Bansong Catholic Church

History & origins

Until the early 1960s, Bansong retained a largely rural character, but urban planning from 1968 to 1970 brought large numbers of residents displaced from Beomil-dong and nearby areas, creating a dense new settlement. About twenty Catholic residents formed a committee in 1969 to prepare a mission station, and Bansong Mission Station was established on December 10 of that year, when a priest from Dongnae Parish celebrated the first Mass. With no hall of their own, the community initially borrowed places such as a senior center, an animal hospital, and a nursery.

As the local population continued to grow, Maryknoll missionary Fr. Francis Beninati proposed the creation of a parish. After diocesan review, the mission station was elevated to Bansong Parish on December 24, 1972. The first pastor used a small rented house as both church and rectory while working toward a permanent church. Land in the present parish area was purchased in May 1973, ground was broken in June, and the new church was completed on October 7.

Alongside church construction, the parish responded to social needs in the new neighborhood. Because the economic difficulties of many relocated families made it hard for young people to enter middle school, the parish opened Daegun School in June 1974 to provide middle-school-level education for those who had not advanced. Later years brought church expansion, growth of lay apostolic groups, and youth and labor ministry during the 1980s.

The early history of Bansong Parish can thus be summarized as the story of Catholics in a newly created resettlement district moving among borrowed spaces, establishing a mission station, building a parish and church, and then addressing education and labor concerns together with the wider neighborhood. The parish’s development is inseparable from the social history of the community that settled Bansong.