Mr. Mark Jung
YEAR IN FORMATION
Pastoral Year St. Martin de Porres Church
HOME PARISH
St. Thomas Korean Center (Anaheim)
BIRTHDAY
March 29th
SEMINARY
FAVORITE PLACE TO VISIT
New Zealand
FAVORITE MARIAN APPARITION
Our Lady of Guadalupe
FAVORITE SINGER
Davichi
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I was born in Kwangju, Korea on March 29.1992. I have two siblings; one sister and one brother. My sister is the oldest and I am the youngest of the three. I moved to America when I was six, and lived in Buena Park until Seminary. I attended Troy High School from 2006 to 2010, Then from 2011 to 2013 I attended Fullerton College. I was involved with altar serving from 4th grade to my second year of college. I was also involved with youth ministry from highschool to college.
What are some of the factors that led to your decision to enter the seminary and discern the question of a vocation to the priesthood?
I started discerning the question of a vocation to the priesthood at a Steubenville conference. During Sunday mass on the final day of the conference, I started to pray about how I can serve God more. This prayer was answered when the bishop who was celebrating the mass, phrased the question to the crowd: Have you ever thought about becoming a priest or the religious life? When I heard this question I took a moment to myself and thought about it there. As I was thinking, the bishop then said if you did come to the front of the stage to receive a blessing. That was when I started to feel a push to go down there. At first I was hesitant but the push was consistent enough where I gave in and went to receive the blessing. When I returned I was curious as to who was pushing me so I decided to turn around and take a peek. I was surprised when I saw a group of people that I have never seen before. That was when I started to think maybe I am being called to the priesthood.
Who are some of the people who influenced your decision to enter the seminary? What is it about them that assisted you?
Some of the people who influenced my decision to enter the seminary were three priests: Fr. Eugene, Fr. Al and Fr. Ben Tran. Each of these priests showed me the life of a priest can be a happy one. As I watched Fr. Eugene at the church working, I noticed that he mentioned “all for the greater glory of God” a lot. Even when he was tired he would say this line and it made me think everything that he does is not for himself, to throw his name out there to make it big but he cared for the community’s growth towards God. Fr. Al in his wisdom and patience, bringing the people to Christ was very inspiring. He also had taught me the importance of having a good relationship with Christ in order to be Christ to others around us. Fr Ben was a priest that I met only a few times but those few times were impactful for me. When I first met him, I thought he seemed more relaxed than some of the other priests that I knew. The next time I met him, he was giving a talk and as I was listening to him, it was different from when I met him outside of that setting. There was a lot of passion in his voice talking about his topic. The energy from Fr. Ben made it very convincing that he really loved God. I realized from that point on that priests have other interests but they choose to have God as their main interest, doing what they like while keeping God close to themselves.
Describe the moment that you knew you wanted to take the next steps to become a priest?
The moment that I knew I wanted to take the next step to become a priest was after speaking with a priest about my experiences and what it means to be a priest. He also mentioned that I should keep an open mind about this calling. Even if I discern later on that it is not my calling, the journey to get to that point is what God wanted me to experience.
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