Fr. Jaehwa John Lee

Fr. Jaehwa John Lee’s life is a journey - a story shaped by intellect, questioning, searching, and ultimately, a call.

<Academic Formation & Global Experience>

Fr. Lee studied Structural Engineering at Columbia University and later pursued graduate studies in education at the University of Pennsylvania. Before entering the priesthood, his professional life spanned diverse fields and cultures. He served as an English teacher in Spain, a structural engineer, a high school teacher in inner-city Philadelphia, a NASA education researcher, and a professor at a Yeshiva rabbinical seminary. Through these experiences, he encountered not only different disciplines but also different faith traditions, cultures, and communities.

<A Journey of Faith and Questioning>

Though born into a Catholic family, Fr. Lee’s faith journey was not without struggle. Witnessing the sincerity and holiness of believers from other traditions, he began asking himself a profound question: “Why am I Catholic?” For a time, he stepped away from the Church. During his university years, he was actively involved in interdenominational Christian campus ministries such as The Navigators, Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru), and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, even leading Bible study groups.

Yet something remained unsettled. It was through reading The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila that he rediscovered the depth of the Catholic faith. In its pages, he encountered anew: the mystery of the Eucharist instituted by Christ, devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, prayer for the souls in purgatory, and the beauty and order of the apostolic Church. Faith was no longer simply a personal preference - it was a call.

<Answering the Call>

Responding to that call, Fr. Lee entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and was ordained to the priesthood. Following ordination, he served in university ministry at the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, Drexel University, Haverford College, and Bryn Mawr College. He later spent a sabbatical year in Korea, serving on the island of Chuja, teaching at The Catholic University of Korea, and contributing to Catholic Peace Broadcasting through translation and interviews, including work with Dr. Scott Hahn.

<Present Ministry>

Today, Fr. Lee serves as Pastor of St. Andrew Kim Taegon Parish in the Archdiocese of Omaha. Drawing from a life shaped by academic rigor, cross-cultural experience, and deep spiritual searching, he now dedicates himself to building not physical structures of steel and concrete, but living communities of faith. “The engineer who once studied the structure of buildings now helps build the interior castle of the soul.”