The Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of Seoul has welcomed 23 new priests who will dedicate themselves to pastoral service and evangelization. The solemn Eucharistic Celebration with the Sacrament of Holy Orders was presided on January 28 at the Myeongdong Cathedral, by the Archbishop of Seoul, Msgr. Peter Chung. According to information from the Office of Communications of the Archdiocese, the ceremony was held in compliance with anti-Covid guidelines. Due to restrictions, only the parents of the new priests were able to attend. The liturgy was broadcast live on the television channel of the Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation and its YouTube channel. Monsignor Chung thanked God for the gift of these “new workers for the harvest”, extending his gratitude to the parents of the newly ordained priests, to the parish priests and nuns, to the teachers and spiritual guides, and to the benefactors, who accompanied and supported the new priests in their vocation and in their path of formation.
Three of the twenty-three new priests are members of the “Seoul International Catholic Missionary Society”, a missionary society founded in 2005 by the Archdiocese of Seoul and which has already sent missionaries to Latin America.
This – the Bishop pointed out – is a concrete sign that the Church in Korea has been transformed from a “Church that welcomes” to a “Church that gives”, prepared for the “Missio ad Gentes”. In the midst of the pandemic, in difficult times, in the midst of adversity, he commented in conclusion, the local Church will work even harder to promote vocations to the priesthood and religious life, trusting in God’s call to always give new “workers to his vineyard”, as a gift not only for the Church in Korea but for the universal Church. The new ordinations confirm the extraordinary “vocational spring” that the Church is experiencing in South Korea. In January 2022, with the new priests, the Archdiocese of Seoul will have 966 priests.
