Remembering Lee Hak-geun
Fr. Benedict Lee Hak-geun, the first priest born in Youngsan in Wonju, passed away at the age of 85 on March 28. He was ordained as a priest in 1965 with the ordination scriptures: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
When I first came to Wonju in the middle of last year, our Pauline community visited the secondary church called “Wolsong” which was founded in 1956. Wolsong secondary church is a small Catholic community in the village where Fr. Benedict had resided since 2008, two years after his retirement in 2006.
When he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his ordination in 2015, he greeted people with a joyful and peaceful heart filled with gratitude.
In commemoration of his anniversary, he expressed his heartfelt impressions as follows: “Even though I am not good enough to do anything right, the Lord has called me to be a priest. I am always grateful for the grace of the Lord for allowing me to live as a priest until now.”
During his seminary life, he was so docile, caring and relaxed that his colleagues used to call him “Potato Rock.” The late Bishop Ji Hak-soon (1921-93), the first diocesan bishop of Wonju, once praised him, saying that “Fr. Benedict gave comfort to anyone and he didn’t make any hard expression.”
As usual, Fr. Benedict always welcomed us with a warm-hearted smile and kindness. Being our confessor before, he kept saying “to be joyful” above anything else; “Being joyful” and “being grateful” were his lifelong slogans.
He was transferred to the Wolsong community after the first falling down. When he fell the second time during Mass, he wished to go to the heavens, but advanced technology saved his life with an artificial pacemaker.
When our television in the community was not functioning well, he even bought a new one for us. When we visited him for a special day, he liked to have lunch all together with those who came to Mass. One day, he himself made a sandwich filled with lettuce for us. He was such a friendly, kind and simple priest.
Fr. Benedict was so friendly, generous, humble and open-minded that he was fond of making acquaintances with many people around. Being simple and joyful like a neighborhood person, he really enjoyed being with others. Accompaniment, generous hospitality and mingling together with people are the very phrases that can describe his personality.
As time went by, we could also feel that he was losing his power little by little. However, in spite of his health condition, he liked to drive by himself to visit the Pauline bookshop in the Catholic Center just in front of Wondong Cathedral founded in 1896.
He was a happy and cheerful person who knew how to be with others, how to talk freely with others, how to spend time with others, how to help others, how to give himself and how to enjoy his life. Respecting Fr. Thomas Choi Yang-up the most, he always advised the junior priests to be “an errand man” of God.