일제 하 만주지역에서의 독일 상트 오틸리엔 베네딕트회 수도원의 활동 : 교육사업을 중심으로, 1921~1945년

Abstract

This work reexamines the missionary activities of the German St. Ottilien Congregation of Missionary Benedictines in Manchuria under Japanese Imperial Rule from its beginnings in 1921 until 1945. The Catholic missionary enterprise has been understood in a broader sense as cultural endeavor. The missionaries considered factors that were necessary to successfully implement Catholic faith and found an anchor in establishing an accessible educational system. This is where the strength of the Congregation lies: their traditional approach to education is modified according to local needs. It would not be appropriate to assume that the Catholic Mission aimed at eradicating local traditional culture by fostering Christian morals and rituals. Rather, they tried to forge links between Catholic faith and everyday life, religious practices and secular realities while supporting the idea that a sui generis quality is inherent to religion. Considering the colonial situation, the missionary enterprise was torn between politics of rivalry and compromise, as both the Japanese Empire and local movements tried to exert ideological influence on the intra-colonial migrants from Chosŏn via the means of education. Nevertheless, Catholicism attracted more church members than any other religious group in Manchuria at the time. In this region, Catholic faith and the seeds for an education system had been introduced by the settlers from Chosŏn themselves. Thus, the Catholic belief system was not unknown to them. To a certain degree, the missionaries were able to profit from established organizational structures of religious villages etc., which in turn facilited the erection of mission stations and schools. In this new mission field, the missionaries strived to sustain an accessible and self-supported church community, both economically and educationally. This endeavor echoed from within the colonial situation, where dynamics of community formation took place. The case of the Missionary Benedictines illustrates an ideal of religion which strived to include its members into an all-encompassing 'world church'. This work argues that their Catholic schools can be understood as ῾third zoneʼ. For the regional population, which was mainly constituted of settlers from Chosŏn, the schools provided an activity space that seemed to promise shelter from colonial authorities, to offer an alternative to the colonial education enterprise, and to further encourage local community building.