Tschangho John Kim offers ‘peace to the community’ through teaching, writing and serving.
From Korea to Austria to the United States, Tschangho John Kim traversed the world, pursuing a life in academia. Now, Kim plays an essential role within the Korean Catholic community in the Arlington diocese.
Growing up, Tschangho’s parents’ involvement in the church and their conversion stories nourished his faith, he said. While studying in Japan, his father, Won K. Kim, met an Irish priest in Kyoto and after much discussion and debate, Won converted and returned to Korea to teach. Not long after, he met Bok H. Lee, who likewise converted and was baptized shortly before their marriage. Tschangho was born July 4, 1943, and baptized three days later in the province of Gyunggi.
Throughout his childhood, Tschangho served as an altar boy for the Maryknoll fathers, an international missionary organization based in New York. He said that in the 1950s, Maryknoll fathers and sisters came to Korea to not only help Koreans grow in their spirituality, but also rebuild the war-torn country.
“I did a lot of altar boy service for the Maryknoll priests,” Tschangho said. “At the time, I didn’t understand why this group of people would leave their lives in the United States.” Many years later, he realized, “I understand why they did it: their sacrifice, their love for Koreans and Korean churches.”
In 1967, Tschangho received a scholarship to study in Vienna, Austria, and later traveled to the United States in 1969. One year later, Tschangho met his wife, Moonja, and they married not long after. Moonja continued her studies at Rutgers in New Brunswick, N.J.,earning her doctorate in psychology, while Tschangho pursued his doctorate in urban planning and engineering at Princeton in New Jersey.
In 1976, Tschangho became assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In the course of his 37-year career at the university, he advanced to the position of endowed professor emeritus of urban and regional systems.
“We have a family history,” joked Tschangho. “My father was a professor, my uncle was a professor and my son is now a professor.”
He said that during his years of teaching, he and his wife were often separated while she worked at the Pentagon. In 2012, Tschangho retired and rejoined Moonja in Northern Virginia. He has been a parishioner of St. Paul Chung Church in Fairfax ever since.
Throughout their family life and marriage, the couple often repeated a quote from the cardinal who officiated at their wedding: “Until today, your love led you to this matrimony. From now on, this wedding shall lead your love.” Even today, Tschangho said, his family members often remind themselves of this saying.
He has been a leader in the Korean Catholic community. He serves as a translator and a coordinator for the diocesan Office of Multicultural Ministries, helping with the multicultural Mass, the multicultural choir concert and other events. He is also a member of the diocesan long-range planning committee.
In 2017, Bishop Burbidge nominated the Kims as two of 21 diocesan delegates to attend the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops convocation.
Having been a choirboy since high school, Tschangho stays involved with music ministries throughout the diocese. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, he often sang for the Cathedral of St. Thomas More choir, and today, he sings bass for his parish choir.
In his spare time, Tschangho enjoys writing articles on the history of Catholicism in Korea. Several of his articles are in Catholic publications including the Catholic Herald and the Catholic Peace Times Weekly.
After writing a series on the Maryknoll fathers, Tschangho said he will begin another series of biographical articles titled “People who touch my heart who love God.” He continues to work on his memoir, “The Story of a Happy and Blessed One.”
Reflecting on his life, he urges Catholics to “love your neighbor,” which will lead to “peace to the community, peace to the country, peace to the world.”
