A personal touch

First Korean "personal," or ethnic, parish in archdiocese is in E. Oak Lane.

By Kristin E. Holmes

Inquirer Staff Writer

Leaders of the first Korean American parish in Philadelphia's history say they don't expect their official recognition by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to make much difference in the daily operation of their thriving congregation.

The Korean Roman Catholics now based at Holy Angels Church have been a growing community for more than 30 years. There is a Sunday school, a Korean cultural school, and weekend attendance that approaches 1,000 people.

But it is the emotional impact of their new status that many in the East Oak Lane congregation relish.

"It's like renting the space without paying money and somebody says you can have the house," said Bernard Suh, vice president of the parish council. "It's a recognition that you've taken good care of it."

It is not lost on the congregants, however, that they are bringing something valuable to the Roman Catholic community's table. At a time when the church is dealing with the repercussions of the child-abuse scandal, with disagreement on issues including women's ordination, and with shifting demographics that force some churches to close, a thriving Catholic community in the city is a valuable entity.

Holy Angels Roman Catholic Church will become an official personal parish - these were formerly called "ethnic" parishes - on July 1. It joins the ranks of the archdiocese's 33 other personal parishes, which include predominantly Italian, Polish and Slovak congregations. Personal parishes are intended for people from ethnic backgrounds, while attendance in most parishes is determined geographically.

The congregation is the first official personal parish to be named in the region since 1932, said Robert Miller, director of the archdiocese's Office for Research and Planning. In the interim, the predominantly Mexican parish of La Misión Santa María, Madre de Dios, in Avondale, was established in 1992, but that congregation is not technically a full-fledged parish, Miller said.

Koreans make up 2,629 of the archdiocese's 17,392 registered Asian Catholics. Between 2001 and 2004, the number of registered Korean Catholics in the region increased by five percent.

In the Diocese of Camden, two new Korean missions were started in 2001 in response to the growing number of Korean Americans. St. Andrew Kim is in Absecon and St. Yi Yun Il John is in Cherry Hill.

The group is one of the fastest growing Roman Catholic communities, with at least 40 personal parishes nationwide, said Cecile Motus, interim director of the the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees.

"The church functions as both a religious and social organization, while becoming a middle ground between Korea and America," Motus said.

The 500-family Korean community at Holy Angels began in the early 1970s as a gathering of a few students and families at the University of Pennsylvania. As the numbers grew, the archdiocese arranged for the group to meet at Holy Angels, using its facilities for Masses in Korean and providing clergy from the Archdiocese of Seoul.

"We came here for a better living," said Kyu S. Yi, a veterinarian from Glenside and a founding member of the community. "We needed our own [language] to understand and stay close to God."

By the mid-'80s, the neighborhood was changing and the Korean Catholic community at the church outnumbered longtime parishioners. The group at Holy Angels grew so much that its members have since splintered off and helped establish other Korean Roman Catholic congregations in Wilmington and Cherry Hill and at Holy Cross Church in Springfield, Delaware County, Suh said. The community at Holy Cross has 230 families and four services a week.

The community also is contributing to church leadership. On May 20, the Rev. Ik-Joon Choi became the first Korean priest to be ordained in the archdiocese. He grew up at Holy Angels parish and is one of four Korean priests in the archdiocese, who also include the Rev. Sung Kook Lee, of Holy Angels. In September, Holy Angels parishioner Abraham Kim, 19, of Jenkintown, enters St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood.

Holy Angels becomes a personal parish at a time when the numbers of such parishes are decreasing, said Charles Zech, director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at the Villanova University. In 1990, there were 47 personal parishes in the archdiocese. Currently, there are 33. Older immigrant groups have assimilated into society and there is less need for them, Zech explained.

The model of a personal parish that caters to the language, social and cultural needs of a specific group is most effective in areas where there is a highly concentrated Roman Catholic population, Miller said. In those neighborhoods, there are enough Catholics to justify having several different parishes caring for the different needs of different groups.

"That's not the way it is today," Miller said.

Holy Angels' parishioners travel primarily from their homes in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties. There are three Masses during the weekend and parishioners are divided geographically into 16 small groups that meet monthly for Bible study, prayer and outreach to new immigrants. There are classes in tae kwan do, calligraphy, and traditional dance.

And not everybody is Korean.

Sylvia Bender, Llewellyn Wentz and Carmen Jimenez have spent a combined 105 years at Holy Angels, and they don't plan on leaving. The three East Oak Lane women say they will stay even though geographic boundaries have been reassigned so that non-Korean parishioners can go to nearby parishes.

"We like our neighbors and we like our church," Wentz said, "and the Mass is the same."

"Of course it would be nice to understand the homily," said Bender, who follows the missal in English during Mass. But Bender says they are picking up phrases, and a parishioner has given them a translated guide to the Mass with Korean that is written phonetically.

Holy Angels gave graduate student Angela Kang a connection to her Korean heritage while she was growing up in predominantly white Blue Bell. Aside from her family, the church was her only connection to that heritage.

"There are lots of Protestant Korean churches, but you can't really find a Korean Catholic Church," Kang said. "We have a lot to offer, and I think we can serve as a model, and not just for Koreans, but for all that have a religious and cultural affiliation."