austraLasia #3355
SEOUL: 24 January 2013 -- It is a busy and joyful time for KOR Province today: 3 ordinations to diaconate, 4 ordinations to priesthood (more about these tomorrow) and the official announcement of the new Provincial to take office immediately following GC27.
And in another part of the Region, Fr Peter Baquero is officially installed as the Delegate for the PNG/SI Delegation, taking over from Fr Raffy Galve who has begun a long-awaited and well-deserved sabbatical.
The new Provincial for KOR is Fr Stephen Yang Seungkuk, currently Vice Provincial and Delegate for GC27.
Stephen Yang was born in 1959, of a Christian family, the first of three sons of Joseph Yang and Lucia Cho.
Although originally from Seoul, during his childhood the family moved to Daegu, a metropolitan city in the south. He graduated from a technical high school in design art, and was then employed by Samsung Heavy Industries in the ship design section for six years, during which he was a leader in the Christian community among the employees since there was no chaplain. His special zeal for Legion of Mary activity eventually led him to respond to God's call by becoming a Salesian.
His confreres describe Fr Stephen as a model of a humble and poor life style in community, as well as being a good listener. He is also a well-known writer in the spirituality field. ‘The Master of Blessing’, the latest of his seven books, published by the Caritas Sister’s bookshop, has seen success in the market, selling more than 20,000 copies. He contributes daily to the Salesian website(www.ibosco.net) with meditations on the Gospel of the day. Not only religious and people in ministry but also many lay people follow these reflections as an aid to their journey of faith.
Fr Yang made his first profession at Kwangju in 1987 on this day, the Feast of St Francis de Sales. He was ordained priest in Seoul in 1994, 24th June. He holds a licence in Spirituality from the UPS in Rome (2000) and a BA from the Catholic University in Seoul. Besides his written publications and the web contributions, he has also contributed spiritual reflections for TV and Radio in Seoul.
Immediately after his ordination, Fr Yang worked in Kwangju, in charge of the Family Home there for young people at risk, and worked also with the aspirants. He then moved to Seoul, to Shin Weol Dong where he took up similar work for the Family Home there. On return from Rome he has held various positions of responsibility as Rector, Novice Master (2005-2011), Provincial Councillor, and became Vice Provincial in 2010. He has been on the Provincial Commission for Ongoing Formation since 2004.
Currently Fr Yang is Rector of the Provincial House in Seoul. His installation as Provincial will take place on 26th April 2014.
Korea Province has 117 members, 13 communities with new communities planned. It covers a wide range of apostolic work, all the tradiitonal Salesian works. One prominent aspect of this work is the focus on young people at risk, with a number of centres dedicated fully to this. There are five Korean confreres who are missionaries 'ad gentes': 2 in Cambodia and one in each of Malawi, Mongolia, PNG.
SEOUL: 24 January 2013 -- It is a busy and joyful time for KOR Province today: 3 ordinations to diaconate, 4 ordinations to priesthood (more about these tomorrow) and the official announcement of the new Provincial to take office immediately following GC27.
And in another part of the Region, Fr Peter Baquero is officially installed as the Delegate for the PNG/SI Delegation, taking over from Fr Raffy Galve who has begun a long-awaited and well-deserved sabbatical.
The new Provincial for KOR is Fr Stephen Yang Seungkuk, currently Vice Provincial and Delegate for GC27.
Stephen Yang was born in 1959, of a Christian family, the first of three sons of Joseph Yang and Lucia Cho.
Although originally from Seoul, during his childhood the family moved to Daegu, a metropolitan city in the south. He graduated from a technical high school in design art, and was then employed by Samsung Heavy Industries in the ship design section for six years, during which he was a leader in the Christian community among the employees since there was no chaplain. His special zeal for Legion of Mary activity eventually led him to respond to God's call by becoming a Salesian.
His confreres describe Fr Stephen as a model of a humble and poor life style in community, as well as being a good listener. He is also a well-known writer in the spirituality field. ‘The Master of Blessing’, the latest of his seven books, published by the Caritas Sister’s bookshop, has seen success in the market, selling more than 20,000 copies. He contributes daily to the Salesian website(www.ibosco.net) with meditations on the Gospel of the day. Not only religious and people in ministry but also many lay people follow these reflections as an aid to their journey of faith.
Fr Yang made his first profession at Kwangju in 1987 on this day, the Feast of St Francis de Sales. He was ordained priest in Seoul in 1994, 24th June. He holds a licence in Spirituality from the UPS in Rome (2000) and a BA from the Catholic University in Seoul. Besides his written publications and the web contributions, he has also contributed spiritual reflections for TV and Radio in Seoul.
Immediately after his ordination, Fr Yang worked in Kwangju, in charge of the Family Home there for young people at risk, and worked also with the aspirants. He then moved to Seoul, to Shin Weol Dong where he took up similar work for the Family Home there. On return from Rome he has held various positions of responsibility as Rector, Novice Master (2005-2011), Provincial Councillor, and became Vice Provincial in 2010. He has been on the Provincial Commission for Ongoing Formation since 2004.
Currently Fr Yang is Rector of the Provincial House in Seoul. His installation as Provincial will take place on 26th April 2014.
Korea Province has 117 members, 13 communities with new communities planned. It covers a wide range of apostolic work, all the tradiitonal Salesian works. One prominent aspect of this work is the focus on young people at risk, with a number of centres dedicated fully to this. There are five Korean confreres who are missionaries 'ad gentes': 2 in Cambodia and one in each of Malawi, Mongolia, PNG.
