ASIA/SOUTH KOREA - Archdiocese of Seoul will have 1,000 priests in the future: Overall, there is a decline in vocations

Seoul (Agenzia Fides) - With the ordination of 26 deacons, which will take place on February 7 in the Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul, the number of priests in the Archdiocese of Seoul will increase from the current 974 to exactly one thousand priests, a number that also includes religious orders. The celebration will have the theme taken from the Holy Scriptures: "Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:5). The ordination rite will be led by Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick and will include 25 deacons from the archdiocese and one from the "Redemptoris Mater" Seminary.
Among the new priests is also the second deaf priest in the Korean Catholic Church: 18 years after Father Park Min-seo, Deacon Kim Dong-jun will work specifically in the ministry of the deaf. Among the curiosities, according to the press office of the Archdiocese of Seoul, there are also two new priests who come from the same family as two other priests: Deacons Ryu Ho-jun and Kim Yong-woo are the younger brothers of Father Ryu Ho-young and Father Kim Yong-ju, ordinary presbyters in 2023. Although the number of priests in Seoul has reached the 1,000 mark, the Korean Catholic Church continues to worry about the general decline in vocations to the priesthood, a phenomenon that is multidimensional and has a series of causes. According to the Dicastery for Evangelization, in 2013 there were a total of 1,264 candidates for the priesthood in the various dioceses of the Korean Church. Ten years later, in 2023, there were 790 seminarians, a decrease of about 40 percent in a decade. Looking at the number of baptized Catholics, the official statistics of the Korean Bishops' Conference (for 2023) show that baptized children aged 0-4 years represent 1.8% of the Korean population; in the 5-9 age group, it is 3.9%, and in the 10-14 age group, it is 5.8% of the total Korean population. Comparing these figures with the general figure, which says that Catholics in Korea represent 11.5% of the total population, it is clear that the number of Catholics is decreasing over the generations. This is also where the phenomenon of general demographic decline comes into play, as the birth rate in South Korea is among the lowest in the world (in 2023, it is 0.72). Meanwhile, Korean society is competitive, performance-oriented and consumer-oriented, so that young people seem to have less and less time for the inner search and the transcendent dimension. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 23/1/2025)

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