The old and the new

28.09.2009

Fr Scanlon describes the part Columbans played in the rise of the Korean Church.

Nearly a year ago Columbans in Korea celebrated the 75th anniversary of their arrival in Korea. The first group of 10 Columbans arrived in the port of Busan on the last Sunday in October 1933, the feast of Christ the King.  Nine of the 10 were fresh out of the seminary having been ordained the previous year and their average age was just over 25.

Their leader however, Owen McPolin, had been ordained for 20 years and was a veteran of four years on mission in China. Eight of the 10 priests were from Ireland and they were joined by one from Australia and one from USA. The Australian was Jerome Sweeney and the American was Harold Henry who eventually became bishop of the area entrusted to the Columbans. One of the young Irishmen, Dan McMenamin, died of TB after just four years. He was only 29 years
of age.

At the time of their arrival, Korea was a colony harshly governed by Japan and that brought restrictions to the missionary work of the Columbans and tension to their lives. When WW II broke out seven years later many of the first group along with other Columbans who had followed them to Korea were interned and three of them were actually accused of spying and were jailed for most of the war years. One of these was Austin Sweeney, a brother of Jerome. The other two were Paddy Dawson and T. D. Ryan.

It was not very long after WW II ended that the work of the church in Korea was even more drastically interrupted by the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950. At that time seven Columbans died at the hands of North Korean soldiers or in captivity.  Two others, Bishop Thomas Quinlan and Fr Philip Crosbie, survived the horrendous 'death march.' Of course many of their Catholics were killed and many more moved south to escape the Communist regime in the North. Following the truce that brought an end to the hostilities much of the missionaries' time was taken up with relief work to help the people who had lost all they had.

A long period of Church growth and development followed. Many more Columbans travelled to Korea in the footsteps of those first 10. In fact altogether a total of 257 Columban priests have labored in Korea. The largest number in the country at any one time was 153 in 1970/71. At one time in 1977 Columban missionaries were working in nine different dioceses in Korea. In all they were responsible for starting a total of 129 parishes.

Up until the 70s parish ministry was the name of the game for Columbans in Korea as the harvest was there for the taking and the number of Korean priests was small. Fortunately since those days as standards of living and levels of education improved many young Korean men were able to answer the call to join the diocesan priesthood and take over the work of parish ministry.  Today only one Columban can claim the title of parish priest and his parish is one of the smallest in the country.

As the need for parish priests lessened many other needs came to the notice of Columbans. They started special apostolates and became chaplains to hospitals, university students, YCW and other labour apostolates. They worked with farmers, migrant workers, the urban poor, the physically and mentally disabled, gamblers and those suffering from alcoholism. They taught in universities, gave retreats and spiritual direction, developed home industries for women, set up counselling centres and engaged in various justice, peace and ecological endeavours. Many of these apostolates have also been taken up by Korean clergy and religious.

Much of the thrust of our work in more recent times has come under the heading of "helping the Korean church to become more missionary." From the mid-80s we were permitted to take Korean candidates for membership in our Mission Society and today we have seven ordained Korean members and six others in formation.

A total of 15 Korean diocesan priests have become Columban associates and worked with us in the Philippines, Peru and Chile. Currently there are nine on mission in South America. Every year we hold month-long workshops for Korean church personnel going overseas on mission. We also have a strong group of Korean benefactors who help our missionary work by their interest and their spiritual and material support.

Fourteen Columban lay missionaries have come to Korea to work over the past 15 years, seven of them from the Philippines, five from Ireland and two from Fiji. On the other hand a total of 52 Korean lay persons have gone as Columban missionaries to work in Fiji, Philippines, Myanmar, Chile, Japan, USA and Ireland. Seventeen of these are still involved in Columban mission and seven of them have made a commitment to long term mission with us.

Columban Sisters came to mission in Korea in 1955. They set up hospitals and clinics in four different dioceses where Columban priests were manning parishes and provided invaluable help to them especially in times of poverty and poor medical services. Like the Columban Fathers in more recent times the Sisters have branched out in their work to help the disabled, AIDS sufferers, victims of sex trafficking and factory workers. Today they have 16 professed Korean women in their ranks most of whom are working in various overseas mission areas.

Many friends, benefactors and co-workers joined us in giving thanks and celebrating these 75 years of missionary life and work and God's ever-present love, guidance and blessing.

Fr Ray Scanlon has been on mission in Korea since his ordination in 1968.

Read more stories from The Far East, October