FLUSHING — A Korean Catholic church turned out for a Mass on Aug. 16 to honor 40 years of continuous service and devotion from a priest who is not from Korea, or even the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Since 1985, Father Joseph Veneroso, a Maryknoll Society priest in Ossining, New York has spent his weekends helping at St. Paul Chong Ha-sang Parish in Flushing, Queens.
He fluently speaks the parishioners’ first language, having served in Korea for a dozen years with the Peace Corps and for a decade as a Maryknoll missioner.
‘On weekends, Father Andrew Kim, the pastor, relies on Father Veneroso to hear confessions, celebrate Mass, and teach Sunday school. In 2005, he was appointed the parish’s director of religious education, a responsibility he continues to hold.
But during his homily, Father Veneroso shared how this parish had lovingly provided him with a community where he feels relevant and loved.
“Over these past 40 years, we prayed, sang, danced, ate, drank, laughed, and cried together,” Father Veneroso said. “Each step of the way we give praise and glory to God who, true to God’s promises, remained with us in good times and in bad.”
Father Veneroso, 77, is from Amsterdam, New York, and a graduate of Albany State University, where he got an education degree, and trained to teach Italian — a career he never pursued.
Instead, he joined the Peace Corps in the 1960s, which sent him to Korea to teach English, so he also learned Korean.
In an interview with The Tablet after the Mass, Father Veneroso described how he struggled to learn the language and become accustomed to the food. Still, he gained a deep appreciation for the Korean people.
“There’s something so authentic, so lively, that you really get into their lives,” he said. Upon returning to the U.S., Father Veneroso became a journalist working for Maryknoll Magazine.
But in 1985, Father Thomas Jung, then pastor of St. Paul Chong Ha-sang Parish, sought help on weekends.
Father Veneroso — with his language skills and cultural experiences from Korea — was the right fit. He has joyously filled that role since.
Parishioners affectionately call him “Father Bae” because in Korean, there is no sound for the letters V and E in his last name. So, he told them just to use the Korean surname, “Bae.”
Longtime parishioners John and Mary Park shared how their five children, now adults, thrived through Father Veneroso’s ministry. “Father Bae was very special to all the Sunday school kids, especially those in middle school and high school,” Mary said. “Going through the teenage years, they didn’t really feel that they were American. “And they didn’t really feel Korean. So they were kind of lost.”
But Father Bae, she added, “knew what they needed” when he formed the “Friday Night Meeting,” or “FNM.”
Father Veneroso said this weekly gathering of parish youth is “a safe place” to ask questions about the Catholic faith. They also seek his wisdom on how to navigate the confusion of simultaneously living in diverse cultures — traditional Korean and American.
“And it continues to this day,” Father Veneroso said. “Of course, many of those first FNM students are now grandfathers and grandmothers.”
Altar servers Edwin Shin, 17, and Vincent Ro, 16, said they’ve known the priest their entire lives. Edwin noted that his father, Joseph, was also a teen in the FNM.
“I don’t know what it would be like without him,” Edwin said. “He is like a cornerstone of this church.”
Jiyoon Mary Chung said she came to the U.S. at age 3, and her earliest memory of Father Veneroso is from when she was in elementary school.
As an adult, Chung taught Sunday school for 12 years under Father Veneroso’s leadership. She is now executive director of a Manhattan-based nonprofit, Apex for Youth, which provides programs that empower Asian and immigrant kids to unlock their potentials.
“One of the things that I talk about a lot, as the leader of my organization, is community,” she said. “I grew up low-income and an immigrant. There are a lot of challenges that families face. But having the St. Paul’s community with Father Bae made a huge difference, because it helped me to feel connected to other people with shared experiences. It helped me to believe in myself.”
Father Veneroso looks forward to the future with the parish.
“And now, just like that, 40 years have gone by,” he told the congregation. “But I must confess I kind of like this period of my life. I’ve often said, if you can’t avoid getting old, at least grow old among Koreans, who still respect the elderly.”