared on Sogang`s advertisement materials and readily accepted interview requests from Sogang`s student newspapers.

It is said that the president does not feel comfortable about the Catholic Priests` Association for Justice, which has a strong anti-government stance. Nevertheless, she is said to have plenty of behind-the-scenes dialogue with senior Catholic priests.

"Getting together with Catholic leaders was postponed because it was hard to make all bishops across the countries available for the president`s schedule," a Cheong Wa Dae official said. "The president will meet them any time." The official also noted that the president has deep interest in the Catholic Church, sending oo Jinryong, Minister of Culture, Sports & Tourism, to the Vatican to attend a mass celebrating the inauguration of the pope and meeting with Cardinal Fernando Filoni to ask him for the beatification of 124 Catholic martyrs in Korea.