Joyfully with dignity

By Kim Ae-ran By the grace of God, I was sent to other countries to live a blessed but challenging missionary life. The most merciful and generous God gave me various opportunities to experience something new, inspiring and worthwhile. Nevertheless, I couldn’t endure and overcome diverse situations, and I had to come back earlier than I expected.

I wasn’t able to adjust myself to missionary life that regards the communion of life as the most fundamental aspect of the religious life. In gratitude, I tried hard with hope and enthusiasm, but I renounced everything without challenging myself in front of vertical limits. The most critical problem was resulted in touch human relationships.



I was reluctant to face reality but I listened to the inner voice. As a result, I gave up my dream to live a missionary life. Everything took much courage, faith and perseverance.

Facing my limitations, I was sent to Andong and I met the admirable Bishop Rene Dupont (1929-) who came to Korea in 1954 as a missionary priest from France. His cheerful and encouraging presence in Korea has inspired so many people. He went through the most challenging periods of Korea filled with economic poverty, lots of political and social ups and downs and marvelous transformation as well.

Bishop Dupont was ordained a priest in 1953 as a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (Missions Etrangeres De Paris). Since childhood, he wanted to be a priest to live like Jesus. He served at the Diocese of Daejeon from 1955 to 1967.

Then, he was ordained a bishop in 1969 and served for the sake of the Diocese of Andong up to 1990. Finally, he obtained Korean citizenship in 2019. He always encourages us to live joyfully with dignity and gratitude.

Joy is the keyword of his pastoral life, and his simple and happy presence witnesses the joy of the Gospels. In every Catholic church or organization in Andong, there is a large stone tablet expressing the Andong Diocese Mission Statement titled “Joyfully with dignity”: Joyfully with dignity We live in this place with an open mind. We live simply, cherish life, share and serve one another, and build a joyful Kingdom of God.

Truly, to build, live and proclaim the joyful Kingdom of God, what we need most is openness, simplicity, respect for life, sharing and service. What led him to sustain his missionary life in Korea for 71 years? I believe the most inspiring inner power came from the constant communication with God and his father, who sent him a letter once a week for 30 years. Communion of life is a powerful source of energy to live joyfully with dignity.

He always kept in mind his responsibility as a lifelong missionary. He respected Korean culture and wholeheartedly supported the poor, the marginalized and the abandoned. He dedicated himself to promoting human rights for the disadvantaged and the rural farmers.

Being called the candlelight of Andong and the godfather of rural ministry, Bishop Dupont now lives at Bongyang cultural village in Uiseong. The only reason for him to settle in this village was because there was not a single Catholic there. His house is always open wide to everybody.

Living in Andong, it is such a blessed joy for us to visit him once a month for Confession. God provides everything. Kim Ae-ran is a member of the Daughters of St.

Paul (Figlie di San Paolo), living the Good News and proclaiming it with various means of social communication..