The recent Catholic Times featured an article on Fr. Ham Je-do a Maryknoll Priest who was born in August 1933 in Philadelphia, USA, the son of an Irish immigrant family.
Father Ham, grew up in a devout Christian family. It was when he met the late Bishop Jang Ik (John), (1933-2020) that Father Ham came to know the unfamiliar Korea across the Pacific. He met Bishop Jang Ik in the minor seminary and they became best friends. They spent a long time together and he got to know Korea, his fellow student Jang Ik urged him to become a missionary to Korea. From that time on his desire to go to Korea continued to grow.
“When he was a seminarian at Maryknoll he heard a lot of stories about Korea from Maryknoll priests who had been missionaries in North Korea since the 1920s and were expelled by the Japanese.”
After ordination, Father Ham expressed his strong desire to go to Korea during a meeting with the Maryknoll Superior General to decide on his future missionary life. Korea was his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices but he knew that he had to go where they sent him.
According to Father Ham's wishes, he was sent to Korea. On the day of separation from his family, the entire family cried facing the separation. Father Ham described that time as ‘a very sad and unforgettable day’.
The journey to Korea took all of three weeks. From San Francisco to Japan, Busan, and Incheon by cargo ship. After arriving in Incheon, he was taken to the Maryknoll Society headquarters. It was August 1960, when the heat was at its peak. Father Ham began his pastoral ministry in Korea as secretary to Bishop James Pardy ( 1898-1983), the first bishop of the Diocese of Cheongju
The first years in Korea, where everything was unfamiliar, were difficult. Father Ham honestly confessed: He wanted to return to the United States after only six months.
However, as he interacted with Korean students, his curiosity about Korea gradually developed. Father Ham remembered: “I learned Korean customs one by one, such as manners to follow when entering a house and dining etiquette, and I was especially impressed by the culture of polite language.”
“I remember saying to the kids, ‘Take it easy~’ in a slightly awkward polite way, and everyone just laughed.”
At that time, the wounds of war in Korea had not yet healed. Father Ham recalled: “Not only in the countryside but even in the capital Seoul, it was often dark at night due to a lack of electricity.”
The situation was not easy in the Cheongju Diocese as well. Father Ham had to prepare dinner himself to save on living expenses at the rectory where several priests lived together. He was sometimes scolded by Bishop Pardy, Father Ham said: “Since the bishop came on a mission, he wanted to live the same way as Koreans,” and “When he said he wanted to buy a bicycle, he scolded him and told him not to try to live more comfortably than Koreans.”
Nevertheless, his relationship with Bishop Pardy was a great help in adapting to Korea. Father Ham said: “Even now, whenever he misses the bishop he goes to the bishop’s grave and says hello.”
Father Ham later served as pastor in two parishes in the city of the Cheongju Diocese and a country parish. Even when he was serving as a parish priest, he was full of various anecdotes. He laughed and said: “I was so nervous while giving the Sacrament of Reconciliation that he remembers telling a person to drink beer instead of praying the Rosary [The words for beer and rosary in Korea are similar]. Word spread among male believers, and after that, the line to see me for the Sacrament got longer.” He enjoyed visiting public offices and communicating with believers. He said: “During this time, I drank a lot of soju and ate a lot of samgyetang. I was asked what kind of food I liked, so I said Samgyetang, and every public office I went to gave me Ginseng chicken soup.”
“It was a time when everyone was poor, and there were many things that did not go as planned, but as time went by, I came to love Korea, and I tried to be the same as Koreans.” At the same time, he recalled the words that he had already mentioned in his book: ‘Mission is romance’.
"Romance means being human. This is because human life is a process of falling in love." Missionaries must also give unconditional love and live ‘like human beings'.
Father Ham expressed his deep affection for Korea, saying, “The Diocese of Cheongju is the hometown of my heart.” In the early days of his missionary work, he wanted to escape the difficulties of living in a foreign country, but now it has become a home he does not want to leave.
