Mulgeum Church

History & origins

The roots of Mulgeum Parish reach back to a small mission-station community in Jeungsan-ri, Mulgeum-myeon, in the 1920s. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of Korea, around the autumn of 1927 five Catholic households gathered at the home of lay leader Park Su-hwan (Matthias) for the first mission-station service, giving rise to the Jeungsan mission station. As local conditions and diocesan pastoral structures changed, responsibility for the community passed among several parishes, while the faithful continued to maintain the community and secure places for worship.

In 1966, the retired priest Fr. Yun Ye-won (Thomas) stayed at Jeungsan, and the mission station for a time functioned much like a temporary parish. Considering transportation and the area's future development, he judged Mulgeum-ri to be more suitable for an eventual parish and worked with lay leaders to acquire a new site. When Yangsan Parish was established in 1967, Jeungsan came under its jurisdiction, but preparations for a separate parish continued.

In 1969 the faithful, centered around Fr. Lee Ok-gun, who was staying at the mission station, began actively pursuing parish status. The Diocese of Busan also considered the area's transportation and growth potential and prepared to build a temporary church. On November 19 of that year, Mulgeum Parish was formally established, and the new community laid its foundations with a temporary church and rectory.

Once the parish became more stable, a church-building association was organized in 1976. Ground was broken for a new church on July 4, 1977, and the building was completed and dedicated on November 20 of the same year. The sequence shows how a community that began as a small mission station passed through changing jurisdictions and years of preparation before becoming an independent parish with a church of its own.