* The 5000th Korean Priest Ordained

At the beginning of the Year for Priests, the Church in Korea had a pleasure to have her 5000th Korean priest, after the first Korean priest, St. Andrew Kim Taegon (1821-1846) in 1845.

Fr. Dionysious Son Ho-bin of the Archdiocese of Seoul, ordained a priest at Olympic Stadium with other 27 new priests on 26 June, 2009, had an honour to be the 5000th Korean priest.

At the celebration of Ordination to the Ministerial Priesthood, His Eminence Nicholas Cardinal Cheong Jinsuk said, "As of the year 1961 when I was ordained a priest, there were less than 250 Korean priests. However, today, we have a pleasure to see the birth of 5000th Korean priest, here at this place." Then, seeing out the Pauline Year and welcoming the Year for Priests to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney, he invited the newly ordained priests to sincerely and ardently commit themselves to their ministry following the examples of St. Paul and St. John Mary Vianney.