Legionaries of Christ

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Application

Candidacy Phase I

Re:

Candidacy Application Part I⁠

for Inoh Choe

1-21 Application Questions

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Choe, Inoh_Candidacy Application Phase 1.pdf

1.6 MB

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22. Essays

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`List the jobs you have held, what you did, the employer, place, durations, dates, reasons for leaving`⁠
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Resume

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Inoh Choe CV_2022.pdf

65.9 kB

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Linkedin⁠

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/inohchoe/

Bio

Korean-American from Hawaii and 2nd oldest of six kids.

Future plans: Enter religious life

Recently: Lead Product Manager for FIS' Impact Labs, a corporate venture builder in fintech

Mid-career: Early employee who worked in business operations and strategy roles for 3 VC and PE-backed companies that exited for a combined $3.1B in value

First job: Missionary in India at age 18

Education: MMM (MBA+MS in Design/Engineering) from Kellogg, BS from Notre Dame

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`Write your personal history, describing chronologically the major stages of your life, where you were and what you did, the formative and decisive experiences. In short, how you came to be the person you are today (Specify date where possible)` ⁠
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Key moments in my 33 years of living

Age 0 - Inoh came into the world on May 12, 1989 :)’

Age 15 - Realizing I was just a Sunday Christian in name after my best friend from Korea said he didn't think I believed in God (e.g., there was nothing that I did or say that made him think it was worth going to mass)

Age 18 - Begin taking ownership of my faith after going through Discipleship Training School (6-month program offered by Youth with a Mission)

Age 23 - Let go from my first job, which allowed more time for prayer and turn back to trusting in God

Age 29 - Developed deep friendship with Christian brother and sisters (Catholic and Protestant) business school where we challenged each other to integrate faith and career

Age 30 - Started attending daily mass after attending Opus Dei silent retreat

Age 31 - Discovered adoration attending a Catholic Sports Retreat

Age 32 - Started mental prayer by encouragement from YCP leader

Age 32 - Laid off, which gave me time for more prayer and surrender novena

Age 33 - Got my first spiritual director through YCP mentor

Age 33 - Overwhelmed by the grace of God after escaping from three near-death episodes from a hike/climb that went wrong

The story version

See “how I met the Legionaries” section below

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`Write a self appraisal covering the following areas, including your pattern of relationship and lifestyle` ⁠
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Family Life (relationship to siblings and parents. What was it like for you growing up in your family ⁠

We lived in organized chaos as you can imagine growing up in a family of eight and living in 7 cities by the time I was 18.

Born in Ohio.

Preschool in Hawaii

Elementary school in Oregon

Middle school in South Korea

High school in Colorado

College in Indiana (family lived in Hawaii and Australia).

My family

I have five siblings, all close in age (six kids, eight years apart from oldest to youngest).

2nd oldest of four sisters, one brother.

Miriam is married with 3 year-old and lives in Colorado

Sunoh is married with adopted kid in Minnesota.

Teresa is married and an ER doctor in Brooklyn

Grace is in Colorado

Joy is in Colorado

My relationships with my family

I am close to my parents who I chat with on a weekly basis. Unpok and Monica still live in Hawaii where they are very involved with charismatic church life. I've come to appreciate how they worked hard to instill the faith in all of us.

I'm close with everyone in Colorado and see each other multiple times a week. I would love to spend more time with Teresa who is hard to see and contact given the nature of her job.

I grew up fighting a ton with my little brother, but as a result, our relationship is one of the strongest... we get each other. He has one of the most amazing transformation story and is now literally the poster child for the archdiocese of Minneapolis.

Love my little sisters :)

Miriam takes care of everyone. I love being uncle to my nephew.

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Close friendships and other social bonds (clubs, societies, teams, etc) ⁠

I treasure my personal board of directors (friends from Chicago and business school) - we keep each other accountable to our personal and professional goals. My christian friends keep me honest with my faith journey. These are the folks whose weddings I attend or invite them to my dinner party. Many of them live in different cities but we will make time to see each other in person or do regular facetime calls.

I captain 50% of the ~10 rec league sports I play each year mainly through Catholic Sports (e.g,. volleyball, basketball, soccer, futsal, wiffle-ball, ultimate frisbee

Former president of Young Catholic Professionals in Denver with a team of 17 including Board of Directors

People are often surprised when I develop strong friendships with people who I just met - usually people of faith who share my values and outlook on life.

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Yours understanding, and your living of the Church's teaching on sexuality ⁠

I'm a virgin - chastity is important to me and believe the gift of one's sexuality and intimacy is reserved for marriage.

Have not encountered pornography though some of today's TV/media can be borderline.

Have not struggled with masturbation in the last two years.

I think lust/ unchaste thoughts can be a problem. Fasting from social media last 8 months has helped there.

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Your most notable positive qualities and negative tendencies ⁠

The good: I'm positive, upbeat person. I want to include others. I'm a maverick, someone who gets excited about solving problems in inventive ways. I can adapt and see the good in most situations. I relish strong relationships and connect with people.

The bad: I can be me-centric who hesitates to give time to others. I struggle with pride in my work, education, and life. I try to do much, sleep too little, and am addicted to ice cream (which becomes a vice if you have type 1 diabetes like me). I have many worldly possessions and have never been called frugal.

My rule of life/impact

Simplicity

I like paying for convenience. Money is a tool to get things done efficiently and effectively.

I like trying new things

Tension between consolidating to doing fewer things and trying many new things

Self-care

Low-carb intermittent fasting diet

Struggle with sleeping early or getting more than six hours of sleep because of habits of staying up late

Work out five times/week

Top 5% as a T1 diabetes patient, but want to be better and more consistent

Spirituality

Daily mass (5x/week)

Morning mental prayer (4x/week)

Adoration (2x/week)

Contemplating scriptures outside of mass (2x/week)

Examen (2x/week)

Rosary (3x/week) while commuting

Confession (1x/month)

Spiritual Direction (1x/quarter --> now 2x/month with new one)

Attending a Catholic event/Bible Study (1x week)

Friendship/Community

Catholic sports friends

Young Catholic Professional Leadership team

Siblings

Business

working for two Catholic nonprofits

30-40 hours work week

volunteer as a leader for YCP

My self user guide for colleagues

Link:

https://walling.app/W8q9UyRMHQZlVrsq3xYa/inoh-user-guide⁠

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Write the story of your vocation (specify dates where possible).

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How did you come to think of becoming a priest and a Legionary, and how did that develop?⁠

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Part 0: 1989-2007 | Childhood: Christian in name only

My parents named me John, after St. John the Baptist, but I go by my middle name, Inoh. It means "merciful and understanding" in Korean. I tell people that one day that I may live up to that moniker. I grew up cradle Catholic, but couldn't call the faith my own until I was 18.

Part 1: 2007 | The Mission Trip: Owning the faith

In the summer of 2007, I had deferred my first semester to Notre Dame to become a medical missionary with an interdenominational group called YWAM (Youth with a Mission).

I played many roles that fall - from being a builder of playgrounds for a Catholic grade school to being a street magician in the slums of Chennai, India to win the trust of villagers who looked at the medical missionaries with suspicion.

It was a rocky three months. I suffered pink-eye, diarrhea, showered with buckets of water, and slept on the concrete floor covered with old newspapers.

I even ran out of my own insulin and glucose monitoring supplies for myself after sharing them with one of our Indian Christian hosts who couldn't afford the life-giving medicine.

I never felt happier in my life.

Here, in one of the poorest parts of India, I was the only Catholic in the company of fourteen other protestant missionaries, and I had found Jesus. He was real, and king of my heart. It took an oversea mission trip to take the borrowed faith of my parents and call it my own.

Part 2: 2008-2018 | College & Work: Climbing the ladder

I stepped foot into the Notre Dame campus, one semester late, but with a firm goal in mind. I wanted study business so I could pursue a career that will provide me with the skills and experience to one day come back and lead a global nonprofit.

India had changed me. I had not seen a single person convert, but it planted a seed in me. We had ran out of medicine. I spent hours creating a playground in a country with over a billion people. I wanted to make a deeper, lasting impact and I didn't think manual labor and finite supplies were the long-term solution. There had to be another day. I believed that business was one of the most powerful platform to create large scale impact. Business would be that vehicle of change.

For the next decade after graduation, I dove into this world. I started my career in management consulting, honing analytical skills advising high growth companies. I moved into becoming one of the youngest operator for a private-equity turnaround in the senior living space. At age of twenty six, I joined a fintech start-up that would later go public five years later. In that time frame, I would go on to start my own company and graduate from Northwestern with a MMM degree (MBA + Masters in Design Innovation).

By the time I turned thirty three, I had been a key player for five companies, three of which grew to $3.1 billion dollars. I also was fired, let go, or had to find another job four times during time span. My relationship with my boss, while alway great in the beginning, would often sour near the end. I had placed my self-worth on my accomplishments, and my ego could not handle the disappointment when I got passed for promotion or didn't the role that I felt entitled to. I reacted poorly to feedback, often choosing to find another job and belittle the work of my former bosses.

Work had become my identity, rather than by the means to sanctify myself. What is my worth without the work I can do for companies, others, and myself?

Part 3: 2018-2022 | Working in witness for Christ: Living the integrated life

While working full-time, I discovered YCP (Young Catholic Professionals) in Chicago and Opus Dei in business school when I started to attend daily mass. I begin to learn the importance of living the undivided life - to integrate my work and faith in the same breath. In 2021, I became the volunteer president of the YCP Denver chapter. I thought this was God's plan for me - that I'm called to the world of business, that I could serve God with my time, talent, and treasure as a volunteer, while pursuing my vocation of marriage.

Part 4: 2022-Present | God had other plans for me: Cliffhangers & Legionaries

It's August 23rd, 2022 in the afternoon. I'm bleeding with a busted right shoulder, staring at the eight foot wide chasm to the other edge overlooking 30 foot vertical drop to the raging rocky waterfall below.

My friend and I were lost in the mountains after spending 10 hours hiking up the famed twin peaks of Mount Shavano and Tabeguache. We had no water or food left and no cell signal.

In that moment, I realized the futility of my 33 years of living. It didn't matter I had just sold my home in Chicago, had an MBA, or was waiting for a lucrative job offer from Google. My life would end if I didn't make the jump. It was like a video game - except I only had one life and there would be no do-overs.

After what seemed like eternity, I take a running start and leap to the side of the cliff wall.

My right foot slips underneath me and I know I won't make it. I stare in disbelief as I begin to fall towards the abyss below.

Hannah, an athletic, but wiry gal on the other side, grabs the top of shirt and yanks me with just enough force for me to grab the ledge of the other end. BAM. I slam into the side of the cliff, but am able to pull myself.

In that moment I knew. I had fallen three time in three hours. Each fall, more dangerous and unexpected than the last, and yet I was alive.

One time is an accident. A second time is a coincidence. A third time - is inexplicable. Nearly 10 people die in Colorado from hiking accidents each year. God didn't have have plans for me to die without first knowing him.

We make it out to the main trail six hours behind target, but alive with only minor injuries.

What does a man do when he feels the personal saving grace of God?

“Anything but my career and desire for marriage”, I once told God. “It doesn't make sense to be a priest when I'm already thriving in my current role”, I reasoned with Him.

But I knew - if God had saved me physically today, and sent His only Son for us, and withheld nothing from us, how can I hold anything back from Him?

I now say this prayer: “Lord, I offer my life, hope, and dreams to you, because it was always you that I desire. Not my will, but your will be done. Thank you, Lord, for everything. I don't deserve to be in your presence, but thank you for inviting me”.

I have never felt more joy and peace than the last eight months since I have embarked on this journey to discern my vocation. To discern His will for me. While I seek an answer, I realize, the more I discover who He is, the more I fall in love with Him. And that is enough.

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How did you find out about the Legion initially?⁠

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I met the legionaries at the Lumen Summit. Fr. Brandenburg gave me Fr. Martin's contact info and the rest is history. I'm an entrepreneurial leader seeking to build the Kingdom of God

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Who or what made you act on your vocational interest in the Legion?⁠

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I wrote this personal mission statement when I graduated from TLI (Tepeyac Leadership Institute) in June 2022:

I commit to being a servant entrepreneur working to bring the Kingdom of God.

Serving as the President of Young Catholic Professionals in Denver is just the beginning.

As I build the foundation of a global, yet local community of like-minded Catholic professionals in Colorado, I will share love in organizational action, integrated across leadership, innovation, and venture creation.

Instead of leveraging cultural trends for gain, I will build products and experiences that renew culture.

I will check for complacency and strive for Christ-like excellence in everything I do.

I will pursue meaningful risk for the sake of others

Legionary charism of forming leaders to be apostles and apostles forming leaders deeply resonated with me

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Which Legionary(ies) helped you in your vocation?⁠

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Fr. Vinh Pham took the time to share the multi-faceted aspect of becoming a legionary. He invited me to join a Regnum Christ March for Life, and accompanied me as I asked the tough questions.

Meeting Fr. Jorge at the Rye House helped me realize how entrepreneurial the legionaries can be in sharing the Good News.

Watching Fr. Lino leverage ChatGPT AI and Jordan Peterson to build a mentorship apostolate and bring leadership principles to priests made me realize that there were other LCs who shared my love for innovation.

Fr. Michael Slaney, Fr. Ryan Richardson, Fr. Matthew from Cummin House, Fr. Jacob DuMont... Each LC revealing another dimension of the legionary life.

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Why do you desire to become a Legionary candidate?⁠

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I found this from my first LC TYC retreat which I think aptly captures The Why LC question:

Great and little;

Distinguished and at the same time a humble servant of all;

A leader of souls and a rank and-file soldier of the Legion;

Dignified in his poverty;

Contemplative and conquering;

An enemy of laziness;

Sincere in his self-giving;

Constant in his determination;

Faithful in the little things;

Faithful in his relations with God and man;

Open and trusting with his superiors;

One who loves the Pope and the Church with a personal love;

Grateful to those who serve him;

A friend to his enemies;

Simple with the upright and simple;

Wise with hypocrites;

Sincere, realistic and eminently practical

Prudent in his decisions, energetic and conscientious in carrying them out;

Moderate and discreet in speech;

A lover of silence, justice and restraint;

Persevering even until death on the battlefield;

A faithful son of Mary;

A man of the Kingdom

Another Christ

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What is the attitude of friends and family toward your vocation?⁠

Parents: praying with an army of their Catholic friends.

Siblings: they don't know if I will be a priest, but know that going through this will make me a better person.

Cousins (protestants): Except for my Uncle who says everyone should marry (and has reminded me multiple times), my relatives have been supportive, curious, and respectful.

Friends: Both Catholic and non-Catholic friends have been surprised, but supportive. I've been surprised by the number of deep conversations I've been able to have with some fallen-away Catholics through this topic.

Friends who know the LC are ecstatic... clearly the LC has made a huge impact on them.

Ex-Legionaries: Not as ecstatic... says as long as the renewal has really taken root, that I should watch out.

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Have you been in regular contact with a Legionary? With whom? How long have you known him?⁠

Fr. Martin Connor and Fr. Vinh Pham - since December 2022.

Working with Fr. Martin on an RC project.

Visited the Spalding and Cumming House in Atlanta March 2023

Fr. Vinh and I catch up on a bimonthly basis.

Met Fr. Jacob again at the YCP Dallas Conference.

Occasional aspirant attendant (but I’m not a fan of video calls after work hours)

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Bonus :)

Baptism!

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From left to right: Doyoon (best friend in Korea), Sunoh (my brother dressed as a nun!), Inoh (priest!)

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First communion!

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