Life of Catholic Priests

As of late 2007, there were about 4,100 Catholic priests in Korea, including about 190 non-Korean priests. Catholic priests are normally ordained at about age 30, after 10 years of training.

○ Ten years of training

The Korean Catholic Church trains future priests in seven seminaries in the Archdioceses of Seoul, Daegu and Gwangju, and the Dioceses of Suwon, Incheon, Daejeon and Busan.

At the seminary of the Archdiocese of Seoul, students are trained for seven years, including undergraduate, graduate and priest school programs, studying, praying and practicing spiritual living.

During school terms, entire seminary students live together in dormitories. They are trained in terms of spirituality, personality and learning, through collective prayers, masses, rituals and study. During vacations, they prepare themselves to become priests by assisting rituals at churches they belong to and participating in gatherings of church members, doctrinal classes and youth summer camps.

All of the seminary students at the Archdiocese of Seoul join the military after completing their second year at seminary. After completing the military service, they do volunteer work at domestic welfare facilities and churches in other Asian nations for 10 months.

In the fourth year at seminary, students are assigned to read the Bible in rituals wearing dresses of clerics. In the fifth year, they are allowed to assist priests in rituals. After competing five years at seminary, they spend a month on retreat to contemplate their mission.

After finishing the first semester of the sixth year, they are ordained as deacon, and after completing the seventh year, they are ordained as priest.

○ Ordination

They undergo 10 years of training: seven years in seminary, and three years in military and social service. Entering the seminary at the age of 20, they are ordained at the age of 30, after the 10-year training in which they constantly recall the God’s calling.

An ordination ceremony is an event of promise where new priests will “forgo everything they have for the God’s calling and promise to spend their remaining lives in preaching the Gospel.” As a representative Catholic event, ordinations are conducted in a solemn and holy atmosphere. The Archdiocese of Seoul held an ordination ceremony in Seoul on June 27, producing 19 young priests.

A notable scene in the ceremony is the new priests’ prostration, in which they promise to lower themselves to worship and serve the God.

○ Life of priests

After ordination, most of them are assigned to churches in the diocese they belong to as a priest. The priest in charge of a church does not have a fixed schedule. They practice their priesthood depending on the situation of their churches.

The most important duty of the priest in charge is to hold a mass. They preside over four or five masses on Sundays and two masses, in the early morning and in the evening, on weekdays except for Monday. Hong Chang-jin, priest in charge of Jeomdong Catholic Church in Yeoju, in the diocese of Suwon, said, “Among all of the masses, preach at weekend masses is the most important. All priests feel burdened by the preach session and prepare for it very hard.”

Other than the masses, they visit district masses or community service groups and gatherings of church members. They also should discuss how to run the church along with the church committee. Furthermore, they should pay visits to patients and church members’ homes and talk with church members. Priests say that they have a very busy life, unlike expectations from people outside church.

Their holiday is Monday. Most priests take a rest and enjoy free time.

Their lives are quite free from restriction. However, they are banned from activities related to political interest, including running for office. If they want to participate in public committees as the Catholic community’s representative or be engaged in activities for social welfare or human rights protection, they should gain permission from the chief of their respective diocese.