In Baltimore, Father Kim helped create America’s first official Korean parish

WOODLAWN – Father Joseph Kim began his Catholic faith journey in North Korea, just before the Korean War. 

Kim’s father, a former seminarian, took the toddler and the rest of his family to  South Korea, to avoid persecution of Catholics by the Communist regime in the North. 

That momentous move led to Father Kim being called to Baltimore – and helping create what he said was the first official Roman Catholic Korean parish in the United States, Holy Korean Martyrs.

Father Kim, 74, retired July 1 and celebrated his last Mass at Holy Korean Martyrs on the Fourth of July weekend, when he formally said goodbye to the congregation of about 400 families where he had been the only pastor. Parishioners said he rarely took a break from his duty as their shepherd. Father Kim, meanwhile, said he was called by God to tend to Korean Catholics in America.

Father Kim visited with the Catholic Review July 8, offering a blessing at both the beginning and conclusion of an interview. Sung Kim, a parishioner and friend of Father Kim, helped interpret.

Father Kim was ordained a priest in Taeku, South Korea, in July 1974. He served as a chaplain in the South Korean Army from 1978 to 1982. By then, much of his family, which included four brothers and six sisters, had come to the United States.

“My family had emigrated here,” Father Kim said. “They were living in California. After I finished my military service I wanted to visit them.”

While on the West Coast, Father Kim said he met many younger Koreans who felt underserved by the Catholic Church. Many would go to Mass, hindered by a language barrier.

“Their agonies, cultural differences and hard times living out the Catholic faith – he thought it was God’s call to serve,” Sung Kim translated. 

That call first manifested itself in four years serving the Korean congregations in  the Archdiocese of Boston. In 1988, Father Kim accepted an invitation to join the Archdiocese of Baltimore, where he would be incardinated.

In talking of his faith community’s accomplishments, Father Kim described an  “extraordinary” relationship with the archbishops of Baltimore, starting with Archbishop William D. Borders and continuing under Cardinal William H. Keeler and their successors.

Father Kim’s parish began at the former St. Bernard in the Waverly section of Baltimore, as a Korean National Parish in 1989. In 1997, the parish moved to the campus of the former St. Lawrence Parish, on Security Boulevard.

“He (Father Kim) received extraordinary support from the archbishop,” Sung Kim said. “He said that for the first time they made this parish as a national canonical parish for the Korean people. He’s proud of that.”

The future of the parish is promising, as Holy Korean Martyrs has raised $3.5 million out of $12 million needed to build a new church.

“In this community, raising $3.5 million was a significant achievement for future generations,” Father Kim said.

Father Kim also helped the parish spearhead the creation of Catholic Charities of Baltimore’s Holy Korean Martyrs senior community. Its complex includes 74 rent-assisted apartments.

“It’s open to everyone in the community,” Sung Kim explained. “(It) was based on observations that older members were getting aged.”

Father Kim also promotes vocations. Twice a year Holy Korean Martyrs sponsors a retreat in the former convent at St. Bernard, as well as a summer camp and other opportunities. That bore fruit, in a priest and a religious sister.

“Parish Day,” held on the third Sunday of September, commemorates the Feast Day of the Holy Korean Martyrs who gave the church its name, 104 Korean Catholics who were martyred for their faith in the 19th century and canonized in South Korea by St. John Paul II in 1984.

Those celebrating the retiring pastor’s ministry include Donsik Kim, who joined the parish 16 years ago. When he arrived in Baltimore and met Father Kim, the priest asked if needed food.

“Korean men don’t usually cook. It really made me feel very comfortable,” said Donsik Kim, who will miss Father Kim. “I really feel we are losing a traditional priest. As my friend, as our pastor, I really congratulate him, but I’m not really happy.”

Father Kim said that he’s tried to emulate St. Joseph in his devotion to service. He thanked the members of his parish and Archbishop William E. Lori for his support. Father Haechul Chung, the former associate pastor, became pastor July 1.

Father Kim plans to travel to California to visit family for a while, and do some fishing, but said he will be back.

“Baltimore is my home,” Father Kim said. 

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