Father Philip Chung-jin Kim celebrates first Mass

Father Kim with "number one grandson," Evan Shaffer, prior to ordination at St. Pius X Church.
Photo by Carol Sowa

    SAN ANTONIO • The archdiocese’s newest priest, Father Philip Chung-jin Kim, celebrated his first Mass on June 6 at the Korean Martyrs Church in Leon Springs. Friends and family of Father Kim crossed continents and oceans to celebrate the joyous occasion with parishioners of the Korean community church Father Kim had helped found in 1982. Sacred music for the occasion, sung in the Korean language, was provided by the Korean Martyrs Church Choir, attired in traditional Korean dress, as well as a trio of young violinists.
    Concelebrants included Msgr. Lawrence Stuebben, VG; Msgr. George Stuebben; Msgr. Joseph Petsch; Father David Kim (Pusan Diocese, Korea); Father Sung Chung (Seoul Diocese, Korea); Father Augustine Kim (pastor, Korean Martyrs Church); Father Leonard Stegman; Father Lucas Lee (pastor St. Ignatius Kim Catholic Mission, Orlando, Fla.); Father Thomas Kavanaugh (parochial vicar, St. Matthew) and Deacon Michael Peinemann.
    Father David Kim, pastor at Korean Martyrs Church when Father Philip Kim (then a permanent deacon) entered the seminary, flew in from Korea to participate in his former parishioner’s ordination. Addressing the congregation in his native Korean tongue, Father David Kim noted there had been quite a stir in the Diocese of Pusan when it was learned the reason for his trip was to see his 72-year old “son” ordained.

    A seminarian’s pastor is regarded as his “spiritual father” and, despite the distance and his “spiritual son” being twice his age, Father David Kim was determined to do right by him. In fact, he followed the tradition of a pastor presenting a new black suit and priest’s collar to his seminarian “son.”
    Msgr. Lawrence Stuebben spoke as representative of Archbishop Patrick F. Flores, who had presided at Father Kim’s ordination the previous day. He brought with him a blessing from the Archbishop to all present and to Father Kim, noting, “He was very proud that yesterday may have been his last ordination of a priest as archbishop of San Antonio.”
    Msgr. Stuebben thanked Father Kim for offering this, his first Mass, for Msgr. Stuebben’s mother, Clara Stuebben, who passed away in March, as well as for the Korean Martyrs parish community. Msgr. Stuebben noted Father Kim had said “yes to God in good times and in bad, in joy and, at times, in tears.” Addressing Father Kim, he added, “For whatever time God gives you, my brother, be the best priest that you can be with God’s grace. Our world, the Church, needs that.”

    Following the Mass, a brief celebration took place in the church, with Father Kim and his fellow priests processing back up the aisle to the altar to the music of “Pomp and Circumstance,” marking his “graduation” to the priesthood. Here he was presented with baskets of flower and other gifts, including a chalice and spiritual bouquet from the parishioners of Korean Martyrs Church. They had earlier given him the vestments he wore at his ordination.
    The vestments worn at his first Mass were a gift of the Meskill family (present that day), who had befriended him when he first came to San Antonio from Korea. Dick Meskill, former Korean War correspondent, was responsible for Father Kim’s exposure to Catholicism and coming to the United States.

    Father Leonard Stegman, a driving force in the founding of the parish, was then called to the lectern. A war-time military chaplain in Korea, he recalled the horrors of that war, horrors which Father Kim had personally experienced as a young man. In 1950, surrounded by the North Korean enemy and on the run, Father Stegman’s combat unit passed through the village of Majonni, where the 200 Catholic inhabitants had been without a priest for years. Seeing his priest’s stole, the villagers kissed it and hurried him to their chief. Father Stegman said Mass and distributed Communion before the American troops fought their way out of the area.
    “The next day the Communists came in and killed everybody in the village,” related Father Stegman. “They were martyrs.” Seeing the Korean sign outside the Korean Martyrs Church reminded Father Stegman of those days. “I thought of the beautiful people that you are,” he said, “trying to live and preserve and extend that beautiful faith that so many of your Korean martyrs won for you.” He referred to Father Kim as “the rock” who had held his parish community together through good times and bad.
    Father Kim then thanked those present for their part in bringing him to where he was today. He noted that his newly assigned parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, reminded him of his present church, with its countryside setting, but was much larger, so he would have his work cut out for him. “With your blessing, with your help, with your prayers,” he said, “I think I’ll do okay.”
The celebration then moved to the parish hall, where a meal of traditional Korean foods had been prepared by the parish’s Holy Mother Society and congratulatory speeches were presented by friends, co-workers and family members of Father Kim, marking his new role as priest.