September 20 2023 - St. Andrew Kim & Korean Martyrs - Satan's Opposition to Church Growth vs. Courageous Christian Witness

 

Today we celebrate the memorial of the Korean martyrs. The first Catholic missionary arrived in Korea at a time of great strife—during the Japanese invasion of Korea under Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1593. But missionary efforts were pretty minimal for about 200 years. And it wasn’t until the late 1700s that a native Korean named Yi Seung-hun studied Chinese translations of Catholic texts and sought out a Jesuit missionary in Beijing for baptism. He returned to Korea with a handful of fellow Catholics and really began to spread the faith. 

In 1801, 300 Catholics were martyred by the government of the Joseon Dynasty chiefly for the our faith’s opposition to ancestral "worship" which the State prescribed as a cornerstone of Korean culture. So our faith, really has it’s origins in Korea, in standing up to the idolatrous state religion. Yi Seung-hun was among those first martyrs.

St. Andrew Kim was from a Korean family who suffered under those persecutions. He became a deacon in 1844, and a year later was ordained as Korea’s first Catholic priest. He returned to Korea and traveled around Catholic communities teaching, mostly at night. He tried to get French missionaries into the country, but was arrested on June 5, 1846, and beheaded on September 16 at the age of 25.

The first Catholic priest of a people, martyred. 

Satan’s opposition to the Catholic Church’s taking root in Korea has been mighty. But the witness, and the courage of the Korean Catholics sustained by the grace of God has been mightier. The number of Catholics in the past 20 years in South Korea has increased by 48.6 percent, and today 11.1% of South Koreans are Catholic. The North Korean Government opposes the growth of Christianity with terrible ferocity. But compare the growth of the Church in South Korea to what is going on here in the United States. Sunday Mass attendance has declined that much in the last 20 years. Nuptial masses has decreased by over 40 percent in 20 years. . 

Today we celebrate not just two, but the hundreds of Korean martyrs who died witnessing to the truth of Jesus Christ. No doubt, they have something to teach us in standing up against Satan in this land, may we allow ourselves to be inspired by their courageous witness and imitate them in their fervor for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.