Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Seoul (Agenzia Fides) – The Year of Saint Paul will leave important heirloom for the missionary spirit of the Church in Korea, in helping to encourage new missionary vocations: the Korean Mission Societies have recently opened a new center in Seoul. The center will hold seminars and missionary retreats, geared especially towards the youth, and will also organize missionary programs and initiatives in Korea and in other countries. The new building will also be a place for assistance and for offering rest and prayer for missionaries working for years in the field, in need of a small break, of spiritual “recharging,” to renew their spirit and rediscover the most profound motivations of their being and action.
The Korean Missions Society is a religious institute begun in 1975, which currently has 56 priests and 34 seminarians. The missionaries of the institute work in Cambodia, China, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, Russia, and Mozambique. In Korea, they mainly work on programs for missionary formation and spreading awareness of the mission among the youth. The institute recently decided that they should spend more time and energy in attending to the new missionary vocations, especially the youth who go on missions, helping them in the transition from a humanitarian aid viewpoint to a vocational discernment.
The religious say that they need to support the efforts for evangelization in Korea and other Asian nations, following the example of passion, faith, and love of Saint Paul. The Year of Saint Paul, which is now coming to an end, should leave every Christian with the impressive example of the Apostle to the Gentiles as the great missionary who dedicated his life to spreading the Good News all over the globe. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 27/4/2009)
