An outpouring of God’s blessings

Fr Jinhyuk Park SJ pronounced his Final Vows at the chapel of Metta Karuna Reflection Center in Siem Reap on 14 September. Fr Jinhyuk wanted to have a simple celebration, and so decided to pronounce his vows on the last day of the annual retreat. Some members of the Mission had planned to go to Siem Reap for his Final Vow Mass. However, just a few days before, the government announced a shutdown in the city of Siem Reap, as if God had heard Fr Jinhyuk’s prayer. Thus, only retreatants and those who reside in the city were able to get together to celebrate Fr Jinhyuk in this special moment of his Jesuit life.

A Jesuit of the Korean Province, Fr Jinhyuk Park has been a missionary in Cambodia for many years. He first came to the country in 2005 as a young regent serving as production workshop manager at Banteay Prieb, a vocational training center and home for people with disabilities. He became a close friend to many of the young people in the center. After his Regency in 2007, he went to Australia for theology studies at the Jesuit Theological College, Melbourne College of Divinity. He was ordained to the priesthood on 30 June 2010 in Myeongdong Cathedral, Seoul, Korea.

In 2011, Fr Jinhyuk returned to the Jesuit Mission in Cambodia and deepened his Khmer language studies. The following year, he was assigned to Kampong Thom area in the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang as an assistant parish priest (later as parish priest) from 2012 to 2016. He then went to Sri Lanka for Tertianship at Arrupe House, Lewella, Kandy. After finishing Tertianship, he did special studies at Jesuit College of Spirituality, University of Divinity, Australia. He returned to Cambodia in 2019 and has since been the Coordinator of the Fe y Alegría project in Cambodia. He was also assigned as Director of Staff Development in Xavier Jesuit School, and from October 2020 has been serving as the Director of the school.

In his thanksgiving speech, Fr Jinhyuk expressed his gratitude towards all the members of the Mission for praying for him. With tears in his eyes, he said: “I realize very clearly that my whole life is filled with the blessings of God. All of you and all the people I have met and all the events and experiences I have encountered are really God’s blessings upon me.” At the end of his speech, as an expression of gratitude to everyone, Fr Jinhyuk offered his thanks in the traditional Korean way of bowing to the ground.