History (cont'd)

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New Mission, Korea

In the newsletter from Rome, Communications, that reports on the activities of the General Council of the Oblates, the first time the name 'Korea' was mentioned was in the issue of November 1988, where it was said that "for the time being it has been decided to limit our research to Korea". In the next issue of March 1989 it was announced that in January "Fr. Desmond O'Donnell has gone to Korea and has given a report of his findings, which has been well received by the General Council members. A decision will be made at the plenary session of the Council in May". And so we read in the June issue, of the same year of Communications: " 'The Oblate Cross Covers the World.' To keep this saying to be true we have accepted the invitation of His Excellency Angelo Nam Sou KIM, bishop of Suwon, to send Oblates into South Korea. At least two Oblates will devote two years to the study of the language and the culture of the country before engaging in any pastoral ministry."

Then, in the issue of July 1990 we find: "On the occasion of a liturgy during the Intercapitular Meeting (3-22 May) we celebrated the send-off to the missions of Fathers Vincenzo BORDO and Mauro CONCARDI. They made their departure the following day towards Korea." In the more general newsletter OMI Information of the same month, July 1990, the event is related somewhat more explicitly: "Father General and the members of the General Council have joined the communities of formation of the Italian Province, at Vermicino, on May 12, to celebrate the departure of Fathers Vincenzo Bordo and Mauro Concardi who took the plane for Seoul the same day. In a highly symbolic gesture, the parents of the two missionaries led the offertory procession."

The same newsletter, in its October issue of 1990, presents some excerpts of an article by Father Bordo, explaining why the Oblates sent missionaries to Korea. In further reports on the development of the mission we read in OMI Information of March 1992: "Three Oblates originally from Italy are now in Korea, a mission dependent on the Vice Province of Japan ... ." The article went on describing the study and living situation of the missionaries, their search for more permanent living quarters, and their contacts with the clergy and the population of Korea.

The personnel of the Oblate mission of Korea has grown to five priests, four from Italy and one from Sri Lanka (Jaffna Province). From an entry in Information we learn that "each one of us is engaged in a special apostolate: a restaurant for poor people, work with the immigrants, and with the handicapped The best is yet to come; we are dreaming of North Korea and of China. This can only come about if we deepen our roots in this society; the fruits will follow ... ."

Why Korea?

The Oblates have the following rationale and goals in opening the mission of Korea.

A. Rationale

1. Such a mission will place Oblates in a strategic position in a region where the Church is growing and where society is still in transition from its traditional Confucian roots to a modern technological society.
2. In the Asian context, Korea was a bridge between the Buddhist cultures of China and Japan. The present experience of the Church in Korea can be a bridge for the possible Christian growth in other cultures of East Asia.
3. While the Korean Church is committed to social justice and is recognized as a religious community in the present Korean society, there is still a place for evangelization of the poor. The Oblate charism of our preference for the poor can be an added dimension for that local Church.
4. An Oblate experience in such a developing process of a culture moving from its traditional roots into a modern technological society will also benefit our experience in other parts of Asia as it faces similar shifts. Moreover, it would be expected that our experience in western cultures that have already experienced modernity will help enrich the dialogue into which the Korean Church must enter.

B. Goals

1. Every local Church is enriched to the extent that it shares in the variety of the religious charisms in the universal Church. Faithful to our traditions as verbalized in the Oblate Constitutions and Rules, i.e. Constitution 5 which says: "We are a missionary Congregation. Our principal service in the Church is to proclaim Christ and his Kingdom to the most abandoned. We preach the Gospel among people who have not yet received it and help them see their own values in its light. . .." And Constitution 7 continues: "... We will spare no effort to awaken or to reawaken the faith in the people to whom we are sent, and we will help them discover 'who Christ is'. Our mission puts us on constant call to respond to the most urgent needs of the Church through various forms of witness and ministry, but especially through proclaiming the Word of God which finds its fulfillment in the celebration of the sacraments and in service to others. We have as our goal to establish Christian communities and Churches deeply rooted in the local culture and fully responsible for their own development and growth.",  we will share this charism with the Korean Church as we focus on the evangelization of the poor as well as on the call to evangelization in other parts of the world.
2. As a way of sharing that charism, we shall be open to receiving and even fostering vocations from among the local Church.
3. We will seek to participate in dialogue with the emerging culture as well as with the cultures it can and will affect.

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