Embracing Our Inheritance

Korean American Catholics are celebrating their jubilee after having been officially recognized by the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1966. This occasion affords the flourishing Korean American Catholic community to take stock of their identity, celebrate this milestone, and prepare for the future. What does it mean to be a Korean American Catholic? What are their particular challenges and hopes? The works contained in this book, articles written by leading Korean American scholars, theologians, and priests, serve to answer those questions and pose new ones, and lay down a marker that will surely one day be recognized as another significant one in the history of this growing voice in the United States religious landscape.

Simon Kim is a Korean American priest ordained for the Diocese of Orange, California. He has been invited to give conferences, workshops, and retreats across the country on Korean American pastoral ministry. Recently, he has been engaged in generational outreach within the Korean American community, requiring him to present ideas and themes bilingually in order to bridge the generations of Korean Americans. Kim earned a PhD in theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

Francis Daeshin Kim works with Korean American Catholics throughout Southern California. Having lived in England prior to immigrating to the United States provides him with a unique perspective of integrating culture and faith.

William T. Cavanaugh is director of the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology and professor of Catholic studies at DePaul University in Chicago. His areas of specialization are political theology, economic ethics, and ecclesiology. His publications include Field Hospital: The Church's Engagement in Markets, Politics, and Conflict; Migrations of the Holy: Theologies of State and Church; and The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict.