* A Great Researcher of the Church History in Korea Passed Away

Msgr. Andrew Choi Seok-woo, honorary director of the Research Institute for Korean Church History in the Archdiocese of Seoul, passed away on July 20, 2009, at the age of 87.

The funeral Mass was presided over by H.E. Nicholas Cardinal Cheong Jinsuk, Archbishop of Seoul, at Myeongdong Cathedral of Seoul on July 22, 2009. The deceased was laid to rest in Yongin Catholic Park Cemetery in the Archdiocese of Seoul.

The late prelate was born in Sincheon, Hwanghae-do in 1922 and ordained a priest in 1950. He received a doctorate in theology from the University of Bonn in Germany in 1961 and served consecutively as a professor of the faculty of theology in the Catholic University of Korea and as a parish priest at several parishes of the Archdiocese of Seoul.

The late Msgr. Choi served as the first director of the Research Institute for Korean Church History from 1964 to 2001. In the Institute, he made great contribution to the academic development of the Church history in Korea, by compiling the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia consisting of twelve volumes which were published between 1994 and 2006. Msgr. Choi also took initiatives in publishing Korean translations of primary source materials for the study of Korean Church history: Histoire de L'Église de Corée by Charles Dallet (a 19th century French missionary),  Letters of St. Andrew Kim Tae-geon and Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop, and Diary of Bishop Mutel. By virtue of his eminent devotion to the Church, he was named a Prelate of Honor by Pope John Paul II in March 2005.