By Thea Jarvis

A renovated Baptist church on Buford Highway in Doraville became home to the Korean Catholic community of Atlanta when the first Mass was celebrated there August 18. The 400-member congregation now gathers at the new location each Sunday at 11 a.m. for liturgy and fellowship.

Father Benedict Hyon, a diocesan priest from Chon Ju City, South Korea, and pastor of the Korean church here, spearheaded the effort to find new space for the community, which has met and worshipped at St. Thomas More Church in Decatur over the past decade.

The Korean Catholic Church marks its 15th year in 1992. At that time, Father Hyon said, the church will be dedicated and named for the 19th century Korean martyrs who were canonized in 1984.

Showing a visitor through the former Bible Baptist Church, Father Hyon explained that the central location of the new church makes it easier for Koreans who come from all over to attend Mass. The earlier schedule for liturgies and religious education classes allows families to enjoy time together as well, he said.

“Korean businesses, restaurants, even medical centers are around here,” Father Hyon said of the Buford Highway corridor. The new site is “very nice for us. It’s easy for people to find and come here.”

Although the main sanctuary and choir loft are in shape to welcome Sunday crowds, Father Hyon still must carve out his own living quarters in the main building and modify the school of religion in back of the church. He also faces the arduous task of outfitting a cavernous 5,000 square-foot fellowship and dining hall.

“We need 1,200 chairs!” he laughed, pointing to empty classrooms and open spaces.

A trained landscape artist who has exhibited in his native country, Father Hyon built a number of church facilities in Korea, where the Catholic population is about seven percent. Turning his hand to renovation in the states has meant working late almost every night with the help of parishioner-volunteers.

The main church is a three-year-old Butler-type building. The school of religion, which housed the original sanctuary, is 25 years old. Members of the Korean Catholic community raised approximately one-third of the funds for their new facility. The remainder was obtained through archdiocesan financing.

“More are coming here,” Father Hyon said of his growing congregation. “Next year I have planned to ask each parishioner to bring one other person (to church) for one year.”

Such evangelization efforts are not unfamiliar to the priest, who has countrymen all over the Southeastern U.S. His plans for metro Atlanta include a Korean language school to be held on Saturdays in the classroom building and a continuation of the art classes he recently began for parishioners.

Sister Magdalena Yang, SND, who has helped Father Hyon at the Korean Center in Clarkston where an 8:30 p.m. Saturday Mass is still held, said she has seen much growth and change in the four years she has served in North Georgia.

“A lot of people have converted,” she said of those who have tried other churches and ultimately turned to the Catholic faith. Burgeoning ranks of students and immigrants have contributed to an expanding Korean Catholic population, she observed.

The first church to extend hospitality to the Korean community almost 15 years ago was Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Atlanta, Sister Yang remembered. A “for sale” sign outside her office in the Korean Center reflects changes that have occurred since then. The center’s move to Doraville is a spiritual and cultural centralization for herself and her fellow Koreans, Sister Yang believes.