Sinae Mission

History & origins

Sinae Village took shape as a settlement community where people affected by Hansen's disease built a shared place to live. In 2003, the Catholic Times described both the village and its faith community as having a history of about forty years and reported that the mission station had supported the residents' religious life from the time the village was first formed. The Diocese of Andong's official record gives March 5, 1964 as the establishment date of Sinae Mission Station. Together, these sources show that the village and the Catholic mission community became rooted in the same period in the early 1960s.

Under the care of Yeongdeok Parish, the mission station served as a center where residents gathered for prayer and Mass. The 2003 field report records that the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Assisi were assisting the pastoral care of the mission station at that time and that several households formed the settlement community. This illustrates that the mission station was not only a liturgical space but was closely connected with the everyday life of people who had endured social prejudice and hardship related to Hansen's disease and who supported one another in community.

The relationship between Sinae Village and the mission station has continued. The Andong Diocesan Caritas still lists Sinae Village as one of the diocese's Hansen settlement communities and identifies Sinae Mission Station with it. Although a complete detailed chronology from the founding period is not publicly available, official diocesan records and Catholic reporting consistently support the broader history of the mission station serving as the spiritual center of the settlement community from the 1960s to the present.

The near coincidence of the formation of Sinae Village and the establishment of the mission station helps explain the character of the community. The sources suggest that the mission was not simply a later religious facility added to an already established village; rather, a place of faith took root as the settlement community itself was building a new life.