by Matteo Choi Seok Kyoon

Many are temporarily assigned overseas; others chose the missionary vocation. Almost half are in Asia; the others are spread across Africa, Europe and the Americas. They are in urgent need of training.

Seoul (AsiaNews) – At least 690 South Korean missionaries are working around the world, this according to a survey released by the Pontifical Missionary Societies of Korea. They include men and women religious, diocesan priests and lay people. Some 313 are in Asia (45.4 per cent), 165 in the Americas (23.9 per cent), 118 in Europe (17.1 per cent), 72 in Africa (10.4 per cent) and 22 in Oceania (3.2 per cent), among them, 219 diocesan priests.

The study was made public on Friday, at the start of October, traditionally a time used to revitalise the missionary spirit and commitment. Indeed, some 80 missionaries came home for that purpose, meeting in a chapel near Myong Dong Cathedral. Here, they discussed ways to improve their work of evangelisation.

Participants discussed a number of issues. For some, “The more the Church gives to foreign missions, the more it gains from the grace it receives.” For others, “Missionary action is not a stifling or complicated enterprise, but rather a logical and joyful choice for Christians who believe in God’s love.”

The event, which took lasted seven hours and included lectures, speeches, exchanges, questions and answers and a final Mass, was organised by the Committee for the Pastoral Care of Koreans Living Abroad, a body of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, the Korean Conference of Major Superiors of Religious Institutes and Societies of Apostolic Life and the Korean Conferences of Major Superiors of Women’s Religious Institutes.

Mgr Vincent Lee Byouong Ho (pictured), bishop in charge of the Committee for the Pastoral Care of Koreans Living Abroad, spoke about the importance of Pope Pius XII’s Encyclical Fidei Donum, which opened the door to the universal mission and allowed dioceses with more diocesan priests than they need to send them to those who did not have enough.

“Jesus trained his disciples [especially] as missionaries to spread the Word of God; nothing more, nothing less; [indeed,] without the Word; no mission, Mgr Lee said. “If we concentrate only on social activities without the Word of God, everything collapses, and becomes a waste of time. The world is hungry more for the Word of God than for bread.”

In his homily, Mgr Lee stressed the importance of evangelical simplicity for missionaries. “Before we become missionaries, we must truly meet Jesus; he can totally change us from within,” he said. “After that, we can bear witness with the joy that springs from our heart, without blurring it with sophisticated human explanations. We must breathe life into God’s Word, rather than offer useless and meaningless comments, which have no place in daily life if they lack the living Spirit. If we are not happy with or convinced by the Gospel, we cannot do much as missionaries. We must bring back the child in us like Saint Therese of Lisieux, patron saint of missionaries.”

Fr Augustine Kim Myoung Dong, superior general of the Korean Missionary Society spoke about the prospects of missionary action today. He proposed setting up a training school for Korean missionaries.

“In recent decades, our Korean missionaries have had difficulties and found themselves in confusing situations because of inadequate and insufficient training,” he said. For him, a training programme of at least a year should be set up.

Since 1999, the Saint Columba missionaries in Seoul have offered a one-month training programme twice a year for South Korean missionaries sent abroad. It is open to lay people, diocesan priests as well as men and women religious.

As one of the event’s organisers and as an administrator in the Committee for the Pastoral Care of Koreans Living Abroad, Fr Anthony Song Young Ho wants to see closer ties between South Korean missionaries working abroad and the dioceses in South Korea. For this reason, he wants information about foreign missions brought together. Like this meeting, such newsgathering and sharing “would allow the Korean Catholic Church to coordinate its foreign missions. The Church itself grew thanks to work of so many foreign missionaries; now it is its time to make its contribution to the work of foreign missions.”

• south
• korea
• missions
• society
• pontifical
• meeting