The Catholic Church remains to be the biggest religious group in the Philippines. Every country where there are Filipinos, they are likely to flock to Catholic churches on Sundays. This is exactly what the Hyehwa-dong Catholic Church does. The Filipino Catholic priest officiates the mass in Tagalog. These days, the Filipino priest at Hyewha-dong is Father Alfie Africa.
Yesterday was the second time I went to mass with Fr. Alfie officiating (I regularly go to a Christian church with my family). And yesterday happened to be Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday on a Sunday?
Father Alfie explained in his homily (not verbatim):
“Filipino workers here in Korea have a unique situation. Workers can’t get out of their work on weekdays so our Ash Wednesday is now “Ash Sunday”.”
The Catholic Church adapts to working conditions and migrant situations in other countries so it’s acceptable to change days to cater to the needs of the faithful. It has been a long time since I experienced Ash Wednesday. I explained to my sons that this is part of my childhood growing up as a Catholic.
For future reference for Catholics in Korea, please keep this in mind. I only learned about this last Sunday, too:
Ash Wednesday here is celebrated on the Sunday following the actual date of the Ash Wednesday. So, if you have no Catholic Church near your place or work, you can always rely on going to the Tagalog Mass at the Hyehwa-dong Catholic Church. Regular Tagalog service is every Sunday at 1:30pm.
How to go there?
Get off at the Hyehwa Station, Exit #1. Walk straight until you reach the Catholic Church. On a Sunday, you wouldn’t miss this as you will immediately be seeing Filipino faces and hearing familiar Filipino words. The side street going to the Catholic Church becomes Little Manila for a few hours where you can readily buy some of your cravings from back home.
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Ayy wow ganito po pala sa korea . Sabagy po napapansin ko din kpag sa ibng bansa tlgang sundy lang ang off . Okay din po kung ash sunday para sa mga kababayan nating pinoy 😍❤️
Ash Sunday po pala dyan dahil yung ang availability ng workers. Sa Dubai po dati ang off ng lahat every Friday naman po, yun na din ang schedule ng church activities. It’s nice that there’s Christian churches too in SK 😃
Nakakatuwa malaman na meron din sila ganyan jan sa korea kahit ash sunday sa kanila.May chance pa din ang Catholic na mag pa lagay ng kruz sa noo.
A big help! Very nice and cool information! I’m sure it’ll be such a great for each and everyone
Wow this great . Tlga nman nkakatuwa na may ganyan din po jan . Kse po tlga my mga pilipino din sa mga bawat bansa . Thank you for sharing this ❤️😍