By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Father Young Kun Kim, chaplain of the Korean Catholic Community (HCH file photo)
The Korean Catholic Community, formerly headquartered in Manoa at St. Pius X Church, has relocated across town to Holy Family Church, in the area between the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
The reason: “lack of space.”
Ever since St. Pius X Parish “de-clustered” with neighboring Sacred Heart Parish in Punahou on Jan. 1, “the Korean Catholic Community and St. Pius X were struggling with lack of space,” said the community’s chaplain, Father Young Kun Kim.
He asked Bishop Larry Silva if they could move and he agreed.
In 1999, because of the lack of priests, then-Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo put Sacred Heart and St. Pius X parishes under the administration of a single pastor. The parishes also shared some staff and resources.
The Korean Catholic Community met at St. Pius X Church for 20 years, ever since the parishes were clustered. Before that, they had their services at Sacred Heart for 25 years.
This past Jan. 1, Bishop Silva again separated the parishes, giving each its own priest administrator or pastor, allowing them to once more operate independently of each other.
The Korean Catholic Community was established in 1974 by Maryknoll Father Frank Bookmyer at Sacred Heart, Punahou. With the exception of another Maryknoll priest, Father John F. Soltis, all the chaplains since have been primarily priests from Korea.
According to the pastor of Holy Family Parish, Father Rheo Ofalsa, the Korean Catholic Community “will use the main church on 830 Main Street on occasion, but will primarily be operating and residing at the rectory and chapel at 511 Main Street.”
It will also have an office in the parish Ohana Center, also located at 511 Main Street.
“I’m happy that they are integrating into Holy Family Church,” Father Ofalsa said.
The property at 511 Main Street, a half mile from the parish church, is the former St. George Episcopal Church property, which Holy Family acquired in 2016 for potential future planning.
The Korean Catholic Community celebrates Mass at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, and at 6:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
According to Father Kim, 400-430 people attend Mass on weekends, and about 60-70 total during the week.
The chaplain said that the community has a paid office manager, a director of religious education and an organist for the choir.
It also has Sunday school and a Korean language school offered in both English and Korean.
The community has two or three weddings a year, Father Kim said, and six to 10 funerals a year.
The Legion of Mary, a lay apostolate, is also active in the community.
Though not officially an independent parish, the Korean community takes up its own collection, from which it will pay rent to Holy Family, and an assessment to the Diocese of Honolulu. It also covers the wages and benefits of its pastor and staff.
In announcing the move to diocesan staff, Bishop Silva expressed his gratitude to St. Pius X for “hosting the Korean Catholic Community for so many years,” and also to Holy Family for hosting them now.
The Diocese of Honolulu has another ethnic Catholic community under the administration of its own chaplain, the Vietnamese Holy Martyrs Catholic Community, which operates at the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa in Kapalama.
