The Archdiocese of Seoul on Feb. 10 marked the 1,500th celebration of its weekly Mass for Korea Reconciliation and Unity, a prayer initiative that has continued for nearly 31 years amid shifting tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Celebrated every Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Seoul’s Myeong-dong district, the Mass was first offered on March 7, 1995, and has been sustained with a single intention: peace and reconciliation between North and South Korea.
Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick, who presided over the milestone liturgy, described the continuity as historically significant.
“This Mass offered every Tuesday evening for 30 years and 11 months with a single intention is unprecedented in the history of the Catholic Church in Korea,” he said. “It demonstrates how crucial the tasks of peace on the Korean Peninsula and reconciliation and unity between the North and South are for our people.”
More than 400 people attended the anniversary Mass, including Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Giovanni Gaspari, former Korea Reconciliation Committee chair Archbishop Choi Chang-mou, Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young, diplomats, clergy and lay faithful.
In his homily, Archbishop Chung reflected on three decades of fluctuating inter-Korean relations.
“Over the past 30 years, there have been moments when peace on the Korean Peninsula seemed within reach, and periods when dialogue completely stopped and tensions reached their peak,” he said. He added that “the current reality is also a situation where it is unclear where and how to resume dialogue.”
Despite the uncertainty, he said, “efforts to understand the other side and seek reconciliation are by no means a weak or unrealistic choice; rather, they are a more courageous decision.”
The archbishop also urged self-examination. “We must examine the stubbornness and we-are-better-than-you mentality within ourselves,” he said. “When we see each other as brothers and neighbors, entrenched relationships can truly be transformed.”
He said the weekly liturgy carries a deeper meaning. “This Mass offered every Tuesday is not merely a Mass to count numbers; it is a Mass that has safeguarded peace on the Korean Peninsula, a Mass for self-reflection and preparing for a new future.”
In his congratulatory address, Minister Chung said, “It is deeply meaningful to join in prayer at this 1,500th Reconciliation Mass here at Myeongdong Cathedral, a place filled with the spirit of reconciliation, forgiveness, life, and peace.”
He added, “This Mass, offered every Tuesday since the launch of the Korea Reconciliation Committee in 1995, pays tribute to the faith and devotion that has firmly upheld the promise made thirty years ago – even through long periods of silence and disconnection.”
“In the face of these desperate and earnest prayers, the reality we confront compels us to a spirit of contrition,” he said. “I hope today’s 1,500th Mass becomes an occasion for God’s will to be realized on this land – transforming hatred into love, discord into reconciliation, and division into unity.”
The reconciliation Mass was launched shortly after the establishment of the Korea Reconciliation Committee on March 1, 1995, marking the 50th anniversary of Korea’s liberation and division. Except for temporary suspensions during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been offered every Tuesday evening at Myeongdong Cathedral.
Each week, Saint Francis’ “Prayer for Peace” is offered simultaneously at Myeong-dong Cathedral in Seoul and Changchung Church in Pyongyang, following a 1995 agreement between the Seoul Archdiocese’s Korea Reconciliation Committee and the Korean Catholic Association of North Korea.
The archdiocese also continues its campaign to remember the 57 parish churches that existed in the North at the time of liberation, praying for reconciliation as official dialogue between the two Koreas remains uncertain.
After nearly three decades, the weekly Mass remains one of the longest-running sustained prayer efforts for peace and unity on the divided peninsula.
