Martyrs 20th September

You may be amazed to discover that by 2015 the Catholic Church in South Korea had 5,560,971 members (10.6% of the population) with 4,901 priests and 1,668 parishes.

A Portuguese Jesuit was possibly the first Catholic missionary in Korea, arriving in 1593. However, Catholicism in Korea really began in 1784 when a layman Yi Seung-hun was baptized in China. He returned to Korea with religious texts, and baptized many fellow countrymen. Interestingly the Church continued without formal missionary priests until clergy from France arrived in 1836. During the 19th century, the Church was targeted by the government chiefly for its opposition to ancestor worship, important to Korean culture. Despite a century-long persecution that produced thousands of martyrs – 103 were canonized by Pope St John Paul in 1984, including the first Korean priest, St Andrew Kim, ordained in 1845 and martyred in 1846 – the Church in Korea expanded.

Current surveys show that more than 45% of South Koreans practice no religion, that about 22% are Buddhists, and that 28% are Christians with just under 11% being Catholics and 18% being Protestants, meaning that Christianity is the largest religion. The Catholic Church in South Korea has seen prodigious growth in recent years, increasing its membership by 70%. In 2014 alone, the Church grew by 2.2% as over 98,000 Koreans became Catholic. There has also been an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Part of this growth can be attributed to the Church’s positive perception by the pubic because of its role in the democratization of South Korea, its participation in works of social welfare, and its respectful approach to interfaith relationship and matters of traditional Korean spirituality.