Changgu Mission Station

History & origins

Changgu Gongso is documented as having existed at least before 1957. According to the account published by the Diocese of Andong, Benedictine Father Arnold Lenhart came to the area in late July 1956 and carried out missionary work, and the baptismal register records that sixty residents of the Changgu area were baptized on November 19, 1957. Even in a region where long-established Buddhist temples were prominent, the mission community continued evangelization through relationships with local people and care for those in need.

In later years, the mission station’s outreach remained closely connected with care for its neighbors. The diocesan record notes that, beginning around 2004, one Catholic provided meals twice a week for local elderly people for about two years, and some of those relationships eventually led people to receive the faith. In autumn, the community also held a flower festival and concert with local residents, expanding the relationship between the mission station and the village.

The chapel building was also renewed as the community changed. The older structure was demolished in July 2006, and a new chapel was built and dedicated on November 19 of that year. The parish provided support, mission-station members contributed what they could, and the faithful helped create the Stations of the Cross and a Marian garden. A stone altar formerly used at St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon Church in Daegu was also installed. This chronology shows how Changgu Gongso developed from early mission activity and baptisms into a community that combined faith with care for its neighbors and eventually established the liturgical space it uses today. The new gongso was built on a 1,986-square-meter site, larger than the previous property, with a total floor area of 132 square meters. Meeting and support rooms were arranged along both sides of the hall-like interior so that the small community could use the building for several purposes. The cross on the roof and the Marian garden in the yard were also designed to make the gongso a recognizable sign of faith within the village.