Cheonghak Church

History & origins

The roots of Cheonghak Parish reach back to the old Catholic community of Jonaegi in what is now Cheonghak-dong on Yeongdo. The Catholic Encyclopedia of Korea records a tradition that, after the Byeongin Persecution, Romuald Kim Bo-yun settled there and gathered Catholics who came to the area, and that in 1890 Father M. Jo-Zeau established a temporary church on Jeoryeongdo. As Busan's port developed and pastoral needs changed, however, Father Jo-Zeau moved the center of his ministry to Choryang the following year, while the Jonaegi community remained a mission station. The faithful acquired land for the mission station in 1906 and built a church hall the next year, preserving the community's foundation.

On October 30, 1932, the Jonaegi mission station was designated the Cheonghak quasi-parish, but it reverted to mission-station status after the death of the priest in charge. In May 1939 it was formally raised to a parish, with Father Peter Kim Dong-eon as its first pastor. Catechesis, a night school, and lay organizations helped shape the early parish, which endured the difficulties of the final years of Japanese rule and the turmoil surrounding the Korean War.

After the Great Busan Fire of 1953, refugees were accommodated in Cheonghak-dong and the parish took part in relief work. As the number of Catholics grew and Yeongdo changed, Sinseon Parish was separated from Cheonghak in 1955. Construction of a new church began in 1956, and the following year the church was dedicated and the rectory blessed. Bongnae Parish was separated in 1969 and Taejongdae Parish in 1972, gradually reshaping Cheonghak's pastoral territory toward its present local scale.

In 1989, a monument commemorating one hundred years of the Busan mission was erected at the church. The monument recalls not only the growth of Cheonghak as an independent parish but also the wider expansion of Catholic life in Busan from the early community on Yeongdo. Cheonghak's history thus shows a community developing from a mission station through a quasi-parish into a parish and, in turn, giving rise to neighboring parishes as the local Church's pastoral network took shape.