Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Friday, 31 October 2025
by Pascale RizkCanberra/Sydney (Agenzia Fides) – More than forty years have passed since 1984, when a missionary priest from Sydney began traveling once a month to Canberra to celebrate Mass with the local Korean Catholic community.In 2011, the Diocese of Daejeon, Korea, officially sent its first full-time chaplain. “I am impressed to see how the Christian faith is lived in a multicultural society. In addition to my ministry with the Korean community, I also serve in local parishes,” says Father Andrea Yang Myeong-sik, who celebrates the Eucharist in Korean once a week. “This leads me to constantly reflect on how the Korean community can better integrate into the local parish and other ethnic communities,” adds the priest, who cares for the small flock of about 130 first-and second-generation Korean immigrants.Due to Canberra’s unique profile—an administrative capital with a relatively small population and limited job opportunities—mobility is high, and the community is constantly changing. “One of the urgent challenges we face is cultivating a sense of continuity in our pastoral work, despite the frequent changes in the community’s composition,” explains Father Andrea.Unlike Sydney, Canberra has fewer international students or working holiday visa holders. Most of the Koreans residing in the Australian capital are families and professionals who have come for work. Baptisms are celebrated a couple of times a year. “Now,” recounts Father Myeong-sik, “we have among us a young Chinese woman who studied and worked in Korea before coming to Australia.” Her friend, who had been baptized in our community two years ago, invited her to join us. Instead of attending a local English-speaking parish, she began catechism with the Korean community.”In the Sydney metropolitan area, home to Australia’s largest Korean Catholic community, Father Andrea Kim Yoon Jae says: “I was a missionary sent from South Korea specifically for this mission.” Today, along with three other Korean priests, he serves the parish dedicated to the Korean Martyrs and Saint Stanislaus, founded in 1976 with the help of Franciscan and Columban Fathers who had served as missionaries in South Korea. More than 1,400 people attend Sunday Mass, although the registered membership exceeds 6,000. Baptisms are celebrated four times a year for infants and once a year for adults. “A distinctive feature of our parish,” emphasizes Father Yoon Jae, who has been in Sydney for four years, “is the decision of many parents to have their children baptized within the context of the excellent educational work promoted by the many Catholic schools in the area.”The Korean Catholic community in Sydney is preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding. Today, it brings together immigrants from various generations, who arrived in four waves: the 1960s, composed of skilled workers; the 1970s and 80s, largely made up of Vietnam War veterans; the 2000s, with students and young people on working holiday visas; and the most recent, comprised of families and students who migrated for study or work. “Due to distance and economic reasons, Korean immigration to Australia has continued to grow, and new people continue to join the community. This influx is likely to continue for some time,” observes Father Yoon Jae Kim. In their pastoral work, Korean missionaries in Australia also face the challenge of a generational gap and difficulties in mutual understanding among faithful of different ages and cultural backgrounds.In Melbourne, at the Sacred Heart Parish in Kew, the Korean presence is smaller and limited to a few families whose children attend the parish school. Father Michele Kong, originally from Seoul and a resident of Australia for about twenty years, carries out his ministry there. Ordained eleven years ago in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, the priest points out a cultural difference in the pastoral experience of Korean Catholic communities in Australia compared to those in his country of origin: “While the faithful in Korean churches tend to behave more reservedly, those in Australian parishes express themselves in a more extroverted and informal way.” (Agenzia Fides, 31/10/25)
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