On the Road Again….

ADCC

We arrived at the youth center where we had the conference a short time before dinner. Later that evening, about 10:00 PM, Fr Min Seo came to me and asked if I could take the mass at 7:00 AM the next morning. Fr Michael Chua from Malaysia was scheduled for that but he had fallen after his arrival and was in a Seoul hospital with three broken ribs. There wasn’t much time to prepare but I managed to get myself ready and presided at our group liturgy in the morning.
Because I had been in Asia since 1983, many of the people knew me. Here the group from India–where I started, asked for a photo with them. And a few Koreans joined in.
That evening the 20 national groups introduced themselves. Here was the presentation from the Cambodia group.
Following Cambodia, Macau was introduced. I went there every Sunday for an evening mass for many years.

On the Road Again….

ADCC in Seoul

Fr. Min Seo, the deaf Korean priest who is pastor of Ephatha Deaf Parish and who organized the conference of the ADCC.
Mass at the Seoul cathedral with the Archbishop and the Vatican ambassador to Korea.
The Cambodian deaf delegation to the ADCC at a dinner in the church hall after the mass.
After dinner there was a fascinating drumming and drama performance at a nearby venue.
Finally it was time to head back to the buses in the popular tourist district of Seoul for the return trip to our conference center.

On the Road Again….

ADCC in Seoul

This Asian Deaf Catholic Conference was almost twice as long as usual because every other day we took a trip outside of the youth camp where we were conferencing. We spent a lot of time on buses–and walking on this first trip into Seoul.
On this day our first stop was at the Imperial Palace. A custom for visitors is to dress up in traditional Korean costumes before walking to the palace. Costumed visitors are admitted free to the palace grounds.
Once inside the palace, our group alone was probably responsible for hundreds (thousands?) of photos.
After the palace we walked to a memorial square honoring the Korean king who created the Korean written language. The building on the far right is the U.S. Embassy.
We then walked again through downtown Seoul towards the cathedral. This section of the route was along a stream flowing through city. It is artificial and all the water is pumped back to the source in a continuous loop.

On the Road Again….

Asian Deaf Catholic Conference

Being reconnected with friends from around the deaf world is one of the best parts of a conference like this. These deaf women are from Mongolia and Korea.
Very special was the reunion with the contingent from the deaf community in Hong Kong, my favorite place.
Judy Wu Man Ha was my Cantonese language tutor, colleague, and dear friend in Hong Kong. It was her continued support and encouragement of the Hong Kong group that brought so many of them to ADCC.

St. Boniface Church

St. Boniface church, the oldest Catholic church in Louisville, is in danger of closing in the current third diocesan reorganization. To try and build support for the continuation of the parish, community leaders met with parishioners after the two Sunday masses today to discuss ideas. I had been helping out as a substitute priest here several times a month.

On the Road Again….

Asian Deaf Catholic Conference

When the first busload of participants arrived, Fr. Park Min Seo, a deaf priest from Seoul, welcomed the new arrivals.
Because people were arriving on so many different flights throughout the day, our first dinner was prepared boxed meals which were quite good.
I was impressed that Fr. Min Seo had recruited so many volunteers to help with the week of the conference and here they were separating the used food containers for recycling!
The venue for the conference was a diocesan youth camp about 15 miles from Seoul and it was a good site for deaf people with good lighting and good sign language sight lines in addition to the natural beauty of the grounds.