Fr. Joong Ho Kim

                  Evangelization in Medicine(의료 선교)

가톨릭 대학교
김중호 신부

성경에서 볼 수 있듯이 예수님은 팔레스타인 전역을 순회하시면서 하느님이 약속하신 구원의 소식을 전했고, "주님의 영이 내게 내리셨다. 그분이 나를 보내셨으니 가난한 이들에게 복음을 전하고 사로잡힌 이들에게 해방을 눈먼 이들에게 눈 뜰 것을 선포하며 억눌린 이들을 풀어 보내고 주님의 은혜로운 해를 선포하게 하시려는 것이로다."라고 말씀하시면서 나자렛에서  공생활을 시작하셨다. (루가 4, 18-19) 예수님께서는 항상 어느 곳에서나 해방의 소식을 설파하셨고, 고통에서 해방되기 원하는 많은 사람들의 병과 부상을 치료하심으로 그를 증명하셨다.         

한국에 선교사들이 처음 왔을 때, 복음에 나타난 예수님을 본 받아 예수님의 가르침과 치유의 직분을 같이 수행하였으며, 사람들의 육체적, 영적 사회적 고통을 치유하려고 노력할 때 반드시 복음 전파를 같이해야 한다고 굳게 믿었다.      

한국 가톨릭 병원협회와 한국 가톨릭 의사회에서는 1988년부터 남미 에쿠아도르 팔마의 소외된 사람들을 대상으로 의료지원을 해왔다. 그 곳에서 우리는 과거에 한국인들이 경험했던 불쌍한 빈곤을 다시 목격했다. 이 지역에는 의사가 한 명도 없었고, 일년에 2-3주 한국에서 오는 의료진이 고작이었다. 그 의료진은 임상병이 장비와 이동식 X-선 사진 촬영기를 마련했고, 지역민들에게 사용법을 가르쳤다. 또 약국을 만들어 스스로 약을 지을 수 있게 했다.   

1992년에는 케냐의 지방과 중앙아프리카 공화국에 있는 가난한 사람들을 돕는 계획을 수립했다. 그 때부터 현재까지, 한국 수녀 요셉파가 오랫동안 이동진료소를 운영해왔던 가난한 사람들을 치료하였다. 그 수녀는 기생충 질환 을 진단하고 치료하는 데에 있어 지역민들을 교육하려고 많은 노력을 기울여 왔다. 그 일을 지원하기; 우;해 우리는 3만불의 원조금을 마련하기도 했다. 1997년부터는, 몽골과 콜롬비아의 시골지역을 방문하여 빈민들을 위한 의료지원을 해왔다..

우리 의료 선진국들이 세계 많은 지역에서 모든 형태의 질환과 고통으로 신음하는 형제 자매들을 돕기 위해 우리가 할 수 있는 모든 지원을 아끼지 말아야 한다는 것이 시급한 일임은 아주 강조해야 하는 일일 것이다.   

특히 우리 한국인들에게 있어 가난한 사람들에게 무료 의료지원을 할 때 예수님께서 그이 제자들에게 "거저 얻은 것을 거저 주어라" (마태 10, 8)하신 명령을 따르는 것이다.

기독교 삼 천 년을 향해 가는 이 시점에서, 우리는 선교는 우리 하느님께서 주신 의료 기술을 통하여 예수님께서 증거하신 치유의 능력으로 손에 손을 잡고 가야 한다는 믿음으로 가야 하겠다.  

Evangelization in Medicine

Fr. Joong Ho Kim,
the Catholic University of Korea

As we can see in the Gospel, Jesus went around the land of Palestine to preach the news of the salvation promised by God and he began his public life in the synagogue at Nazareth by saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and to announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.” (Luke, 4, 18-19)

At all times and in all places, Jesus preached the message of liberation and proved it by healing the illness and wounds of the many poor people who came to seek relief from their suffering. His whole life was devoted to the challenge of healing, both physically and spiritually and was the outer expression of his deep love and compression for all people, especially the poor.

  When the early missionaries came to Korea, it was still underdeveloped. They established clinic in places where there were no medical facilities in order to provide relief for the many suffering people. In their missionary work, they combined the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus and, in imitation of the Jesus portrayed in the Gospels, they were firmly convinced that preaching the Good News must be accompanied by efforts to heal people from physical, spiritual and social pain.

Since 1980, the Korean economy has made rapid progress. With the resulting reduction of physical hardship, we are very much aware of our obligation to share medical help, now with countries which are still lacking in proper medical facilities and care.

The Korean Association of Catholic Hospitals and the Catholic Physician Guild have provided medical support for the underprivileged and deprived people in Palmar, Ecuador, Latin America since 1988.

 There we came to see again the pitiful poverty which our people experienced in the past. The majority of the indigenous people live in primitive housing, in large, poor, families. Employment is very difficult to find.

 There is no doctor at all in this district. There is only a medical visitation of 2 or 3 weeks from Korea once each year to treat the sick. The team provided clinical laboratory testing equipment and a portable X-ray machine, and taught the people how to use them. We also provided many of the pharmaceuticals the people needed. We built a dispensary for them to administer them-selves.

In 1992 we adopted a plan to help poor people in rural areas of Kenya and the Central African Republic.

We visit Chesongoch, a small mountain village 450km from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. About 20,000 poor people live here by farming and raising livestock. In the center of village there is a Catholic Church and a dispensary run by the Benedictine Sisters, and volunteers work together in this dispensary. There is no doctor. Only nurses treat the sick.

 From 1992 to the present, our team treated the sick for a Korean Sister Josepha has operated a mobile clinic for a long time. She is especially making great efforts to educate the local people in the provocation and treatment of parasitic diseases. To support her work we have provided $30,000 in aid.

Since 1997, we have visited rural areas in Mongolia and also in Colombia and have been providing medical support for the poor.

It must be strongly emphasized that there is a great urgency for us , in the medically developed nations, to provided all the help we can to our brothers and sisters who are suffering from all types of disease and misery in many parts of the world. Even if there are risks involved, we must be determined to send more and more doctors and skilled personnel and to provide free medical services for people in destitute areas. This aid must be continued for years to come.

Especially for us Koreans, when we freely provide medical services to poverty-stricken people we are following the command of Jesus to His disciples “to give freely what you have freely received.” (Matthew, 10, 8)

As we move towards the third millennium of Christianity, we do so with the brief that Evangelization must walk hand-in-hand with the healing power of Jesus which is exemplified through our God-given medical skills.