Contact: Mike Virgintino, Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, 914-941-7636 ext. 2219

MARYKNOLL, N.Y., June 3, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Father Dae Kim (photo) remembers that he was called to the priesthood at, of all the places, a bowling alley in Queens, New York. That is where he definitely decided to join the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers. Arriving in New York City with his parents when he was 10 years old, Father Kim considered the experience of leaving behind his native Korean culture and adjusting to a foreign country as the groundwork for a mission vocation that has led him to Maryknoll.

Ordained on June 1 at the Maryknoll Society Mission Center in Ossining, New York, Father Kim, who is 38, soon will depart for mission in Latin America. The Mass and ordination ceremony at Maryknoll's Queen of Apostles Chapel was celebrated by His Eminence Archbishop Andrew Yeom Soo-jung from Seoul, South Korea and it included more than 50 concelebrants from the Maryknoll Society and other religious groups.

Blessed by Pope Pius X on June 29, 1911, the 102-year Maryknoll Society follows Jesus in serving the poor and others in need in 27 countries that include the U.S. As the foreign mission society of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, Maryknoll shares God's love and the Gospel in combating poverty, providing healthcare, building communities and promoting human rights. All Catholics are called to mission through baptism and confirmation, and Maryknoll's mission education outreach in parishes and schools throughout the country engages U.S. Catholics in mission through vocations, prayer, donations and as volunteers.

Called To Priesthood And Maryknoll

Father Kim was born in Busan, South Korea, as the only child of Kwan Mo Kim and Sang Soon Pak. Though his parents had been baptized into the church, religion was not a component of the family's structure when Father Kim was a child. But, as they started their new life in America, the family became reacquainted with the church. In seeking a solution to their teenage son's rebellious period, the parents insisted that their son attend Mass at least for Christmas and Easter.

Father Kim was an above-average student with a passion for science and math at New York City's prestigious Stuyvesant High School. He then studied chemical engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology and New York University. His so-called personal "epiphany" occurred during his final year of school.

Fearing that he might fail an important project that would jeopardize graduation, then-student Kim visited the university chapel to sit, think and pray.

"At the time, I was feeling empty and lost," said Father Kim, who found peace as he continued to visit the chapel and deepen his faith.

He passed the class, graduated and decided it was time that he was baptized into the Catholic Church. After graduation, Kim landed a good-paying job in the corporate world, but again he felt lost since "all I wanted was to make money and enjoy the privileges of rich people."

During 2002, Dae Kim put his newfound faith into service by volunteering as a teacher's assistant at the St. Paul Chong Ha-Sang Korean Catholic Church in Flushing, New York. A Maryknoll priest, Father Joseph Veneroso, who is a teacher at the church's Sunday school program and helped prepare the new priest for his baptism and confirmation, extended an invitation to a Maryknoll Vocation Discernment retreat during Holy Week.

A couple of years later, during a night out for students and teachers at a local bowling alley, Dae Kim approached Father Veneroso between games and announced that he was ready to apply to Maryknoll. A mission exposure retreat in Guatemala preceded the seminary program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

"That's when my vocation really started developing," said Father Kim.

For his overseas training, Father Kim spent two-and-a-half years in Cochabamba, Bolivia, at the Maryknoll Mission Center that provides mission formation for people from around the world. Father Kim said this challenged and developed his love for serving the people of God through mission. He worked in a Jesuit apostolate to teach Bolivian young people about computers and use of the Internet.

"My job was to aid them and guide them to never let their human spirit be squashed by their poverty and difficulties," explained Father Kim. "Poverty takes away hope and the will to do better."

The Bolivians also had lessons for the future priest as they would linger after class to talk about matters of life and faith. Encouraged to share their hardships, the young men opened up with an honesty and vulnerability uncharacteristic of men raised in a culture of machismo. This led Father Kim to share his own feelings of loneliness as a missioner and an outsider.

"As an introvert, I am not comfortable sharing such intimate details about my life," he admitted. "But, I was so moved by everyone's honesty I couldn't help but feel empathetic to what they are going through."

Father Kim also developed an appreciation for the way people express their faith through fiestas, often blending Catholic and native customs that include combining devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary with those honoring the Pachamama, or Earth Mother. Often criticized by more traditional Catholics, these expressions of faith challenged Father Kim to learn always to reserve judgment and allow him to be open to the ways people express their relationship to God. As a new missioner in the modern world, he believes such practices ultimately enrich the universal church.

"I have been called to go out and invite all people to eat at the great banquet of our God, especially the most vulnerable – the poor, the oppressed and voiceless," said Father Kim. "My ordination is my radical response to living out our baptismal call to mission. Being a missioner is to continue the prophetic mission of Jesus."

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