By Paschal Norbert
DONGDUCHEON, SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 (CISA) – The Dongducheon Migrants Catholic Community (DICC) domiciled in Dongducheon City, South Korea, and in the Catholic Diocese of Uijeongbu is an apostolate of the Dongducheon Parish that ministers and helps immigrants from around the world integrate with the local community as one family under God.
According to the 2022 Human Rights Awareness Survey Research Report published by the National Human Rights Commission of South Korea, immigrants accounted for 15.4% and refugees accounted for 10.9% of the targets of hate speech. Although there is awareness that the human rights of immigrants must be respected in South Korea, the reality gap is not easily narrowed.
Due to the numerous challenges that immigrants face in South Korea, Dongducheon parish felt the need for pastoral care for immigrants as many were moving to settle in the city because of its regional characteristics as a US military base in the country, thus, viewed as a safe place to live.
It is here that Fr Clement K. Gachoka IMC, a Consolata Missionary from Kenya and director of DICC together with Fr Lee Jong-won, pastor of the parish, Park Seong-han, pastoral president, and DICC Nigeria representative Ezenma John Amech are helping immigrants from around the world find their footing in uniting them in the spirit of fraternity, solidarity and spirituality at the parish.
“We are trying to support the lives of these people with a long-term direction and flow while providing as much help as we can at the parish level,” says Fr Lee, adding “We are moving forward together within the direction we have been pursuing with DICC for over 10 years.”
DICC activities began in 2012 at the parish when Fr Tamrat Defar IMC, celebrated Mass for foreigners at the parish with the approval of the local ordinary. To date, many immigrants from various countries are active in DICC, including Africans such as Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda, as well as the Philippines, India, Timor-Leste, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Japan, Cuba, and Ecuador. About 100 immigrants consistently participate in DICC Sunday Mass.
Fr Clement says “My dream is to create a community where immigrants and indigenous people help each other with their needs and live together, and it is already coming true. Even if there are communication problems and cultural differences, parish priests and believers treat immigrants without discrimination. This is possible because we work together.”
The parish community approaches immigrants with a non-discriminatory perspective and embraces them. The ‘three pillars of welcoming immigrants’. The support from the diocese, the efforts of parish pastors, and the response of parishioners – are all aligned. This has enabled immigrants to be established as members of the family at Dongducheon Parish.
According to Fr Lee, “It is important to not only see immigrants as objects of charity but to accept them as they are.”
He maintains, “We will continue to play the role of the parish in the local community as we do now without being swayed by the social atmosphere. When I look at the situation of the ever-increasing number of immigrants and the decreasing number of indigenous people, I think about the case where the Korean Mass becomes a special mass. This is an issue that not only the church but the entire Korean society must consider together.”
Ezenma John Amech, a father of three and an immigrant from Nigeria who came to South Korea in 2008 notes that despite the challenges that immigrants face such as high labour intensity, delayed wages, discrimination and language barriers among others, the DICC creates a home away from home.
“Thanks to DICC and parishioners, I was able to survive in an unfamiliar land for a long time,” he avows.
Park Seong-Han, a member of the pastoral team believes South Koreans and immigrants can coexist harmoniously under one roof in faith, noting that “Although cultures, languages, and skin colours are different, if we all have the awareness that we are children of the same God, we will accept each other as brothers and sisters.”
“If we think about the older generations who experienced hardships in unfamiliar lands such as Germany, the United States, and the Middle East during difficult times for our country in the past, we can never treat the immigrants before us carelessly,” he counsels.
As the world celebrated the World Day of Migrants and Refugees last Sunday, September 24, the DICC was also not left behind. The community congregated at the Hanmaum Youth Center to mark the auspicious day with an annual festival christened the ‘2023 EXODUS Migrant Festival’.
South Korea (1988), is the first mission of the Consolata Missionaries in Asia, together with Mongolia (2003) and Taiwan (2014), the three countries make up the Region of Asia (RAS).
(This report has been translated and edited from a feature story that was first written in the Korean-language Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation (CPBC) on September 20, 2023)
