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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Marian Library in Korea

Two Trips to Korea

in 1975 the Pacific Province assigned me to Korea. On August 17, 1975, after a long plane trip and a wait as a transient at Haneda Airport Japan, I arrived in Korea. Our Korean Marianists and resident Bro. Paul Nomi met me at the airport. We went to our Seoul Formation house with address "The Marianists, Mang Won Dong 403-2, Mapo Gu, Seoul, Korea". The Formation house was the only building on the property.

In 1999 Provincial Assistant for Temporalities asked me to go to Korea with him for his visit to the Korean District. On September 15, 1999, Bro. John Haster and I left for Korea. Fr. Timothy Kim picked us up at the Kimpo Airport. We arrived in the small parking lot adjacent to the new "Family of Mary Building" where we were staying. The next day Fr. Pascal Lee celebrated a mass for us at the Novitiate Community at the Seoul Formation house.

At some point Fr. Timothy and Bro. Vianney Ahn took us on a tour of the Marian Library located in the basement of the Family of Mary building. The library was divided into two rooms, one with shelves for the books and another a conference room with a blackboard and seating for about 100 people. There were about 2000 books on the shelves with another 2000 to be unpacked on the floor. There was room for about 20,000 books.

In developing the library Fr. Timothy Kim was advised by Fr. John Roten of the Marian Library in Dayton. Bro. Vianney Ahn took care of the donations to the Library from the Pacific and Cincinnati Provinces. The Cincinnati Province had given $25,000 and the Pacific Province $10,000 for the Library

Opening of the Library

Fr. John Roten, International Marian Resarch Institute (IMRI) manager, at the front entrance of the Family of Mary building for the Opening Ceremony of the Marian Library on October 2, 2000.


Attending the ceremony were Auxiliary Bishop of Seoul Paul Kim Ok-kyun and Fr. Johann Roten as well as many guests and dignitaries.

In 2008 the Marian Library was moved to the interim location.

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