(ZENIT News / Seoul, 07.02.2023).- On Friday, February 3, the Archdiocese of the South Korean capital ordained 24 new priests and 20 new deacons. The ordaining Bishop was the Titular of the same Archdiocese, Archbishop Jeong Soon-taek.
With this ordination ceremony, the number of priests belonging to the Archdiocese of Seoul increased from 958 (including, from January 2023, one Cardinal, one Archbishop, three Bishops and five Monsignors) to 981 (excluding Seoul’s International Missionary Society). With this, the Archdiocese of Seoul faces [for the first time] the era of 1,000 priests in its history.
In the ceremony of ordination of deacons, which was held on February 2 in the Cathedral of Myeongdong, the day before the ordination of priests, 18 deacons were ordained of the Archdiocese of Seoul, one Redemptorist of the International Missionary Theological Seminary and one of the <Street> Congregation.
The theme of the 2023 ordination ceremony of priests and deacons of the Archdiocese of Seoul was; “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels” (Exodus 34:10). The candidates for ordination themselves chose this theme and [each] said: “I pray with both hands that You will bless the beginning of these new priests who want to live as true servants at the Lord’s holy altar and pray with them.”
As we reported in January 2022, the Archdiocese of Seoul has been blessed in recent years with a veritable vocational boom. Our report can be seen at this link.