Infantry troops about to board U.S. Army Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw helicopters to be transported to the front lines at the 6th Transportation Helicopter Company, Eighth Army, Korea. - Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Fifteenth of August 1945 was the day Korea was finally liberated from Japanese colonisation. Just before liberation, Columban Fr Harry Gillen, who had been under house arrest in Hongchon, Kang Won Do, along with other Columbans, since 1941, became ill. The Japanese authorities would not permit anyone to go out to get the needed medicine, so Harry died on August 6th and was buried in Hongchon. He was 31 years old. Ordained in 1938, Harry had worked in the Mokpo area since 1939.
From 1945 to 1948, Korea was ruled by the US Army Military Government. On 15th August 1948, the first Republic was founded, and South Korea became an independent country with Syngman Rhee as President. He ruled from 24 July 1948 until 26 April 1960, when he resigned during the student movement known as the April Revolution.
On 3rd April 1948, there was an uprising on Jeju Island. Syngman Rhee sent in the military to suppress the uprising, and the troops killed between 30,000 and 60,000 people. Many, mostly men, fled to Japan, and Jeju ended up as an island of women, rocks, and wind. On 1st June 1950, Columban Fr Pat Dawson wrote an article for the Irish Far East entitled “Peace comes at last to Korea”. At that time, Pat was the parish priest in Chungang Parish in Jeju. However, the “peace” did not last long, because on 25th June 1950, the Korean War started.
Some Columbans were evacuated to Busan and then sent on to Japan. Some remained in Japan and never returned to Korea. Many were captured and executed: Frs Tony Collier, James Maginn, Paddy Reilly, John O’Brien, Tom Cusack, and Pat Brennan. Columban Bishop Quinlan, and Frs Phil Crosbie and Frank Canavan were arrested and marched to prison in North Korea, Frank dying there on 6th December 1950.
Fr Phil and Bishop Quinlan survived and through Russian intervention were finally freed, eventually returning to Korea. Phil’s book Pencilling Prisoner describes the experience. Another book, Now Welcome Summer by Columban Fr Frank Herlihy, gives one a feeling for the early Columban Mission in Korea.
A field gun abandoned by North Korean forces in the Kum River area of Korea. - Photo: Wikimedia Commons
When the Korean War ended in 1953 with a ceasefire, the Columban mission restarted with the building of new churches and mission stations. So much of what they had already built was destroyed, but instead of lamenting the past, they began anew to build up Christian communities. There was great poverty in Korea after the war and much aid was sent, especially by the USA. However, the corrupt civilian government could not be entrusted with the distribution of the aid, mostly flour, so the Churches (Catholic and Protestant) were asked to distribute it. They did so irrespective of a person’s beliefs, but some people imagined that if they became a Catholic or a Protestant they would receive more (not true, but this was their perception). Many of those baptised at that time were referred to as “Flour Christians”, and they ceased coming to Church once the aid dried up.
After the war, evangelisation was slow. To aid in the parish work, the Legion of Mary, with the backing of Columban Archbishop Henry, was introduced by Fr Sean Savage in 1953. The Legion made a huge difference in evangelisation.
As Christianity was originally brought to Korea by Korean lay people, lay people spreading the faith was not an alien concept in Korea. Now, with the Legion of Mary, there were many lay people working in cooperation with the priests and sisters. The numbers coming to church increased greatly. This was all before the 2nd Vatican Council validated the work already done by Korean lay people working in parish ministry.
Added to that was the Church’s stance on human rights under the leadership of Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan. He stood up to the dictators who were trampling on human rights under the guise of the nation's development and anti-communism.
Up to the 1960s, Columban work was in parishes - in all, over 130 parishes were started by Columbans. At one stage in the early 1970s, Columbans were staffing 71 parishes in nine dioceses. Beginning with Frs Kevin O’Rourke and Owen Doyle, Columbans moved into other apostolates. Kevin and Owen taught in universities, and Kevin was one of the first foreigners to get a PhD (in Korean literature) from a Korean university. In the next instalment, we will highlight this broadening of our mission in Korea into what was then called “special works”.
Columban Fr Denis Monaghan lives and works in Korea.
Listen to "Columban mission in Korea: War & Peace"
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - June 2024
