Rome (AsiaNews/Agencies) – It all began with a providential meeting between Father Oh Woong-jin and Choi Gwi-dong, an elderly beggar with a disability who had spent over 40 years caring for other marginalised people in even more dire straits than himself.
That chance encounter between strangers gave rise to Kkottongnae, South Korea's largest Catholic social welfare complex, which today celebrates the 50th anniversary of that event, which took place on 12 September 1976, in the Diocese of Cheongju.
In 1976, Father Oh, right after his ordination as a priest, had taken up his post at the Eumseong Mugeuk parish (now the Mugeuk chapel of Geumwang parish).
On 12 September of that year, he noticed Choi Gwi-dong passing by the church; intrigued, he followed him to a shack, where he saw him sharing the food he had received as alms with 18 other marginalised individuals.
Deeply moved by what he witnessed, the very next day he spent his entire personal savings to buy cement and began building, with his own hands, a home for those who had no one else to turn to.
With the help of parishioners, the building, named the “House of Love”, was completed and blessed on 15 November 1976; Choi Gwi-dong and other homeless individuals moved in, thereby giving concrete form to the community that would become Kkottongnae, meaning “Village of Flowers”.
From refuge to international community
In 1980, the General Assembly of priests of the Diocese of Cheongju approved Kkottongnae as a diocesan project; from 1981 onwards, participation expanded nationwide.
In 1982, land was acquired in Ingok-ri (Maengdong-myeon district, North Chungcheong Province), where the historic core of the organisation is still based today, and a care facility was completed in 1983.
On 21 March 1984, Kkottongnae received official recognition as a social welfare organisation, launching centres for individuals with mental disorders and alcoholism, as well as care homes for tuberculosis patients and the elderly.
A decisive turning point came on 8 September 1986, with the founding of the Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Jesus of the Flower Village, religious communities that complemented the organisation's welfare activities with a spiritual dimension.
On 27 December of that same year, the foundation received ecclesiastical approval from the then-bishop of Cheongju, Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk (who passed away in 2021); he was the diocese's second bishop and later became the Archbishop of Seoul and, in 2006, a cardinal.
In the following years, the mission expanded beyond South Korea's borders: A Kkottongnae branch opened in Gapyeong in 1992, and Kkottongnae Catholic University (now simply Kkottongnae University) was established in 1999 to train social workers.
Today, the organisation operates in over ten countries, including China, Haiti, the Philippines, Myanmar, Uganda, and Italy, running projects focused on humanitarian aid, community development, the management of residential facilities, and scholarship programmes.
Charitable activities
Alongside its original centre in Eumseong, South Korea, the Congregation of the Brothers and Sisters of Jesus of the Flower Village (Kkottongnae) has extended its charitable work to several other Asian countries, each with its own unique characteristics.
In the central Philippines, specifically in Palo on the island of Leyte, the religious members of Kkottongnae opened the congregation's first seminary outside Korea, serving as a training house for future members dedicated to serving the poor.
The Kkottongnae Sisters have been active in Bangladesh since 2006 in Kuchilabari (Gazipur District, near Dhaka) at a centre known as the “Kkottongnae House of Hope”.
Here, the sisters take in orphans abandoned on the streets, at train stations, or in hospitals, caring for them like a true family, even until the end of their lives, if necessary, while working with local police and health authorities.
The Kkottongnae Sisters arrived in Myanmar in 2019 in the Archdiocese of Yangon, working closely with the Sacred Heart parish in Hmawbi; on 3 October 2022, a second mission house was inaugurated in Htaukkyant on land purchased decades earlier by the late Archbishop Gabriel Mahn Gaby.
This facility is dedicated to the abandoned, the poor, orphans, and the elderly, with the additional aim of providing educational and vocational training.
In Indonesia, two Korean sisters opened "Rumah Kasih" (House of Love) on the island of Flores in June 2018, offering housing, medical care, and spiritual support to people with disabilities, with the assistance of local doctors and Catholic laypeople.
Pope Francis’s visit
On 16 August 2014, during his trip to South Korea, Pope Francis visited the Kkottongnae facility for people with disabilities, meeting them one by one.
That same day, the pontiff stressed that “the fruitfulness of faith is expressed in concrete solidarity with our brothers and sisters, without any attention to their culture or social status,” and expressed appreciation for the commitment shown to the poor living in the “peripheries”.
