Religious leaders share New Year messages

As the nation prepares to welcome the Year of the Blue Snake, religious leaders delivered year-end and New Year messages, urging the public to overcome the challenges brought by the declaration of martial law with collective wisdom and to embrace a hopeful new year.

“The best solution to end all conflicts and lead to harmony lies in securing channels for communication,” Ven. Jinwoo, executive chief of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, stated in his New Year message. “I earnestly hope that all members of the fourfold community will come together in wisdom to cease conflicts and move toward a path of harmonious coexistence,” he added. “Let us remember the Buddha’s teaching, ‘Face suffering with an unshaken heart,’” Ven. Ungyeong, supreme patriarch of the Korean Buddhist Taego Order, said. “We must strive to maintain our inherently pure and serene nature, especially during turbulent times.”

“As South Korean politics stands on the brink of a crisis, we are taking time for repentance and prayer, asking ourselves what we have done to reach this point,” Rev. Lee Young-hoon, superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Korea, reflected. “Criticizing and blaming one another only deepens conflicts and brings misfortune to the national community. In times like these, let us encourage, respect, and extend loving hands to one another."

“I hope all citizens will work together in seeking new paths of hope and unity beyond the pains of the past,” Rev. Kim Jong-hyuk, president of the United Christian Churches of Korea, also expressed hope for the new year.

“The hardships triggered by martial law have left deep scars on all of us. However, even amidst such trials, we have found hope,” Archbishop Chung Soon-taick of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul shared a New Year message titled, “Hope Does Not Disappoint Us.” “Hope is not mere optimism but unwavering faith in adversity, rooted in the conviction that God is with us,” he continued. “May the hope we have glimpsed blossom further, enabling us to reach out toward the common good rather than individual interests and to build a community where we become signs of hope for one another.”


Chin-Ku Lee sys1201@donga.com