PORT MOODY—A mission
that serves Korean Catholics in the Tri-cities area is about to gain a whole
new independence as it becomes a parish.
St. Agnes Kim, a mission of St. Andrew Kim Parish in Surrey, will officially become a quasi-parish Sept. 20.
“I thank the Archbishop that he made our community a quasi-parish,” said Father Joseph Tae Woo Lee, the parish’s first pastor. “Everybody is happy.”
In a canonical decree, Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, wrote that the number of Korean immigrants going to Mass is only increasing and it’s time to create more stability for them in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, and Port Moody, “in order to provide for the good of souls.”
It’s not the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s first quasi-parish. Holy Family Parish in Vancouver started out as a quasi-parish for Catholics interested in the traditional Latin Mass in 2001 and became a parish in 2008.
According to chancellor Father Joseph Le, St. Andrew Kim Parish launched the St. Agnes Kim Mission for Koreans in the Tri-cities who didn’t want to cross a toll bridge to celebrate Mass in their language.
It’s important: the faith of the people, the emotion of the people, and everything that connected them to the old country.
“It’s important: the faith of the people, the emotion of the people, and everything that connected them to the old country,” said Father Le.
“The duty of the church is to help them to do that.” So when more than 400 people signed a petition to give St. Agnes Kim quasi-parish status, the archbishop listened.
A quasi-parish
functions much like a regular parish: it has its own pastor and members, its
own autonomy, and can support itself financially. What it doesn’t have is its
own dedicated facilities, including a church, rectory, and hall.
St. Agnes Kim Mission, named after a 24-year-old virgin-martyr canonized in 1984, currently shares facilities with St. Joseph’s Parish in Port Moody.
Father Lee said with six weekly Masses in Korean and a small parking lot, it’s already feeling too tight. But that’s good news: Father Lee hopes his flock will continue to grow and that one day St. Agnes Kim can become a full-fledged parish.
“I hope the Catholics come home, and the new RCIA numbers – I hope they keep growing.”
If St. Agnes Kim is as vibrant as its parent church in Surrey, it just might. St. Andrew Kim brings in an average of 100 converts a year, more than any parish in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.
St. Andrew Kim has two other parish missions: St. Paul Chong located at St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Vancouver, and St. Peter Yu at St. Pius X Parish in North Vancouver.
