austraLasia #2889
Salesians mark the memory of Fr John Lee:
lay volunteer missionaries take up where he left off
SEOUL: 16 July 2011 -- "Thank you so much for your help. You can be sure we are concerned about leaving home, but we now leave with the courage that comes from depending on your prayer, and undeserved love and help." So said Matthias Ryu, one of the Korean lay missionaries who had just been formally commissioned, on 15 July at the Salesian Provincial House Seoul, for the new nation of South Sudan.
"This might be a sending out of volunteers, but it is a missionary task. Often when we speak of missionaries we think of a priest or a religious, but I would like to say that sharing with the poor what you have as a lay person might be considered as the very essence of the missionary heart. Sharing your time, talents and material goods as well as the Gospel which we always carry in our heart is really practising Christ's mission on earth. So all of you who are now leaving for Wau in South Sudan are missionaries, and I recommend that you have a missionary mind and bring them, the youngsters and poor people of Wau, the love of Jesus", said the Provincial, Fr Stephen Nam, in his homily.
The two couples commissioned as lay missionary volunteers will live and work in the Salesian community at Wau in South Sudan for two years. Mathias Ryu and Regina Kim, both medical doctors specialised in dermatology, retired last year and will work in clinics, especially for people suffering leprosy. The other couple, Francis Song and Clara Lee, also retirees but skilled in engineering and architecture, will help with construction work.
These two couples, after retiring, were looking for some meaningful activity in their lives, and were touched by the story of Fr John Lee who died early last year after 8 years of missionary activity as a doctor and a Salesian priest. They decided to volunteer for Africa where the late Fr John had been working. They have spent one year of preparation with the Korean province which has now set up an agreement of cooperation with the Delegation of Sudan, the receiving province.
The couples took the flight to Nairobi that evening, following the commissioning Mass. The destination was originally Tonj, but has now become Wau, after lengthy discussion with the local community which considered it better to wait Tonj's social situation has stabilised.
This is the first such formal commissioning of lay missionary volunteers from Korea to Sudan. There have been other short-term volunteers dispatched for particular activities, but all by a Foundation which is a spontaneous lay organisation that came into being to support the work of the late John in Tonj.
The Korean Province has given careful attention to various programs for the preparation of the new volunteers, especially through a close relationship with the Sudan Delegation. On 10 July, in the presence of family members, especially their adult children, they came the provincial house to sign their volunteer's contract.
The day of the formal commissioning was, incidentally, the day on which the President of the Republic of Korea, Mr. Lee Myung-bak, gave the Mugungwha Order in posthumous memory, to John Lee's mother, accompanied on a wheelchair by her elder son, a Capuchin priest. The Salesians were not directly involved in this event.
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AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2011 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
Salesians mark the memory of Fr John Lee:
lay volunteer missionaries take up where he left off
SEOUL: 16 July 2011 -- "Thank you so much for your help. You can be sure we are concerned about leaving home, but we now leave with the courage that comes from depending on your prayer, and undeserved love and help." So said Matthias Ryu, one of the Korean lay missionaries who had just been formally commissioned, on 15 July at the Salesian Provincial House Seoul, for the new nation of South Sudan.
"This might be a sending out of volunteers, but it is a missionary task. Often when we speak of missionaries we think of a priest or a religious, but I would like to say that sharing with the poor what you have as a lay person might be considered as the very essence of the missionary heart. Sharing your time, talents and material goods as well as the Gospel which we always carry in our heart is really practising Christ's mission on earth. So all of you who are now leaving for Wau in South Sudan are missionaries, and I recommend that you have a missionary mind and bring them, the youngsters and poor people of Wau, the love of Jesus", said the Provincial, Fr Stephen Nam, in his homily.
The two couples commissioned as lay missionary volunteers will live and work in the Salesian community at Wau in South Sudan for two years. Mathias Ryu and Regina Kim, both medical doctors specialised in dermatology, retired last year and will work in clinics, especially for people suffering leprosy. The other couple, Francis Song and Clara Lee, also retirees but skilled in engineering and architecture, will help with construction work.
These two couples, after retiring, were looking for some meaningful activity in their lives, and were touched by the story of Fr John Lee who died early last year after 8 years of missionary activity as a doctor and a Salesian priest. They decided to volunteer for Africa where the late Fr John had been working. They have spent one year of preparation with the Korean province which has now set up an agreement of cooperation with the Delegation of Sudan, the receiving province.
The couples took the flight to Nairobi that evening, following the commissioning Mass. The destination was originally Tonj, but has now become Wau, after lengthy discussion with the local community which considered it better to wait Tonj's social situation has stabilised.
This is the first such formal commissioning of lay missionary volunteers from Korea to Sudan. There have been other short-term volunteers dispatched for particular activities, but all by a Foundation which is a spontaneous lay organisation that came into being to support the work of the late John in Tonj.
The Korean Province has given careful attention to various programs for the preparation of the new volunteers, especially through a close relationship with the Sudan Delegation. On 10 July, in the presence of family members, especially their adult children, they came the provincial house to sign their volunteer's contract.
The day of the formal commissioning was, incidentally, the day on which the President of the Republic of Korea, Mr. Lee Myung-bak, gave the Mugungwha Order in posthumous memory, to John Lee's mother, accompanied on a wheelchair by her elder son, a Capuchin priest. The Salesians were not directly involved in this event.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2011 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
