Fr. Matthew Hong Sung-nam, director of the Catholic Psycho-Spiritual Counseling Center in Seoul, said he focuses on helping people find happiness rather than traditional religious teachings on sin. In a July 25, 2026 interview, he described guilt-focused messages as a form of gaslighting.
Fr. Matthew Hong Sung-nam, born in 1953, struggled with anxiety in his youth and briefly trained under a shaman before entering seminary after a dream of Jesus. He was ordained in 1987 but later faced a mental health crisis during parish work that led him to earn a master's in counseling.
He called traditional teachings that label people as sinners a form of violence and gaslighting. Instead, he promotes self-compassion and resists religious figures who use guilt for psychological control.
Hong listed five essentials for a happy life: human connection, physical health, financial security, continuous learning, and rest and play. God and faith do not appear on the list because, he said, making people happy naturally leads them to see God.
On death, he urged full mourning periods of at least six months and rejected claims that devout believers easily overcome fear of death as spiritual arrogance. Religion, he added, should serve as a buffer against anxiety rather than a source of control.
