The History of Catholicism in Korea, Martyrdom, Persecution, and Resilience: A Conversation with Dr. Don Baker

This is episode 12 of season 3 of What Matters Most, featuring Dr. Don Baker, Professor of Korean Civilization at UBC in Asian Studies since 1987. The story you will hear him tell about Catholicism in Korea and about the Gwangju democratization movement or resistance in 1980, some of which he was present for, is powerful and moving. It is also a story of the power of moral resistance and the cost of such resistance to many individuals, a cost paid by many with their lives. But the fight for democracy in Korea against military dictatorship is also a story of the worth of such a resistance that included many religious people and many ordinary Koreans.    

Don also traces the history of Catholicism in Korea, which arrived with some elite neo-Confucian scholars only in 1784, with the Protestant church arriving a full century later in 1884. It is a story of persecution and martyrdom and Don has written about this in a number of books, including Catholics and Anti-Catholicism in Choson Korea and Persecution and Martyrdoms: Korea. It is a story of suffering, but also of resilience and faithfulness.

This is a powerful episode and it was moving to me to hear it, I suspect it might be for you too, and more significantly it was moving for Don who witnessed the events of the democratization resistance at Gwangju in 1980 to recount the story of suffering.

Dictatorship is never the pathway forward and it took great moral courage, resilience, and many lives to cast off the Korean dictatorship. This is the kind of moral courage needed today to defend democracy all over the world. The nuns and priests, other religious figures, and the ordinary people of Korea showed this great resistance and as a result the Catholic church in Korea is the most respected religion there to this day, a Church without scandal.

But it is a Church that emerged from great suffering too starting soon after its arrival in Korea by Koreans themselves, neo-Confucian scholars who found writings about Catholicism by Matte Ricci in China and brought it back themselves in 1784. There were no priests in Korea when the persecutions against Korean Catholics began. They had brought the religion themselves and made it their own and persevered.

This is truly an episode about what matters most, about the choices people made to accept suffering to remain faithful to their beliefs, and about people in the 1980s, nuns and priests included, who were willing to stand up for democracy against dictatorship. This is something all of us need to keep asking, what matters most to us, what is more important to us than more money or more power? Because these things do not satisfy at the deepest level. Every day one sees political leaders, billionaires, striving for more, and more, more money, more countries, more power, while the many go without enough to eat or a place to live. The Korean Catholic church demonstrates that better than that is a life lived in tune with the truth and in tune with the deepest hopes of human beings, freedom, integrity, and truth. Strongman come and go, but the truth cannot ultimately be buried or persecuted out of existence.   

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors.

And now some news on upcoming podcast episodes:

Coming up next is Reverend Dr. Rob James on children's Bibles, Dr. Tim Pawl, a philosopher, on virtue, Dr. Paul Gavrilyuk on orthodox theology, growing up in the Soviet Union, and the new Oxford Handbook on Deification that he co-edited,  and Dr. Minelle Mahtahni on her memoir “May It Have a Happy Ending."

Let us know what you want to discuss next on Pop Culture Matters. Follow us at our Instagram page, @stmarkscce, newly revived, and drop us a line as to what you want to see or hear. Or email us with your suggestions to [e-mail] or [e-mail].

Some upcoming events:

We will have over 40 presenters from Asia, Africa, and North America at The Promise of Christian Education: Past, Present and Future, MAY 1-3, 2025, at ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, VANCOUVER, CANADA. You can find all the information on the speakers and where you can register at the CCE website. The link is in the show notes to both the conference website and the registration page.

The cost for the whole conference is minimal and the three keynote speakers are free, but you do need to register for Dr. Margaret MacDonald, Dr. Samuel Rocha, and Reverend Dr. Stan Chu Ilo.

Other events:

On January 27, 2025, Dr Ray Aldred offered the third annual Laudato Si’ lecture, bringing together Indigenous and Christian thought on how to care for creation, our common home. It is already available on You Tube.

By the time you hear this podcast, Dr. Michael Higgins will have already spoken to us on February 10, 2025 on The Monk and the Pope. This lecture is now on You Tube, and you can find all of the links on the CCE website or on St. Mark’s YouTube channel.

On March 3, 2025, Father Andrew Laguna S.J. will be offering our annual Jesuit Lecture on Immigration and Ignatian Spiritual Discernment.

A few thanks are in order. To Martin Strong, to Kevin Eng, and to Fang Fang Chandra, the team who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly.

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. It’s the free gift that you can give to all of your friends! And also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. And subscribe to the podcast. If you are listening, please subscribe. It’s free!

Thanks again for listening and remember what matters most.   

 Dr. John W. Martens