Family Card - Person Sheet
NameMary PAIK 
*New [OCCU]Nu’uanu Congregational Church, Honolulu
Birthabt 1958
FatherJAY SoungJik PAIK (1930-)
MotherJean HaeSoon PAIK (1934-)
Notes for Mary PAIK
{geni:occupation} Senior Pastor
{geni:about_me} Mary Paik – SFTS degree: Master of Divinity 1987
Current ministry: Senior Pastor, Nu’uanu Congregational Church, Honolulu, Hawaii
“At SFTS, I experienced rigorous study, thoughtful conversations and a caring community – gifts received which I bring to my new call in Hawaii. I feel like everything I have been through and all my experiences in my career have prepared me for this experience. That’s why I went to seminary – to become a pastor. This is the kind of fit I would hope for anyone going into the ministry.”
Mary Paik’s first call came at the remarkable age of 11 when she began playing the piano for her church. Not only did she major in music in college, but there was a time when she entertained dreams of being a choral director.
God had something planned for Paik all right, leading her from youth ministries to multicultural outreach to seminary administration to her current call in Honolulu, where she is senior pastor at Nu’uanu Congregational Church.
“This is where my heart has always been,’’ Paik said. “I feel like everything I have been through and all my experiences in my career have prepared me for this experience. That’s why I went to seminary – to become a pastor.”
Paik immigrated to Southern California from Korea with her family when she was 11. She grew up with a dual identity, relating to Koreans as the church pianist before rushing off to a predominantly white church, where she was partof a larger youth group.
As the first Korean-American woman to be ordained Minister of the Word and Sacrament by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Paik has compiled an impressive list of contributions to the church. After graduating from SFTS in 1987, sheserved as Associate Pastor for English Ministries at Korean Presbyterian Church outside Detroit. After a five-year run in the Midwest, she returned to California as Associate Executive for the Presbytery of San Jose.
Her administrative skills duly noted, Paik became Vice President for Student Affairs at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, where she was part of the senior leadership team. There she served as project director for a program that develops and nurtures the next generation of Asian-American leadership in the church and community.
It’s somewhat ironic that as a Korean-born immigrant who has been lifted up among Presbyterians as a multicultural leader, Paik has landed in a place where diversity is commonplace. She moved to Hawaii with her husband – Dwight Morita (M.Div. 2003) – in 2007 to be closer to Dwight’s family, and has not looked back across the Pacific in either direction.
“It’s the one place I feel most comfortable,” Paik said. “You can be Asian and American at the same time. It’s affirming and vulnerable. You can’t hide behind your culture. You are what they are.”
Hawaii’s warm, accepting community is refreshing for Paik, a Korean Presbyterian serving as pastor of a predominantly Japanese United Church of Christ congregation. Paik says even Buddhists attend Sunday worship alongside their Christian relatives.
“I am so grateful for the embodiment of interfaith,” Paik said. “It’s very unique here. This is the kind of fit I would hope for anyone going into the ministry.”
http://www.sfts.edu/alumni/profiles.asp
http://nuuanu.org/services.htm
{geni:about_me} Mary Paik – SFTS degree: Master of Divinity 1987
Current ministry: Senior Pastor, Nu’uanu Congregational Church, Honolulu, Hawaii
“At SFTS, I experienced rigorous study, thoughtful conversations and a caring community – gifts received which I bring to my new call in Hawaii. I feel like everything I have been through and all my experiences in my career have prepared me for this experience. That’s why I went to seminary – to become a pastor. This is the kind of fit I would hope for anyone going into the ministry.”
Mary Paik’s first call came at the remarkable age of 11 when she began playing the piano for her church. Not only did she major in music in college, but there was a time when she entertained dreams of being a choral director.
God had something planned for Paik all right, leading her from youth ministries to multicultural outreach to seminary administration to her current call in Honolulu, where she is senior pastor at Nu’uanu Congregational Church.
“This is where my heart has always been,’’ Paik said. “I feel like everything I have been through and all my experiences in my career have prepared me for this experience. That’s why I went to seminary – to become a pastor.”
Paik immigrated to Southern California from Korea with her family when she was 11. She grew up with a dual identity, relating to Koreans as the church pianist before rushing off to a predominantly white church, where she was partof a larger youth group.
As the first Korean-American woman to be ordained Minister of the Word and Sacrament by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Paik has compiled an impressive list of contributions to the church. After graduating from SFTS in 1987, sheserved as Associate Pastor for English Ministries at Korean Presbyterian Church outside Detroit. After a five-year run in the Midwest, she returned to California as Associate Executive for the Presbytery of San Jose.
Her administrative skills duly noted, Paik became Vice President for Student Affairs at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, where she was part of the senior leadership team. There she served as project director for a program that develops and nurtures the next generation of Asian-American leadership in the church and community.
It’s somewhat ironic that as a Korean-born immigrant who has been lifted up among Presbyterians as a multicultural leader, Paik has landed in a place where diversity is commonplace. She moved to Hawaii with her husband – Dwight Morita (M.Div. 2003) – in 2007 to be closer to Dwight’s family, and has not looked back across the Pacific in either direction.
“It’s the one place I feel most comfortable,” Paik said. “You can be Asian and American at the same time. It’s affirming and vulnerable. You can’t hide behind your culture. You are what they are.”
Hawaii’s warm, accepting community is refreshing for Paik, a Korean Presbyterian serving as pastor of a predominantly Japanese United Church of Christ congregation. Paik says even Buddhists attend Sunday worship alongside their Christian relatives.
“I am so grateful for the embodiment of interfaith,” Paik said. “It’s very unique here. This is the kind of fit I would hope for anyone going into the ministry.”
http://www.sfts.edu/alumni/profiles.asp
http://nuuanu.org/services.htm