Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary

About this place

The Siheung St. Paul Community is one of the local communities of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary within the Diocese of Suwon. The Catholic Church Directory in Korea records its location at Siwha St. Paul Catholic Church. This shows that it is not a separate parish, but a religious community living within a parish setting.

The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary are an international missionary congregation founded in the nineteenth century. The congregation’s official Korean materials present universal mission—being ready to go anywhere and to anyone to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God—as a central part of its identity. The St. Paul Community shares in this consecrated life and missionary spirituality and is best understood as a community that embodies the presence of religious women within the local Church in Siheung.

The Siwha St. Paul Parish and this community of sisters at the same address appear as different types of entries in the Catholic directory. This makes clear that a parish serving the faithful and a religious community living consecrated life can cooperate in one place without being the same organization. When identifying the St. Paul Community, it is therefore important to distinguish information about the parish as a place of public worship from the identity of the sisters' religious community.