THE BISHOP’S DILEMMA: GUSTAVE MUTEL AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN KOREA

  THE BISHOP’S DILEMMA: GUSTAVE MUTEL AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN KOREA

In any society, church has been given the important role of acting as the light of the society. Therefore the stakeholders as well as the leaders are expected to act as role models from which the rest of the society can emulate. Considering that the leaders are just normal people who have been given responsibilities, they should just be treated equally as normal people in the society without being judged on basis of religion. This has led to persecution of many churches. It is therefore important for church leaders to adopt wise approaches of tackling the evil actions committed by church leaders in order to prevent destruction of the church. Through wise approaches, Bishop Mutel and Wilhelm in “The Bishop’s Dilemma: Gustave Mutel and the Catholic Church in Korea, 1890-1910”manages to save Catholic Church in Korea which was nearly destroyed[1].

Mutel acts cleverly in the issue concerning the death of Ann who had been accused of assassinating Ito and was among the leaders of the catholic church at the time. If Bishop Mutel had allowed or else given Father Wilhelm permission to attend and offer sacraments of confession and Holy Communion before the death of An, the church could have been accused of supporting assassination[2]. This could imply that the church is in support of evil deeds and paint the image badly in the face of followers

On the other hand, if Wilhelm could not have attend and offered sacraments of confession and Holy Communion, this could have implied the division among the church leaders[3]. Division among church leaders could paint a bad image of the church to its followers and eventually destroy the church. After Wilhelm presides over the function, the Bishop had to give a light punishment to Wilhelm as a way showing the public that the church condemned the action. In this way, Mutel and Wilhelm managed to solve the problem which otherwise could have turned viral and tarnish the reputation of Catholic Church completely

References

Rausch, Franklin. “The Bishop’s Dilemma: Gustave Mutel and the Catholic Church in Korea,        1890–1910.” Journal of Korean Religions 4, no. 1 (2013): 43-69.

[1] Rausch, Franklin. “The Bishop’s Dilemma: Gustave Mutel and the Catholic Church in Korea, 1890–1910.” Journal of Korean Religions 4, no. 1 (2013): 43-69.

[2] Rausch, Franklin. “The Bishop’s Dilemma: Gustave Mutel and the Catholic Church in Korea, 1890–1910.” Journal of Korean Religions 4, no. 1 (2013): 43-69.

[3] Rausch, Franklin. “The Bishop’s Dilemma: Gustave Mutel and the Catholic Church in Korea, 1890–1910.” Journal of Korean Religions 4, no. 1 (2013): 43-69.