Korean Church moves from receiving to sharing aid

The Catholic Church in South Korea, once largely dependent on aid from foreign churches for relief, rehabilitation and development projects, is now on a mission to provide vital assistance to countries and churches around the world, Church officials say.

Feb 03, 2023

SEOUL: The Catholic Church in South Korea, once largely dependent on aid from foreign churches for relief, rehabilitation and development projects, is now on a mission to provide vital assistance to countries and churches around the world, Church officials say.

The Korean Church had been a ‘receiving Church’ until the mid- 1980s, but it has slowly become a ‘sharing Church’ since 1992, said Bishop John Baptist Jung Shinchul of Incheon, president of Catholic charity, Caritas Korea.

In the 1950s, when Korea was a war-ravaged country, it needed aid for damage restoration, self-help development, and rural development projects that continued until the 1980s, the prelate said.

Bishop Jung made the comments as Caritas Korea International, the overseas aid agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CBCK), carried out a fundraiser campaign on Overseas Aid Sunday recently.

“The scale of overseas aid by the Korean Church has increased. The bishops’ conference aims to strengthen professionalism, publicity, and transparency in overseas aid,” the prelate said.

Bishop Jung says that apart from emergency relief, rehabilitation, and development projects, the Korean Church supports dioceses, parishes, religious societies, and church-run organisations in various parts of the world.

This year, Caritas Korea plans to increase aid to emergency relief and long-term livelihood support projects in countries suffering from the climate crisis and conflict.

In his message on Overseas Aid Sunday, Bishop Jung said: “If we act together now, we can present a better tomorrow to our brothers and sisters.”

“Let’s act together,” he appealed.

Fr Paul Choo Seong-hun, secretary general of Caritas Korea pointed out that the Korean Church is on a mission to help those across the world “who cannot stand up on their own due to war, historical and geographical circumstances, etc.”

Thus, the Church has been supporting refugees in Ukraine and development cooperation in the Palestinian region as major priority projects.

Fr Choo said he attended a Caritas Internationalis meeting in Warsaw, Poland to discuss emergency relief for war victims of Ukraine in June last year. Representatives from other countries welcomed the Korean Church’s aid assistance by saying, “An Asian country that had received help in the past is now helping.” -- ucanews.com