by Joe Bollig
joe.bollig@theleaven.org
The sacrifices and holy heroism of the Korean martyrs were recalled during a Mass for the St. Andrew Kim Korean Catholic Community on Sept. 21 at Savior Pastoral Center in Kansas City, Kan. More than 150 people attended the Mass, a memorial for St. Andrew Kim Taegon, St. Paul Chong Hasang and their companion martyrs. Archbishop Naumann was the main celebrant and homilist.
Father Noel Shin, associate pastor at Holy Trinity in Lenexa and on loan from theDiocese of Chenongju in South Korea, is chaplain for the Korean Community.
“Having heard about Jesus and Christianity from some of their Chinese neighbors, a Korean delegation was sent to seek out missionaries to bring the Gospel to the Korean people,” said Archbishop Naumann in his homily.
“Yet, in accord with the almost universal experience of the church, there came a time,” the archbishop continued, “or rather times, of persecution of Christianity in Korea, when the faith of Korean Catholics was severely tested.”
The Korean Catholic Community was organized as an association in 1979. The community’s first Mass was celebrated in 1980, and it began to meet at Holy Cross Parish in Overland Park in 1983. The community moved to Holy Trinity Parish in Lenexa in 1997. Currently, it isthe only Korean Catholic community in the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area.
For information, call Holy Trinity at (913) 888-2770, or call Father Shin at (913) 579- 3720.
