By Lindsey Townsend

Helping Korean-Americans Find Their Way

AMSTERDAM, NY—"A priest should be holy not in the sense that everyone sees God in me—but that I see God in everyone I see."

So believes the adventurous and personable Father Joe Veneroso, who celebrates his 25th anniversary as a Maryknoll missioner in 2003. (Maryknoll is a U.S.-based Catholic missionary movement that represents U.S. Catholics in overseas missions and currently serves in 39 countries worldwide.)

Born in Amsterdam, Father Joe first went to Korea after college as a Peace Corps volunteer during the Vietnam War. "I wanted to serve my country, but I didn't want to kill anybody," he says.

While overseas he soon found himself falling in love with the Korean people: their loyalty, family values and work ethic. "Koreans taught me that true conversion requires a change of heart more than a change of religion," Father Joe says. "It's a privilege to walk with another people on their spiritual journey and to be open to new and different understandings of God."

He even found himself developing a taste for exotic foods he never thought he'd enjoy like fermented cabbage, seaweed and roasted grasshoppers. "You get used to it: eventually!" he laughs.

After studying the Korean language in Hawaii, Father Joe taught English at Kyungbuk National University in Korea for two years before deciding to become a Maryknoll priest. "I was so intrigued by what I saw. These missioners had very few of the modern comforts we were used to in America, yet they were so happy in the work they were doing," he says.

Following his ordination to the priesthood in 1978, Father Joe returned to Korea to work with high school and college students and later founded a new parish, Christ the Liberator, in the Hwoi Won Dong district of the southern port city of Masan. "It was an extremely poor and rural area. When I first started, it had unpaved roads, and residents still went to the stream to wash their clothes," he said.

After returning to the U.S. in 1985, Father Joe began a long-term relationship with the Korean community of the Brooklyn diocese, first working with them in Rego Park, Queens, and later at St. Paul Chong Ha-Sang Parish in Flushing.

There he soon became well acquainted with the trials and problems of the hundreds of ethnic street gang members who populate the city. "It seems strange to have to remind somebody, "Please don't bring a gun into church,' but sometimes that's what it takes," he says.

Father Joe now heads up a weekly discussion group for Korean-American students, where adolescents gather to explore how Biblical principles have relevance to modern problems such as drugs, premarital sex and violence. "I let them know what the Church's position is, and help them try to find a way to work those principles into the decisions they're making every day," he says.

Father Joe says that Korean-American youth face unique challenges in growing up in the U.S. "Many of their parents are from the old school in Korea, and these kids don't come from that world—yet they don't feel part of the mainstream American culture, either. I'm like a bridge between the two cultures," he says.

Since Korean families also typically place a high value on education, many Korean children and adolescents also have to deal with "positive stereotyping." "Their parents expect them to be straight A students, get into the best schools, and become doctors and lawyers—yet a lot of these kids have different dreams for themselves. But they don't want to disappoint their parents," he says.

Holding a master's degree in journalism, Father Joe is now director of MaryKnoll's social communication department, responsible for development of the organization's print publications, videos, radio show, educational materials and more.

While his impact now stretches far beyond the parish doors, it's the one-on-one relationships with his flock that Father Joe still cherishes most. With more than 30 years experience working with the Korean community, he has changed many lives for the better.

"I remember the teenager who came to a retreat one summer who was lonely, cynical and openly hostile to everyone. I didn't think we had reached him at all," he remembers. Five years later, the surly teenager walked into Father Joe's office as a totally transformed, confident young adult to say hello. "He had put his life together and told me that he had decided to become a Sunday school teacher. Knowing you've had an impact on someone's life like that—there's no better feeling."


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