Mission World - April 2016

 

Five new Korean missionaries at a special Mass in SeoulSOUTH KOREA - Five new Korean missionaries “ad gentes”

Ad gentes is the Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church.

Seoul, Korea (Agenzia Fides) – Five new Korean missionaries have been commissioned to carry the good news of the Gospel to distant lands.

In a special Mass celebrated in Seoul Cathedral on March 3, 2016 Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung, Catholic Archbishop of Seoul, conferred a solemn missionary mandate on five priests of the archdiocese who will soon start their missionary adventure in a foreign country.

They are:

  • Fr Nam-eun Goong, who will go to Saitama diocese in Japan;
  • Fr Shin Gwang-ho, who will go to Sydney, Australia;
  • Fr Kim Sung-min is destined for the Chinese diocese of Xi'an;
  • Fr Lee Hyun-gyu and Fr Jung Sung-hoon will join the Missionary Society of Saint Columban as associates.

Since 2006 the Korean Catholic Church has sent 19 priests from Seoul on mission “ad gentes” in ten countries-Taiwan, China, Japan, Tanzania, Peru, Guatemala, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Spain and France.

The Mass was organised by the Seoul Foreign Missions Department, an office instituted by Cardinal Yeom in 2013 to underline the importance of mission ad gentes . Fr Park Kyu-hee, Missions Department head, said: “We will do our best every year to send more missionaries to spread the Gospel of Our Lord”.

The Mass was presided over by Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung and concelebrated by his auxiliary bishops. With their Mandate as a sign of diocesan unity, the five priests received a special stole bearing the official Seoul archdiocese logo and the laying on of hands by the concelebrating auxiliary Bishops.

In his homily reflecting on the passage in the Gospel where Jesus sends his disciples to proclaim the Gospel, Cardinal Yeom reminded those present that it was thanks to the work of foreign missionaries that the Catholic Church developed in Korea. “Now it is our turn to go to countries in difficulty and share the Good News with them” he said.

Agenzia Fides - Information Service of the Pontifical Mission Society - March 4, 2016

Mission Intention for April
That Christians in Africa may give witness to love and faith in Jesus Christ amid political‐religious conflicts.


Read more from The Far East, April 2016