Fr Trisolini (Korean name: Do-Yohan) is considered one of the godfathers of the second generation of Korean Salesian Cooperators since 1976. He used to invite the Catholic faithful to meet at the (Thursday) confessional in Seoul’s Catholic Cathedral Church of Myong-dong, although he had never known them before.
Some of them accepted his invitation for the Salesian Cooperator Aspirants encounter. In this way many from the Seoul City Center started their own vocation journey.
Many of the members give a similar testimony: “At first, we didn’t know what Salesian Cooperators were all about and also our Catholic faith was too weak, but Fr John awakened us, opened our eyes to the Salesian spirit and Cooperator identity. He made us strong to live in the world with the heart of Jesus' disciples like Don Bosco. As our Center delegate, Fr Trisolini was always with us when we were exhausted in our daily life and had some family or faith problems.”
He worked in the Labour Ministry Committee of Seoul Archdiocese. Many of the poor and suffering workers were his good friends. He worked for their rights and interests and was a spiritual leader for them. Since 1990 Fr. John held the regular lectures about the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church.
Fr John Fitzgerald Trisolini (1937-2010) spent most of his life as a missionary in Korea, where he arrived in 1959, a few years after the end of the Korean war. He is most remembered for this preferential love for the working youth (esp. JOC - Young Christian Workers), contribution to the formation of the first generation of Korean Salesians and long term ministry within the Seoul Archdiocese - first for the Korean worker class, later for the numerous foreign migrant workers with other Salesian Family members and with other diocesan clergy.
