Church Names

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I believe in the Communion of Saints

모든 성인의 통공을 믿으며

Credo in...Sanctórum communiónem

These words, taken from the Apostles' Creed encapsulates a dogma of the faith. We are required to believe this, as it confirms in these few pithy words what our Lord said in many parts of Scripture : 

● That this life isn't all there is.

● That this body so ravished by time, age, sun, cold, and sin will be returned to us - revivified, resurrected - if we make ourselves true sons of the Father through the sacrifice of Jesus His Son, in the Catholic Church. 

In other words, to become saints. 

The Church must never cease to impart this message to Her sheep. But how to do this? Well, in the aforementioned Creed of course. But not merely there. She does so through Her preaching and teaching. In Her feasts - most especially All Saints Day. In Her art and architecture : a sermon in glass, stone, marble, and paint. And lastly, and the way I want to speak on : in Her Church names.

Anyone who goes to Church in Korea might be struck the fact that the Churches - parishes and missions - are referred to by their area names. For example, most would not be able to identify the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, but almost anyone, even non-Catholics, know Myeongdong Cathedral. Of course, over time, a Church may develop a nickname. For example the church where my parents were married is named after St. George, but is colloquially called Koorshepally - literally "Cross Church" in the Malayalam language. While not ideal, that is at least understandable. What isn't acceptable is not referring to the patron saint at all, especially in an official context (like a sign or website). 

There are many benefits to this. For starters the person is superior to any given area. The saint lives forever in the beatific vision. But even the best society can't boast that. To take up the previous example, the name of Myeongdong Cathedral was originally Jonghyeon Cathedral (종현성당; 鐘峴聖堂). In a way this symbolizes the rule of the secular and temporal over the eternal rather than the other way around. That is, the Church is becoming more like Myeongdong rather than Myeongdong becoming more like our Immaculate Mother. 

The naming of a Church after a saint also brings with it their intercession. This goes for all saints, but if the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is your parish, I think it can't help but give extra punch to the "pray for us sinners" in every "Hail Mary" prayer.

Naming Churches after saints - maybe with a preferential option for the more obscure saints - more widely disseminates their story, which can be of great benefit to the faithful, since, apart from the absence of unrepentant sin, Heaven isn't one-size-fits-all, so its good to have many different and edifying examples of holiness.

Greater private devotion to a saint will almost invariably lead to that devotion making its way into the Liturgy. Its no coincidence that widespread praying of the Rosary - the Marian Psalter - has also strewn the "roses" of Marian feasts throughout the Liturgical calendar : Theotokos on 1 January, Annunciation 25 March, Assumption 15 August, and, as mentioned before, the Immaculate Conception on 8 December. 

Offering these Masses, in addition to the goodness and fittingness of it, has the added benefit of opening up new avenues for preaching both through the vita of the saint him or herself, but also by throwing some light on different optional readings that the faithful may never hear in Mass if they are locked into the ferial readings provided in the "Daily Mass" (매일미사) booklets.

One final benefit of naming Churches after saints is connected to another, very Catholic practice : that of receiving indulgences. One way to receive an indulgence is to go to a parish on the solemnity of its titular feast (in addition, of course, to all the other requirements for an indulgence). If we name our Churches after a saint we will want to honor them. If we know them we'll want them to pray for us. If we join them in private prayer, we'll want to do so liturgically as well. And when we do this, we can gain indulgences for ourselves and others (particularly for the dead). 

So far I've outlined a problem in the Church, and tried to zero in on some reasons since it isn't in itself sinful, and also isn't intuitive to spot the problem. But I don't want to be entirely negative. The fact that Churches don't typically carry their patron's name presents some opportunities. It means that people have no idea, or are not very attached to the titular or patronal saint. As mentioned before, an indulgence is granted for visiting a parish during the patronal feast (perhaps for Mass). So what if the Bishops of Korea, working in unison :

● Used the names of saints exclusively for Churches.

● Coordinated their efforts so that every single parish, mission, chapel and oratory had a DIFFERENT saints name.

This way, it could maximize the potential indulgences available. They could even coordinate on their website, giving the saint of the day and where their Church is located. They could also cluster saints with feasts on the same day in a certain area for easier pilgrimages. For example, Saints Clement and Columbanus both have their feasts on 23 November. Perhaps Suyu-dong (수유동성당) and Suyu 1-dong (수유1동성당) parishes could take these names. There could also be other creative clusters. For example, Saint Augustine's feast is 28 August, and his mother, Saint Monica, the one who was so instrumental in his conversion, has hers on 27 August. Perhaps neighbouring parishes could each take the name of these great saints. 

Ultimately I don't think we can build up the Church without the saints because the Church, especially the Church Triumphant, consists exclusively of saints. The Church is a saint factory, and as such, it makes sense that we name our church buildings after the very thing we hope to churn out. 

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