Korean bishop visits St. Andrew Kim in St. Paul for its 50th anniversary

By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit

With prayer and song, parishioners of St. Andrew Kim in St. Paul greeted visiting Bishop John the Baptist Jeong during a Mass April 16 at Holy Childhood to recognize the parish community’s 50th anniversary.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda presided at the Mass concelebrated by Bishop Jeong, of the Diocese of Incheon, South Korea. During the Mass, Bishop Jeong confirmed six students and 18 adults.

During his homily, Archbishop Hebda expressed his gratitude to Bishop Jeong and his diocese in Incheon for providing “such excellent pastors” to St. Andrew Kim. And he congratulated the parishioners.

“I know that this is a community with a high level of lay leadership and involvement,” Archbishop Hebda said. “I remember how involved your lay leaders were when we didn’t have a Korean priest to lead this community. You are all to be congratulated as you celebrate this milestone in the life of the Korean Catholic community in this archdiocese.”

The Mass’ first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, described “what a Catholic community should look like,” Archbishop Hebda said. “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers,” he said. “For 50 years, Korean Catholics in this archdiocese have been coming together to form a community centered on the breaking of the bread, while supporting one another in prayer and learning more about Jesus and the Church that he founded.

“As was true in the day of the Acts of the Apostles, you have distinguished yourselves for your care of one another, making sacrifices for those in need,” Archbishop Hebda said. “I can assure you, Bishop John the Baptist, that this is a community that lives out the faith, that puts their faith into practice.”

Images of church life over the past

For 50 years, Korean Catholics in this archdiocese have been coming together to form a community centered on the breaking of the bread, while supporting one another in prayer and learning more about Jesus and the Church that he founded.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda decades, including photos of pastors and groups of parishioners, were projected on a screen at the conclusion of Mass. A reception and luncheon followed in the facility’s lower level. At the reception, through a parishioner-translator, Bishop Jeong said that “even if we might not speak the same language, under the same faith, we have this connection and communion between the dioceses, that having the bishop and the St. Paul archbishop come together is like the two dioceses being in communion together.”

Bishop Jeong recalled St. Andrew Kim in need of a priest in 2017 and 2018. He visited the parish and talked with “the St. Paul archbishop,” Archbishop Hebda, who was very “open to crosscultural interactions in the Church.”

With the translator assisting, Bishop Jeong said he “felt good” about sending one of his priests to St. Paul. “We may not speak the same language, but we are also part of the St. Paul diocese, together in the same Church,” he said.

Stacey Oh, 43, a parishioner of St. Andrew Kim for 18 years, said she appreciates the chance to attend “the only Korean Catholic church in Minnesota.”

“I bring my daughters here to learn about the Catholic faith and the Korean culture,” she said. Many children in the parish were born in the U.S., she said, so “this is the avenue to learn about the culture, like the Korean food we are having today (at the reception).” She said many of the children attend a “Korean language school” after Mass.

Jiyoung Choi, 52, a parishioner for 15 years, said of the day’s Mass, “when Archbishop Hebda spoke in English and we responded in Korean, it symbolized harmony and collaboration” and created a “beautiful fabric together.”

The parish has about 80 households, said Won Yong Kim, a parishioner since 2016. “Celebrating Mass in Korean is very important to Korean Catholics to keep our faith as we did in our native country,” he said. Although St. Andrew Kim’s numbers are not large compared to other parishes in the archdiocese, he said every one of them appreciates the archbishop’s presence at the celebration “and also, support from other Catholics.”

The parish plans to have another celebration in September, perhaps including a retreat, said Kim, but plans are not yet finalized.

St. Andrew Kim has shared a parish campus with Holy Childhood since 2018. The Korean parish offers Masses 7 p.m. Friday and 11:15 a.m. Sunday.

St. Andrew Kim traces its roots to Sept. 26, 1973, when a group of Korean graduate students at the University of Minnesota came together for Mass at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. The Korean Catholic community organized as a parish in 1991.