Celebrating Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday at St. Andrew Kim Church for Korean Catholics, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory emphasized that people should be inspired by God’s everlasting mercy to be merciful to others.

“We should all be quite thankful that God’s mercy is nothing like our own,” the cardinal said in his April 24 homily at the church in Olney, Maryland, as he contrasted Divine Mercy with human forgiveness. “…We grant pardon to others while clinging to the hurt that we may have undergone. God’s mercy endures forever, far outlasting and more importantly completely replacing the offense that we have offered.”

After Communion at the Mass, a parish leader reflected on how people’s faith had endured there during the pandemic, and a new outreach to English-speaking parishioners was highlighted.

As the cardinal arrived at the church, children handed him flowers, and at the beginning of Mass, he was welcomed by Father Joseph Lee, a priest of the Archdiocese of Seoul who has served as the pastor of St. Andrew Kim Parish since 2017.

“Today is a very happy and blessed day for our parish,” Father Lee said.

St. Andrew Kim’s parochial vicar, Father Dongjin (Stephen) Jun, was also a concelebrant at the Mass.

Hundreds of people attended the bilingual Mass, with most wearing face masks as a protective measure against the coronavirus. Prayers and readings were recited in Korean and in English, including the Our Father in Korean and the Apostles Creed in English. Songs were sung in Korean, led by the parish’s choir.

Cardinal Gregory opened his homily by noting that the responsorial psalm at the Mass – “His love is everlasting” – reflects the meaning of Divine Mercy Sunday, the second Sunday of Easter, when people remember the mercy and compassion of the risen Christ who died for their sins.

He noted that the image of Divine Mercy, depicting Jesus as “inviting and warm, open and generous, compassionate and welcoming… are the qualities of Divine Mercy that should beckon us to seek the forgiveness that only Christ can offer. Far too many Catholics have been away from the Sacrament of Reconciliation for so long, that the job of inviting them to return to sacramental forgiveness and mercy should concern the entire Church.”

Noting how St. Faustina Kowalska received revelations of Christ’s mercy and was called to spread the devotion of Divine Mercy, the cardinal said, “In accepting the gift of Divine Mercy, however, all of us are charged as was St. Faustina to make that mercy known and specifically in the way that we are merciful to others.”

St. Faustina, a Polish nun who was a member of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, was canonized by Pope (and future saint) John Paul II in 2000, becoming the first declared saint of the new millennium.

Cardinal Gregory closed his homily by reflecting on the story of St. Thomas in that day’s Gospel, and how that apostle initially doubted but came to believe in the risen Christ after seeing Him and touching the nail marks in Jesus’s hands and the wound in His side.

“The risen Christ showed Thomas genuine Divine Mercy for his doubts and his hesitation to believe, and this same Christ longs to extend that mercy to all who just seek him,” the cardinal said. “We are the disciples who must, through our own gentleness of spirit and mercy, invite those who like Thomas still harbor doubts to come and to believe. For after all, His mercy endures forever!”

After Communion, Jerome Jang – the president of St. Andrew Kim’s parish council – thanked Cardinal Gregory and led the congregation in applauding the archbishop. Then he offered a personal reflection on how the people there have endured in their faith during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Today’s Mass is the first time since the pandemic started, that this main chapel is filled with so many parishioners,” Jang said. “During the unprecedented, isolating time of the pandemic, our thirst for spiritual guidance grew. The number of our congregation in this Mass shows that during a time when it can be difficult to lead a religious life, we look to faith to comfort us. We express our gratitude to you in leading us all through the recent difficult times.”

Then the parish council president noted how St. Andrew Kim Parish, a church of immigrants with roots in Korea, has been concerned “about how our English-speaking parishioners can join in faith and fellowship.”

He said that with the cardinal’s guidance and their pastor’s support, a regular Sunday Mass has been started there for English-speaking parishioners.

Then Rosa Lee-Alonzo, the leader of the newly formed English Community Committee at St. Andrew Kim Parish, spoke and noted that now that community is gathering for a 10:30 a.m. Mass in English there each Sunday and has about 70 people attending each week, including past members of the parish who have returned for the Mass.

“Although we may celebrate separately from our Korean-speaking parishioners, we are still united as one community because we share the same culture and heritage,” she said, thanking the cardinal and Father Lee for their support of that new ministry there.

In his closing remarks, Cardinal Gregory smiled and noted that “I confirmed Rosa at the Korean parish in Atlanta” when he was archbishop there before coming to Washington.

Offering a final blessing at the Mass to the St. Andrew Kim parishioners, the cardinal said, “I wish each and every one of you the deepest peace in Christ.”

After the Mass, Rosa Lee-Alonzo – who had been confirmed as a teenager by then-Archbishop Gregory at Korean Martyrs Catholic Church in Doraville, Georgia – said she felt a special connection to him after she heard about his appointment as the new archbishop of Washington in 2019. A pharmacist by training, she has been living and working in Washington as a regulatory project manager at the Food and Drug Administration.

“When he was re-assigned here to D.C., I felt so surprised at the connection (I had with him),” she said, adding, “I admire that he’s so welcoming and easy to approach.”

Reflecting on the new outreach to English-speaking parishioners and the Sunday Mass in English that the parish began offering there in January, she said, “It’s extremely important, because there wasn’t a place for English-speaking parishioners to attend Mass in the church (before).”

In September 2021, Washington Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville celebrated a Mass at St. Andrew Kim Church and blessed a statue there of the parish’s patron saint that is part of a new exhibition hall by the entranceway to the church that honors the life and legacy of Korea’s first priest and martyr as part of the bicentennial commemoration of his 1821 birth.

Blessed Andrew Kim Pastoral Mission was founded in 1974 for Korean Catholics in the Washington area, and in 1984 it became St. Andrew Kim Parish. The parish moved from College Park to Olney, where its new church was dedicated in 2002. St. Andrew Kim Parish now includes about 1,200 households.