Origin and history

The Korean Catholic community of Toronto has its spiritual center in the parish of St. Andrew Kim (St. Andrew Kim Catholic Church,), located in North York, 849 Don Mills Road. It is the Korean-speaking parish of the Archdiocese of Toronto and was initially established in 1981 under the name of St. Kim Dae- kun, changing its current name in 1997 in honor of the Korean protomartyr St. Andrew Kim Tae- gon, first ordained Korean priest (1845).

Catholicism arrived in Korea at the end of the 18th century without missionaries - introduced only through texts - and the Marian faith was one of its pillars from the first moment. The Korean Episcopal Conference has pointed out that "the practice of Marian devotion is today more vigorous than any other activity of faith in the Church in Korea." This tradition of intense Marian piety is faithfully reproduced in the Korean diaspora of Toronto.

The community and its Marian devotions

The parish of San Andrés Kim celebrates the Sunday Mass in Korean and maintains several Marian associations active: the Legion of Mary (Legio Mariae) has a prominent implantation among Korean Catholics in Canada. Devotional practices include the prayer of the Rosary, the Angelus, the celebration of the month of May in honor of Mary and the novies to Our Lady on specified dates of the Korean liturgical calendar.

In addition to the parish, Benedictine religious work together. The community maintains its entire Korean liturgy, thus preserving the richness of the Korean Church's Marian tradition on the new land. Since 1981, this parish has served successive generations of Korean immigrants, constituting a living bridge between the faith of the Korean martyrs and daily life in the multicultural city of Toronto.

Link to the Rosary

The Rosary occupies a central place in Korean Marian piety. The Episcopal Conference of Korea, in its document on Marian devotion (2009), explicitly cites the Rosary as a fundamental practice, along with the Angelus, the Lethanias of Our Lady and the Magnificat. In the Toronnaise parish, the month of October is devoted intensively to the Rosary, following the universal tradition that Korean Catholicism has made deeply its own since its origins.