{"id":4760,"date":"2021-11-02T18:33:48","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T17:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/?p=4760"},"modified":"2021-11-08T09:35:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T08:35:14","slug":"redemptorists-in-seoul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/redemptorists-in-seoul\/","title":{"rendered":"Redemptorists in Seoul"},"content":{"rendered":"

Redemptorists in Seoul<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fr. Willy Jesena CSsR: Good morning everybody.\u00a0good morning.\u00a0In whatever place you are,\u00a0 maybe in your place , it is afternoon. So here we are, with postulant Pedro Lee, and the one taking the\u00a0photos there, is another postulant Pedro Song. <\/strong>So welcome my brothers and sisters. As you see this place is Seoul City, the capital of South Korea. The weather is not so good today, because of the autumn rain. Even though the sun is not fully out, we have warm hearts to welcome you. Please, come with me and together with our postulants we will explain some of the important things which I think you like to know about Korea.<\/p>\n

Welcome again here. We\u00a0 see these two men bowing deeply.\u00a0That’s a way we welcome here. Usually we do not shake hands, but we bow deeply. It is especially for\u00a0senior citizens\u00a0<\/strong>and for\u00a0high officials \u00a0that we give a deep bow. And these Koreans welcome you to our community. Now, in South Korea we have 3 communities: here in Seoul City, this is our community with the Regional House and the formation residence. Then in the Archdiocese of\u00a0Gwangju,\u00a0we have the <\/strong>St. Clement Hoffbauer Community. There ,we work in \u00a0two villages, semi-parishes among the poor ,and so we have 4 confreres assigned\u00a0<\/strong>there. And there in\u00a0Chuncheon Diocese\u00a0,\u00a0 <\/strong>I will show you some interesting things.\u00a0<\/strong>We have there the \u00a0mountain shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help\u2026 That is the beautiful chapel we have there. See the surroundings of this chapel, the trees at the \u00a0background of the chapel.<\/p>\n

In Seoul ,our Redemptorist community welcomes you. First of all, we are only 8 confreres here, but this \u00a0list is the summary of all the Redemptorists living in South Korea, that is: 10 priests, 2 lay Brothers and 3 seminarians\u2026 Now let me show you this board where we have a lot of information. Again,\u00a0 the sign\u00a0 \u201d..Welcome to South Korea\u201d\u2026. and this is the map of South Korea. Up here beyond this line is North Korea, and this line,\u00a0 the 38th<\/sup> parallel,\u00a0 \u00a0is 2.5 kilometers of land. No one lives there,\u00a0 except the animals, but it separates the two Koreas. \u00a0As you know the two Koreas\u00a0are the only divided countries in the world. Beyond North Korea, here is China and Mongolia and then a bit of Russia: \u00a0Vladivostok and going beyond\u00a0\u00a0 there is all Russia.. And China extends to here ; so even in South Korea we can go to China in six hours, sometimes a whole night travel by boat from here, from South Korea , to one of the ports near the Chinese capital\u2026.. But this is South Korea and the principal City here is Seoul, which is the capital of the country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, here in Korea, look at that, that is during the Korean War, North and South Koreas in 1950 were at\u00a0 war.\u00a0 The \u00a0North was defended by Russia and China and the South by the United States and the United Nations Countries. About twelve of them helped in fighting for the freedom of South Korea. And South Korea is really a christian place . I will show you where the South Koreans gather together as Catholics : like for example the coming of the Pope \u2013 here, look at that \u2013 how numerous are these people representing the Catholics of South Korea. Actually regarding religion: for the believing people, about half of the Koreans believe in God. Some are spiritists,\u00a0the rural people <\/strong>believe in God, and the spirits called the Shamanism,and \u00a0together with the Buddhist religion that came from China. And that\u00a0 consists about one\/ forth of the believing people in Korea. Another one forth belongs the christian faith, the Catholics – which is the biggest group, and all the others: the Protestants, who believe Jesus Christ.\u00a0 \u00a0The rest are Buddhists and Shamans , and maybe a small percentage of non- believing people; but that\u2019s the way religion is divided here in South Korea.<\/p>\n

You can see here, there is joy and happiness in the Korean \u00a0\u00a0material progress , and\u00a0 this is only \u00a0within the last \u00a040 years.\u00a0 It is called the \u201cHan River Miracle\u201d, when the material progress\u00a0 happened \u00a0in South Korea , and in that small space of time, most of these farmlands have been converted into business places and into apartments where people live. Even though, as I said, in general, there is material happiness in South Korea, where the majority of people can have their own livehood, \u00a0and many people are rich. However, we also have problems, like any other countries. Look at this: there are three main problems in Korea. Today, of course, COVID-19 pandemic. Korea is also affected, like any other countries, even though here we have a very organized monitor pandemic management, which is very good and successful but yet we have deaths also from COVID 19. . Then the big problem of materialism, because of all that progress and together with people, who are not all believers in God,\u00a0 the material progress influences many people and because of that ,all sorts of crimes and moral failures happen\u2026 all because of materialism. The Catholic Church, of course,\u00a0 and all the other religions who are sincere in teaching about God, work \u00a0to overcome excessive \u00a0materialism and help \u00a0people to become believers. \u00a0And a big, third problem is North Korea, which is a communist country. Look at this: these are recent pictures of North Korea\u2019s testing its nuclear power. Now: one of these nuclear rockets going to Seoul City, South Korea, will blow up this whole city. If you get news in future, that North Korea sent one of these rockets to Seoul, then you can say: \u201e\u201dOh, there goes our Korean confreres, martyrs of the communists!\u201d. Because North Korea is only 30 kilometers away from South Korea. Believe it or not, it\u2019s so near, we are so close to one another.<\/p>\n

Yes, so you are asking me about our coming here to South Korea. That\u2019s in 1991. Three of us came to Korea. There is no other Redemptorist here before. The three Redemptorists: Fr. Man Yong John Lee a Korean ,who became a Redemptorist in South America, in the Campo Grande Province, second one – Father Phaiboon Augustine Udomdej, from Thailand Province\u00a0 and myself, from Cebu Province. So the three of us started the Redemptorists here in South Korea. And, of course, with the big population of South Korea what can we do at the beginning , as strangers. Sometimes I was thinking: \u201e\u201dHow hard it was for Saint Alphonsus to found our \u00a0Congregation\u201d. As we started here, in South Korea, we had a lot of problems at the beginning, because nobody knew, who these Redemptorists are. Here, in South Korea we are called: \uad6c\uc18d\uc8fc\ud68c – \u201cGooseokjoohwe\u201d that means: the community, that works with the poor, especially with those who are neglected and abandoned \u00a0poor. That\u2019s who are: \u201cGooseok\u201d. It is a Chinese word for the most abandoned and the poor. And so only recently we tried to adopt the \u00a0western name, Redemptorists, , but in the official listing of religious Congregations, we \u00a0are called \u201cGooseokjoohwe\u201d. So maybe if you come here without any guide, you will never find the Redemptorists \u00a0because we are known only as \u201cGooseokjoohwe\u201d. And we came here in 1991, the three of us, and from the beginning we already have two candidates, So I devoted myself to formation, and our Superior, who was Korean from Brazil, devoted himself in buildings – this building and our buildings in the other Diocese of Chuncheon. and the third one, Father Phaiboon while studying the language , also began active apostolic work. So that\u2019s the way, we \u00a0tried to build up our history here, in South Korea; \u00a0that is 30 years ago to this year. So we\u2019re going to celebrate 30 years very simply, to remember, how we have come here. And St. Clement Hofbauer is quite important for us, because on March 15th<\/sup> ,1991 ,that\u2019s the day that Father John Lee came from Brazil to establish us here, in South Korea.<\/p>\n

And you will see, what are the Redemptorists doing here, what are our works during \u00a0the last \u00a030 years. Our confreres especially preach the Gospel through Mary in the Perpetual Help novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, and also they went to parishes to give retreats, seminars, lectures during the preparation for baptism and confirmation, then we help in the Masses in the parishes, here, in Seoul, and the other places that ask for us. We serve the religious communities. And confession is also one of our \u00a0biggest apostolates . Some of us devoted themselves to migrant workers. Here, in Korea maybe we have about 25 different nationalities coming from other countries in order to work as migrant workers, Filipinos are \u00a0one of the biggest groups\u2026. I have served them , in celebrating \u00a0Masses for them. All these\u00a0 are our apostolic works from the beginning and until now, even though the pandemic has hurt us and prevented us from doing all that we need to do. However this will pass , and hopefully more challenges will come to us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, my brothers and sisters. I\u2019ll lead you now to our chapel, the public chapel we have in this basement. And there I will explain to you more information about our life.<\/p>\n

One of the characteristics of the chapel ,which is specific for Korean architecture, is that all these different benches and the altar\u00a0 do not use metal nails \u2013 no, these things are joined together by pieces of wood. I\u2019ll show you here these pieces of wood. \u2026<\/p>\n

Here, for instance, you see all these, these are not metal nails, they are pieces of wood and all these benches are made like that, and so is the altar..<\/p>\n

We move on to the sanctuary\u2026.What do we do here in the chapel ? \u00a0We have Masses on Sundays and also on weekdays and a Perpetual novena on Saturday. Then, we also have recollections, retreats, and lectures. And we have \u00a0a holy hour devotion to the Blessed Sacrament with our Lady and St. Gerard, and also other coming together of people in celebrations.<\/p>\n

We are here to serve the people not only around our area, but people \u00a0coming from different places. Actually, our neighbors are not all Catholics, the majority of them are non -Catholics. And here during the Perpetual novena on Saturday ,we have this Icon made of real gold. This icon is made in South Korea.<\/p>\n

And here at the altar, I\u2019ll show you again\u2026. Look at these \u00a0These\u00a0 sticks of wood serving as nails.<\/p>\n

The atmosphere of this chapel is devotional and yet, there is some solemnity in it, and asceticism, which is characteristic of the Korean spirituality\u2026.some leaning to sacrifices and being one with Jesus Who is crucified and is in the Blessed Sacrament .You see here then that the combination of all these together creates an atmosphere which is devotional and very contemplative in many ways.<\/p>\n

We will continue our information as we will go to our community chapel, \u00a0\u00a0As we go along.<\/p>\n

here we see the statue of our Blessed Mother. This is different from western statues. It is made by a Korean artist \u2013 a Perpetual Help Sister. The distinct feature is this sweet smile,\u00a0 I think, you can\u2019t get that kind of smile in western statues and that is\u00a0 influenced \u00a0by the Buddhist artists; as also the way that the Blessed Virgin Mary is portrayed.<\/p>\n

So now I will say Hail Mary<\/em> in Korean, for you, who are looking at this and for your families.<\/p>\n

\u201cHail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n

You might be surprised why am I wearing this dress.\u00a0 Here, we can wear secular clothes. This is a modern version of the Hanbok – the Korean male customary dress.<\/p>\n

Welcome to our community chapel. As you see here also there is a touch of solemnity and asceticism. Look at what we use in our prayer. There are no kneelers here, because we only stand and sit\u00a0 at prayer. And here again the are signs, that are reminiscent of Korea. I\u2019m told that these three kinds of \u00a0carved nails\u00a0 are the nails of the crucifix. The hands of Jesus are nailed to the cross, and so are his feet\u2026.. \u00a0Here again of course we have the icon of our Mother of Perpetual Help.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there any other question Brother?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou please, come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did you come to Korea, and what are your apostolic works?\u201d<\/p>\n

Why did I come to Korea? That\u2019s a very good question. Brothers in 1991, this confrere, the Korean confrere from Brazil ,went to the Philippines to ask for volunteers to come, to be a community member \u00a0in this mission. And I was so surprised, that I was so excited, like a young man, when I heard about this mission in Korea. At that time I didn\u2019t know so much about Korea, but I know what a missionary life is. It\u2019s difficult and then it was challenging and I welcomed that invitation to come here. And so together with Father Phaiboon and Father Man Yong John Lee we built up our \u00a0Congregation here in Korea.<\/p>\n

And why did I come here? In my mind, I was thinking to help in the evangelization in Korea; and also to promote the Congregation and have Korean members. And I think, in my stay here for 30 years, in some way I\u2019m satisfied – not completely, with what was done. Now we have, as we saw downstairs, vocations, and our Korea Region is now headed by the Koreans in administration and in formation.\u00a0 I \u00a0myself have done a lot of works in that 30 years, working among migrant workers, giving recollections, hearing confessions, spiritual directions, going to parishes and saying Masses, working for and with religious. \u00a0And I serve \u00a0especially in the formation work among the young men who came to us. \u00a0Maybe if all persevered, we would have been a Province by now, but many have left us, even priests have left us, unfortunately. But there it is, and God knows about it, I don\u2019t know what is in His will, but that\u2019s the way it is. That\u2019s how I have lived here until now, and I have decided to die here, to complete this offering and coming over as missionary. And of course, as my two other companions left for their own countries, I think also that \u00a0the witness of an old \u00a0Redemptorist missionary ,in \u00a0some way , is also needed here in Korea. So, here I am brothers and sisters – at your service. And let us see, what else \u00a0we can\u00a0 talk about as we go up to our roof garden on the fifth floor. Please come\u2026.<\/p>\n

So, what do we do here in the garden and at the other half, the other side. We use it for contemplation, with some confreres \u00a0contemplating while \u00a0smoking and \u00a0doing other relaxing activities like physical \u00a0exercises. Sometimes we also come here to have barbecue. Let\u2019s go to the other side\u2026.<\/p>\n

Our future in Korea? Of course, God only knows what the future is, but we also contribute our part ; and I could foresee that after this pandemic\u00a0 perhaps new ways of evangelization will come up. \u00a0Now we have Zoom \u00a0Perpetual novena every week , and I myself have said and offered Zoom Masses for people who participate from Philippines, Australia, United States \u2013 so something like that and other ways of preaching the Gospel can be done.<\/p>\n

Then of course, North Korea, that is the part of our evangelization project, and we haven\u2019t yet gone there . How will we go there? When will it open up? Time and again, there is an erratic coming together of the South and the North with \u00a0joint projects, \u00a0but not yet complete coming together , and perhaps the of reunion of \u00a0the only divided country in the world.<\/p>\n

And so, the future,.. look at that, to the north, we have North Korea there, waiting for us. The population there at present is about 26 million people. Here in the South we have 51 million people. So, combined them together we have 77 million people and that is what we are called to serve as Redemptorists. Of course, we only help in the Church. Many other religious Congregations are here ;\u00a0 and we gladly give our service as sons of Saint Alphonsus. That is our hope ,and we invite you by your prayers to help us that all this will be realized for the glory of Jesus and the Church\u2026.. And now, I think, is time to say goodbye and give the blessing. Blessing for all your loved ones, for all the Redemptorists in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lord be with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd with your spirit. \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cMay almighty God bless you: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.\u201c<\/p>\n

And now it is time to close our conversation. I have to say goodbye to you. So be it. Goodbye!<\/p>\n

Author: \u00a0\u00a0Fr. Willy Jesena CSsR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Redemptorists in Seoul Fr. Willy Jesena CSsR: Good morning everybody.\u00a0good morning.\u00a0In whatever place you are,\u00a0 maybe in your place , it is afternoon. So here we are, with postulant Pedro Lee, and the one taking the\u00a0photos there, is another postulant Pedro Song. So welcome my brothers and sisters. As you see this place is Seoul […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-mission"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4760"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4761,"href":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4760\/revisions\/4761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forworld.redemptor.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}