The economy of TongDu-chon is based partly on the presence of a large American military base. Due to the military presence, there are many shops and entertainment houses in the area surrounding the base. In addition, this region hosts a large number of small factories that attract many migrant workers, mainly from South East Asia. But there are also workers from some African and Latin American countries. Most of these migrant workers reside and work here with an illegal status.
Our community aims at being a simple presence of evangelization, especially amongst the poorest of the poor, in this case the foreign migrant workers. We want to share our life with them, welcoming them to our home whenever they want to come and sharing their difficulties and struggles, by being at their service. We also serve these migrant workers with the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist, both in Spanish and English, in different parts of the diocese. We try to help them in whatever situation they find themselves in. Sometimes we visit them in hospitals; with the help of some migrant centres, we get them documents for their health insurance; we also make regular visits to those arrested by the immigration authorities because they are without visas or permits to stay and work in the country. We also make the second floor of our house available to welcome whoever needs accommodation for a short period of time. I recall a special guest, a young man from North Korea who needed a place to stay while the government prepared him a proper house.
Consolata Friends in Tong du chon
Every last Monday of every month, we all gather in Yokkok to celebrate a mass with our Consolata Friends. However, we are glad to present you a new Consolata Friends’ Group. Our community is located very close to the local parish church, so we collaborate with it, mainly with the celebrations of mass and confessions. Sometimes, we are also invited by the parish priest to help in accompanying some young people in their quest to know more about God. This link to the parish church helped us to start a small Consolata Friends’ Group. These friends come to our house to celebrate mass once a month, as well as to learn more about our spirituality and methodology concerning our Institute’s activity. Our first meeting took place on October 14th 2009: the Eucharist was presided by our newly ordained Fr Han Martino. After mass, we had a party to celebrate his ordination. During this joyful gathering, we shared some family news and explained about our possible program for the future. We also elected the group’s leader, who like most of the other members comes from TongDu-chon parish, while others come from two nearby parishes. We decided to have mass on every fourth Wednesday of each month. On November 25th 2009 we have our second meeting: the Eucharist was followed by the usual agape. Fr Han Martino visited our community once more. We informed our friends about our two newly ordained Korean missionaries and their missionary appointment to both Brazil and Spain. This time we had more people and the atmosphere between us was very familiar, both during and after mass. Unfortunately, our house is a bit small to accommodate so many people, but nonetheless our meeting went on quite well and everyone was happy. On the same note, we also promised to accompany the youngsters whose mothers are now committed to our group. Some of their sons come to study English and with a few of them we even share about vocational discernment.
We hope and pray that this new Consolata Friends’ Group may be guided by the Holy Spirit and continue to grow in its love and support of our missionary family.
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