The Korean Catholic Church has shown an interest in setting up missions
in Mongolia, Peru, Chile, and in other parts of South America and Asia.
In 1996, the Columban Missionary Society of Korea started
sending Korean priests as missioners to other countries. And in the
following years they sent 11 missioners who have had mission experience
and have returned; at the present time there are 11 more who have
volunteered for mission work. The Columban Missionary Society is also
sending out lay persons as missioners.
Missioners have been in
Mongolia for the last 20 years, and presently number 81. 28 are from
Korea, mostly from the diocese of Daejeon. The Jesuit Province of
Korea has also a mission in Cambodia which it supplies with missioners.
The
Catholic Times editorial mentions these facts but also points out that
the dioceses have not successfully promoted the spread of missionary
work outside of Korea. There has been little response to the programs,
set up by the bishops and the Korean Foreign Mission Society, for those
interested in the missions . The Society, begun in 1975, now has 64
members, and will be a help in the formation of the missioners, but the
first class was disappointingly small. The Society will continue and hopes to see a change in the interest for mission.The interest in foreign
missions in Korea is still in the early stages; consequently, a
systematic program of raising funds for the missions and support is
still to be developed.
We say that all Christians are
missioners. This is our Catholic understanding, but the methods of
putting this into action still remain to be effectively incorporated
into the lives of the Christians. Asia has only 3.1 percent of the
population that are Catholic, so the opportunity for evangelization is
great.
The editorial ends with the acknowledgement that
the Holy Spirit is the motivating power behind the work of mission. And
just as Jesus gave the apostles the power to witness to him, we have to
pray for that to happen today.
