Sister Mi Young Sung
Current ministry location – Peru
Sister Mi Young was born in Kwangmyong City, Kyonggi Do, South Korea. She graduated from Anyang Girls High School, Anyang City, Korea in 1982. In 1986, she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Sung Shin Women University, Seoul, Korea. Then, in 1998 a Master of Arts Degree in Social Welfare, as well as a Certificate in Pastoral Counselling in 1999 from Chun Jin Sang S/P Counsel Center, Seoul Korea.
Sister Mi Young entered the Congregation on August 5, 2000 at the Maryknoll Sisters Center, Maryknoll, NY. She pronounced her First Vows on August 11, 2002 at the Sisters Center and her Final Vows on September 5, 2009 at Catarina, San Marcos, Guatemala.
Sister Mi Young’s first mission assignment was to Malacatan, Guatemala in 2003. There, she made use of her experience in social work and counseling, serving the indigenous women of Guatemala. She was also involved in Pastoral work and AIDS ministry serving the children of AIDS patients in Quetzaltenango.
Having had to learn a second language herself, Sister Mi Young started a literacy campaign in Guatemala that built on her personal experience and training. As a member of a diocesan women’s pastoral team, Sister Mi Young also supported efforts to give Guatemalan women training and opportunities they had not gotten traditionally, in order to participate at all levels of society. Also an artist, Sister eagerly encouraged the people of Guatemala by her own example to unleash their creativity.
In 2013, Sister Mi Young was assigned to be coordinator of the Chi-Rho Community at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in NY from 2013 – 2016.
In 2017, she was assigned to Peru where she did prison ministry in one of the men’s prisons in Lima. She was working with four groups of prisoners: the elderly, drug- addicted, youth and transgender groups. She provided support at the physical, emotional and mental level through a nutrition program, art therapy and counseling. She also volunteered once a week at a soup kitchen for Venezuelan refugees in Peru.