Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Seoul (Agenzia Fides) – Lay Catholics working abroad constitute a strength and vast potential for evangelisation, especially for Asia: the Catholic Church in Korea told Fides, presenting new statistics on Catholic missionaries and lay faithful in the diaspora, noting a general increase of priests, men and women religious and laity.
According to figures updated in December 2010, sent to Fides by the Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants, of the Bishops' Conference of Korea, there are are 161,390 Catholic Koreans abroad, an increase of 2% (3,365 people), compared to 2009. The Korean faithful accounts for about 2.4% of the total number of Koreans in the diaspora (about 6.8 million).
The figure for Korean priests sent on mission ad gentes in developing countries has increased significantly the Commission notes: in 2010, 330 priests were given a missionary mandate, an increase of 80 priests from the previous year. The priests often look after the pastoral care of the Korean Catholic community in the diaspora, but now many of them go to countries like Africa and Asia where they work for on the initial evangelisation. Looking at the figures of the dioceses which contribute the most priests, the Diocese of Pusan has the highest number of missionary priests (26 in 9 countries), followed by Daejeon (24 in 6 countries) and Daegu (21 in 8 countries). Among the religious sisters, those of the Blessed Martyrs of Korea stand out, sending out 38 sisters to 6 countries.
Looking to the laity, we see the growth of the Korean Catholic community in several Asian countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and China: the rate of increase over the past three years, is 20% and there are 44 Korean language parishes.
Analysing the distribution by geographical area, there are 116,000 Korean faithful in North America, 19,000 in Oceania, about 11,0000 in Asia, 8,500 in South America, 6,000 in Europe and 380 in Africa.
Among the most active organisations in promoting missionary activity is a Catholic Lay Apostolate of Korea, which operates under the auspices of the Episcopal Conference, bringing together delegates from all dioceses. In a recent meeting, the organisation confirmed its concrete support to all missionary activities carried out by Koreans abroad. Reiterating its commitment, it launched its 2011 campaign for missionary awareness across the nation, entitled “Living the new evangelisation, proclaiming Jesus Christ.” (PA) (Agenzia Fides 28/2/2011)
