1211 Korean (Cyber) space venture\n
austraLasia 1211
Korean (Cyber) space venture
SEOUL: 26 July 2005 -- Men are from
Mars, women are from Venus, so the book says, but over five
thousand Korean men and women are happy to focus their cyberspace
dwelling on an internet cafe called, in Korean, Chong Jin Am. The
title is reference to the birthplace of the Korean Church in 1784, when
Korean scholars decided to embrace the Catholic Faith after studying a
copy of the Bible and catechism in Chinese.
Fr Stephen Yang sdb is spiritual director for the
Cafe. He was appointed last year. In fact the Cafe began
back in the Year 2000. It aims, quite simply, at fostering a
Catholic presence in cyberspace, or more correctly Korean cyberspace
(the cafe site is in Korean, obviously), where there is now a plethora of presences of every kind.
The Cafe also aims to foster communion across parish
boundaries. In the Korean context, parish is a strong
entity. Chong Jin An encourages the exchange of wider experiences
and stories of Christian life. It has a virtual noticeboard and
'writing tablet', and also a prayer jar where prayer intentions can be
dropped in inviting the prayers of online members.
The activity is not all online. From time to
time offline solidarity is fostered by encouraging members to get
behind social welfare activities organised by the non-government and
Church sector. Earlier this year a one day retreat was organised
at the Jesuit University for interested Cafe members.
The Cafe is accessible at
http//cafe.daum.net/ggreen The current edition of the Korean
Salesian Bulletin contains an article with the above information.
VOCABULARY
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus:
author John Gray; topic is relationships between men and women
plethora: abundant number, too many
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