1930년대 천주교 서울교구의 가톨릭 운동

Catholic Action of the 1930’s in the Seoul Diocese : Focusing on Catholic Youth

This article deals with the Catholic Action, which occurred in the Seoul Diocese during the 1930’s, based on information presented in the magazine Catholic Youth. It will be contemplated in following paragraphs why the Action failed in the Seoul Diocese while it was successful in Pyong-yang. Since the beginning of the 1930’s, the Catholic Action spreadwidely throughout the entire body of Catholic churches. During this era, there were many differences in opinions of Dioceses on their methods to support the Action. They particularly had different standpoints on “paper preach” which was considered important in the Catholic Action. Seoul Diocese in the end decided to take responsibility on paper preach. Different views and arguments resulted in discontinuance of Catholic Transactions and The Star, and instead, Catholic Youth was founded as the institution’s official magazine. Catholic Youth, as shown in its title, tells that the Catholic Action developed among ordinary believers, particularly young people. However, Catholic Youth restricted its readers to intellectual youth. This policy to keep its readers limited within Young intellectuals caused division between the readers and other non-intellectual Catholics, which was highly criticized. Another big issue was that articles published on Catholic Youth were brief and inexpert. Consequently, Pyong-yang Diocese, instead of Seoul Diocese, led Catholic Action and took in charge of the magazine. Then Catholic Youth soon ceased publication. Catholic Research then replaced it as the official magazine, which still reflected Seoul Diocese’s attempts to keep control over catholic publications. Therefore, Catholic Action within the Seoul Diocese of the 1930’s had many different limitations on it, which even causes a question to arise whether the Diocese had enough motivation or volition to support the Catholic Action.