Fr General Arturo Sosa SJ has appointed Fr Kwon Oh-chang Simon SJ as the new Delegate of the Korean Provincial for the Jesuit Mission in Cambodia. Fr Kwon will take over from Fr Oh In-don Francisco SJ who has served in the role since 2013.
Born in 1968 in Andong, South Korea, Fr Kwon entered the Society of Jesus on 4 February 2003, after graduating from law school at Seoul National University. He was ordained as a priest on 3 July 2013 and pronounced his Final Vows on 22 October 2021. He first came to Cambodia for his Regency in 2008, where he served in Banteay Prieb, a vocational training centre and home for people with disabilities. He left Cambodia to study theology in Berkeley, California, and afterwards returned to his home province of Korea for his ordination.
After ordination, Fr Kwon served as assistant parish priest of Uksoo Parish in Daegu, and then worked as spiritual director at the Jesuit retreat centre in Suncheon. He was missioned back to Cambodia a year later, where he served as minister of the Prieb So Jesuit Community in Phnom Penh, while deepening his study of the Khmer language.
He was assigned as Director of Banteay Prieb from 2015 until 2018 when he was sent to Girisonta, Semarang, Indonesia for Tertianship. Since his return to Cambodia, he has been working as Director of Vocation Promotion, while accompanying the young people of St Francis Xavier Parish in Sereisophoan, Battambang Prefecture. Fr Kwon is also the treasurer of Xavier House Jesuit Community, and Chairperson of the Spiritual Committee. He provides spiritual direction for all the members of the Mission.
The Jesuits and partners in the various apostolates of the Jesuit Mission in Cambodia, as well as in the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang, received the news of Fr Kwon’s appointment with great joy. Writing on behalf of the Jesuits and mission partners, Fr Oh expressed his felicitations and gratitude to Fr Kwon and offered him their full support as he takes the mission of serving the Cambodian people forward.
Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific President Fr Tony Moreno SJ likewise welcomed Fr Kwon’s leadership in the conference. “The Cambodia Mission is faced with immense challenges, and yet we are consoled by the gradual growth of its young personnel and ministries,” said Fr Moreno. He also thanked Fr Oh “for his nine years of dedicated service and leadership in the Cambodia Mission and in our conference” and commended both men and the Cambodia Mission to the prayers of all.
Fr Kwon will take over the office of the Delegate on 1 April.