Opening of Fr. John Lee Memorial Hall in Busan
Seoul, Korea, 145 January 2020 -- The memorial hall honoring Fr. John Lee who called Don Bosco in South Sudan, was opened in his hometown of Busan metropolitan city on 14 January 2020.
Busan Seo-gu Office said in the afternoon that the opening ceremony was held at the Memorial Hall of Fr. John Lee located behind his birthplace.
More than 300 people attended the event, including Gong Han-soo (the Chief of Busan Seo-gu Office), Oh Geo-don (the mayor of Busan), the Catholic Bishop of Busan Joseph Son Sam-seok, and Fr Timothy Choi Won-cheol SDB (Provincial of Korea).
The memorial hall is a four-storey building. It consists of a cafe on the ground floor, a program room and office on the second floor, a memorial hall on the third floor, and a multi-purpose hall on the fourth floor. The memorial hall on the third floor displays some 60 relics that reveal Fr. Lee’s holy life and some Diorama three-dimensional model) on his dedicated life in Sudan’s Tonj. It plans to introduce other artifacts in turn through special exhibitions in the future.
The management of the entire memorial hall is conducted by the Salesian society of South Korea. The Korean Province said, “We will carry out various activities to inherit and spread the three spirits of Fr. John Lee: Service, Joy, and Sharing.”
“the Cafe Friends” on the first floor will be used as a place to help the disadvantaged youth, by saving some of its profits and to support the self-reliance of the youth who dream of being “a chef.”
