Mr. Jae Bin (Gabriel) Lee

Seminarian, First Year Pre-Theology

     My name is Jae Bin Lee (Baptismal name is Gabriel) and I am the first son of my family. I was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. When I was 16, I decided to study abroad in the United States of America to seek better opportunities and to have successful life.

     I always wanted to become a priest in order to help people live good lives as Catholic Christians, and I thought that would be the best and happiest thing I could ever do with my life. The motivation and ideas that led me into studying for the priesthood were the movie “The Prince of Egypt,” and the prayers of the Church especially The Lord's Prayer and The Apostles Creed, which my Korean tutor taught me when I was frightened of her scary stories.

     “The Prince of Egypt” introduced me to the Book of Exodus and caused me to begin thinking about Catholicism. Additionally, it was a strange experience that prayers could ease the fear of scary stories and give me courage. Ever since then, I wanted to become a priest who, like those prayers, eases fear in people and gives them courage in times of need.