A Petition to the Holy Father

July 20, 1999

His Holiness
Pope John Paul II
Vatican

Your Holiness whom we love so dearly,

We pray for Your Holiness and all the clergy and religious every day, as the Blessed Mother has asked in Naju. We pray fervently after Holy Communion and during rosary prayers especially for vigorous health for Your Holiness who is working so hard for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Your Holiness whom we love so dearly! We feel so sorry to Our Heavenly Mother, who has been chosen as the Lord’s Helper to give an opportunity of salvation to everyone but has been suffering so much pain in her Heart because of the numerous souls who are spiritually blind and deaf and do not understand the Blessed Mother’s pleas that she makes until her throat starts bleeding, saying, "It is not too late yet."

Your Holiness who is our beloved spiritual father! For the past ten years, I have seen many people, both Catholics and non-Catholics, who had alienated themselves far away from the Love of God, return to the bosom of the Father thanks to the Blessed Mother’s messages in Naju. The Blessed Mother has said that when her messages of love are accepted by the Church, they can spread more forcefully to the world, numerous children will repent, and this world will turn into the Lord’s Kingdom. She has emphasized the importance of the Holy Eucharist and Confession. She has brought us special gifts of graces which can be scientifically tested to make the spiritually blind open their eyes and the spiritually deaf begin hearing. However, Satan has been mobilizing all kinds of schemes through humans to block these gifts from God.

Your Holiness! We often hear some of the young priests in Korea preaching what one can expect to hear only from some of the Protestant brethren and ministers. They call the Marian devotion a superstition and accuse those who love and honor the Blessed Mother of promoting division in the Church and being heretical. "The Blessed Mother cannot be a Co-Redemptrix. Even if she appears in front of me right now, I can have a debate with her and win it." I heard this from a young priest while he was severely criticizing the Blessed Mother of Naju. He also said, "To whom does the Church belong? Strictly speaking, not even to God. Then, why do people worship Mary?" I was so shocked to hear this from a Catholic priest. Later, I talked to him as I would talk to my Protestant friends. Then, he softened his position somewhat. I prayed hard for him. He has refrained from criticizing the Blessed Mother of Naju any more.

On another occasion, I heard another young priest saying that it was wrong to make Confession frequently. He said that the only mortal sins were murder, adultery and apostasy and that missing a Sunday Mass was not a mortal sin. Therefore, he continued, if one missed a Sunday Mass, he could receive Communion after repentance. He further said that it was not right to make Confession more than once a month, as even priests do not make Confession more than once a month. Eventually, the pastor found out and corrected him. We felt so relieved, because many people seem to think of Sunday more as a holiday for sports, fishing, and hiking than as the Lord’s day.

Your Holiness! One of my observations has been that those priests who are not faithful to the traditional teachings of the Church and prefer the new complex theology and deceptive talks generally despise the devotion to the Blessed Mother. Especially some of the priests who teach at seminaries seem to be so. Their students will naturally learn from their teachers.

On the other hand, especially in the older generation, we find many priests who are filled with love and humility and love the Blessed Mother dearly. Because of these priests, our spiritual thirst is being quenched. Also, these good priests, almost without exception, accept and cherish the Blessed Mother’s messages from Naju. Their presence has been clouded by the younger priests whose voices have been louder. Now these good priests are gladly participating in the petition for re-investigation of the events in Naju. I am surprised to find that there are so many priests who are supportive of the Blessed Mother of Naju.

The signatures by priests that we are enclosing today are only a beginning. It is our sincere hope that His Excellency Victorinus Kong-Hee Youn of the Kwangju Archdiocese will open the re-investigation soon and, thereby, restore his honor and his loyalty to the Lord before retirement. Sometimes I think that the Declaration was more severe on Naju than what His Excellency Youn really had in mind because of the influence from his assisting priests. Many people are aware that the investigation by the committee in Kwangju was neither objective nor substantive. The leading members of the committee did not even request any scientific evidence. They made comments like, "How can the Blessed Mother come down from heaven? It is so cold up there," while formally interviewing the witnesses. How can one have confidence in their sincerity?

It is our humble opinion that the teaching authority in the Church has been used for distorting some of the Church doctrines for the purpose of condemning the events in Naju and for persecuting many of the faithful and accusing them of disobedience. We sincerely implore Your Holiness and the Cardinals and Bishops assisting the Holy Father to open a re-investigation of the events in Naju as soon as possible.

Truly yours in Christ,

Therese Yun-Hee Lee
Taegu, Korea

(Mrs. Therese Lee is the coordinator of the petition campaign in Korea for the re-investigation of the events in Naju. She attached this letter to about 5,000 signatures by priests, religious, and lay people in Korea that she mailed to the Holy See in mid-July 1999.)