Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - Moved by the situation of millions of sick, poor and abandoned children in Africa, the Korean Foreign Mission Society, KFMS established in 1929, has extended its mission to that continent. In early November during a Mass in Seoul Cathedral three missionary priests were solemnly sent on mission to Mozambique, the sixth country to which the KFMS has sent its members, after Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, China, Russia and Cambodia.
The three priests will depart on 24 November. After a period of formation in Portugal to learn the language, Portuguese is the official languages in Mozambique, they will go to work in the diocese of Lichinga, where a community of about 200,000 Catholics are assisted by ten diocesan priests and about twenty foreign missionaries.
The sending ceremony was presided by Augustine Kim Myong-dong, Superior General of the Korean Foreign Mission Society. After receiving the mission mandate and the missionary’s cross, the priests made a solemn promise to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Mozambique.
On the occasion of Mission Sunday, 24 October, emeritus Bishop Rene Dupont of Andong said: “Missionaries are people who are captives of authentic love and happiness which Jesus Christ gives”, and he urged young people especially “to be open to the will of God and to proclaim the Gospel”. “The mission of the Church in Korea - Bishop Lazarus You Heung Sik, coadjutor of Daejeon told Fides- is based on our Martyrs who gave their life for the Lord and for the people. We are aware of the importance and necessity of proclaiming the Gospel to those who are far away”.
Recently in his first address to the Catholic community in Korea, the new Papal Nuncio to Korea Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig who arrived in Seoul at the beginning of October encouraged Korean Catholics “to build a missionary community to give missionaries to evangelise the whole world”. Speaking at the general assembly of the Korean Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Tscherrig expressed the Pope’s gratitude for the great contribution which the Church in Korea offers to the universal mission.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 15/11/2004 righe 31 parole 350)
