Memory and Honor: Cultural and Generational Ministry with Korean American Communities by Simon C. Kim (review)

Simon C. Kim has written an ambitious book suitable for students and scholars alike addressing the often invisible struggles of Korean and Korean American Catholics in the United States. Hoping "to raise the awareness of a Korean American social consciousness, especially in its Catholic character" (9), Kim raises questions that all American Catholics (and the scholars who study them) would be wise to consider – questions about memory, suffering, and the ambiguity embedded in the stories that bolster our sense of immigrant-descended identity.

Kim's slim book covers a lot of ground. He provides a brief history of Catholicism in Korea, recalling its famous origins in a lay Catholic community rather than with missionary priests, its martyrs, its retreat from Korean society during the Japanese occupation (when the political engagement of Protestant Christians ensured their lasting influence), and finally its rapid growth and social engagement since the 1970s. Later he gives a parallel account of the rise of Korean Catholicism in America. One of his most dramatic chapters centers on the Confucian-influenced metanarrative of the various waves of Korean immigrants, who see themselves as having escaped Korean poverty for the sake of their children's education and success. The success of the generation born here is then believed to release what Koreans call han, a restless brokenheartedness produced by the accumulation of historical traumas. According to Kim, han compels Korean Catholics to endlessly compare themselves with various others – Koreans in Korea, Korean Protestants, and white Americans.

The rest of the book addresses the pastoral challenges of contemporary Korean American Catholicism, arguing that the isolationist immigrant church model is no longer adequate to serve the needs of the English speaking generation born here. Yet he also worries about Korean Evangelical groups on campus turning young people away from their culture of origin. Kim sees hope in a host of visionary pastors and programs explicitly trying to bridge the gaps between generations and between Korean and other Catholics. The book concludes with a plea to break out of "survival mode" and to paschally embrace han, honoring rather than avoiding memories of the difficult past, finding a new voice through socially engaged (rather than isolationist and otherworldly) ministry open to the concerns of the generation born here.

Memory and Honor performs the nearly impossible task of imagining the Korean Catholic community in the United States as both a manifestation of the Korean diaspora and a truly American Catholic culture. Of course, such a monumental challenge has its costs. The reader wants more, often feeling as if Kim has only touched on the important issues. Yet one has to admire Kim's courage and honesty in critically examining his own community's story. Many immigrant communities of various backgrounds would prefer to face neither the brutal suffering of the past nor the dramatically different needs of the generations born here. How many Catholics of European descent would be willing to confront the clearly inadequate immigrant metanarrative of self-reliant movement from the margins to the mainstream? Yet, as Kim prescribes, such honesty leads to healing and greater compassion.