Seoul (Fides Service) - The new impulse which the Second Vatican Council impressed on the life of the Church in the 20th century revived the Catholic community in Korea causing a flourishing of vocations, evangelisation, and the Church’s full insertion into Korean society. This emerged from a recent Symposium organised in Seoul by the Catholic University of Korea in collaboration with the Foundation for Research on the History of the Church in Korea.
Vatican II and the Church in Korea was the title of the symposium which brought together experts, academics, clergy, diocesan delegates and many lay people to reflection the dynamics of the growth of the Church in Korea post-Council, how the Council’s instructions were understood and applied and the ensuing consequences and changes in pastoral activity and in perception of the Church within society.
Particular attention was given to the question of inculturation, considered a fundamental requisite in the life of a Church in a country such as Korea and an essential point for defining the contribution Catholics offer the nation.
At the end of the symposium Prof. Roh Kil Myung of the Catholic University of Korea said that also in the third millennium the Church must keep in mind the directions given by the Second Vatican Council still timely today. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 30/9/2005 righe 22 parole 245)