SEOUL (UCAN) -- The Church in South Korea has launched an integrated computerization system to link all parishes and standardize management of parish affairs.

Father Patrick Joo Ho-sik, director general of Seoul archdiocese's System and Information Department.

The National Integrated Yangeop System standardizes administration of parishes and dioceses across the country, and allows them to exchange pastoral information, Father Patrick Joo Ho-sik told UCA News on Oct. 2.

The director-general of Seoul archdiocese's System and Information Department said no other local Church in the world has implemented a national standardized pastoral-management system.

The archdiocese and neighboring Uijeongbu diocese installed the system first, on Sept. 20. Another 10 dioceses and the Military Ordinariate are set to join on Oct. 18. The three remaining dioceses -- Andong, Chunchon, Wonju -- will adopt the system later because they do not have the necessary level of computerization yet, Father Joo said. These three neighboring dioceses lie along the country's east-central coast.

"It is very meaningful that the project has agreement and cooperation from all dioceses in the country," said Father Joo, who heads a national group of diocesan priests coordinating the computerization work.

On Sept. 20, 1998, Seoul archdiocese launched its Yangeop System, with the help of Woori Bank, to link up diocesan offices, institutes and parishes.

The archdiocese named the system after Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop, Korea's second native priest, who died of illness after 12 years of service to Catholics under persecution in the mid-19th century.

Other dioceses followed suit and introduced the Yangeop (formerly spelled Yangup) system. However, Seoul archdiocese upgraded the system in 2001, and compatibility issues between the new and old versions suggested the necessity of integrating the system among dioceses. To address the issues involved, priests in charge of computerization in all dioceses have met every month since 2004.

In February 2006, the bishops' Permanent Council authorized Seoul archdiocese to "temporarily" handle the project, according to Peter Lee Young-sik, head of the bishops' media team.

Two months later, Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul and Hwang Young-key, president of Woori Bank, agreed the bank would bear the entire development expense of 3 billion won (about US$2.3 million). Meanwhile, the archdiocese has encouraged all the other dioceses to open accounts with Woori and make it their main bank.

The Korean bishops agreed at a plenary meeting in 2007 to promote the unified system project, Lee told UCA News on Oct. 2.

According to Father Joo, the new system also helps facilitate exchange of pastoral information and statistics among dioceses.

He gave the example that non-practicing Catholics who want to go to church again can register at any parish, even if they cannot remember the parish they were baptized in. "Until now, such cases would inflate the number of Catholics," he pointed out, since those people would be counted twice.

Father Joo said the system also helps Catholics baptized during their military service to be registered in their home parish once they leave the military.

Until now, explained Sylvia Bae Hwan-hee of the Military Ordinariate's computerization department, such Catholics would be registered manually in their home parish only when they asked the ordinariate to do this for them.

The national integrated system will automatically pass on to parishes the information on those Catholic soldiers as soon as they complete military service, she told UCA News on Sept. 29.

As of the end of 2007, according to local Church statistics, the three archdioceses, 12 dioceses and Military Ordinariate in South Korea had 1,511 parishes and 1,084 mission stations.

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