By Anthony Barich
FATHER Joseph Lee’s grandmother died never finding out what happened to her son who was kidnapped by North Korean soldiers.
Today, the Myaree parish priest helps elderly Korean Catholics of her generation deal with their own loneliness as chaplain to Perth’s Korean Catholic community.
Fr Joseph, 52, has been Myaree parish priest for a year since Fr Larry Reitmeyer retired home to the United States.
Fr Joseph’s ministry is a unique one. His Korean community gathers from all around Perth, from as far as Mandurah, to gather for weekly Mass at Pater Noster Church.
For the Korean Catholic community, it is a place to maintain that vital connection with their culture which, back home, involved a thriving Catholic community.
When they come to Australia, a decidedly more laid-back place in terms of religious fervour, it is a culture shock.
As their chaplain, Fr Joseph helps them with this by providing regular fraternity, especially for elderly Catholics who have few or no family left.
Looking after family is nothing new for Fr Joseph. As the eldest son of five children, he looked after his parents – an obligation in Korean culture.
To respond to a call to the priesthood, then, was for Fr Joseph to overcome this situation and serve in a different way.
When he finished compulsory military service in South Korea, a Discalced Carmelite nun from the local monastery he had been in contact with as a
youth invited him to help in their community.
Seeing his dutiful response to service, they asked him to enter the local seminary.
At about that time, however, he’d seen a movie of the life of St Vincent de Paul, and was impressed by the French saint’s story of helping the poor.
So he went to the Philippines to the Vincentian Congregation of the Mission and studied four years of Philosophy at St Vincent Seminary in a town near Manila.
The Order’s poor living conditions, however, led him to return to Korea where he supported the family business importing manual labour from Vietnam to supply local companies.
Once his health was restored, a Carmelite nun invited him to Australia, and the rest is history. Archbishop Barry Hickey ordained him in 2005.
Just as he helps others maintain their cultural heritage, so too does Fr Joseph keep in contact with his family. He’s heading home after Christmas briefly for his father’s 80th birthday.
His ministry is summed up by the Scripture quote on the panel in traditional Korean lettering crafted by a friend of his mother back in Korea, from Jeremiah 3:15 – “Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart.”
His family history, involving the tragic circumstances surrounding his uncle’s disappearance, makes him familiar with the sense of loss or isolation felt by some of the elderly members of his community.
His uncle was a banker, on his way home from work, when North Korean soldiers grabbed him suddenly.
His last recorded words the family have to treasure is a note he managed to pass onto his mother, saying simply: “Mum, I’m going to North.”
Being chaplain to the Korean community is pastorally different from the duties of a parish priest, Fr Joseph said.
“As a parish priest it’s different, as some elderly Koreans feel lonely – they’re sad to have left their family in Korea,” he said.
“They came here as migrants, and don’t have as many family here.
“They share that loneliness with myself and others in the community, and we support each other in times of trouble.
“As a priest, I encourage them and share their journey.”
They embrace their culture, and he says they are “very active in singing in the choir”, as they sing their own unique Korean hymns.
Most Koreans love to seek God, to find the Truth in their lifetime.”
The Korean Catholic community facilitates this process beautifully.