Bocheon Mission Station

History & origins

Catholic life in the Eumseong region is closely connected with believers who moved in search of refuge during periods of persecution. According to a Catholic Peace Newspaper history of Bocheon Mission Station, five families descended from St. John Nam Jong-sam settled in the Eumseong area and continued their faith there, and Fr. Bouillon, the first pastor of Janghowon Parish, established Chansaemdeul Mission Station in 1901. This broader history formed part of the foundation from which several later mission communities in Eumseong developed.

Evangelization in Bocheon itself became more organized around 1956. Lay catechists and priests from Eumseong Parish used village homes to teach catechumens, and because church statistics from 1958 list six mission stations including Bocheon, the establishment of Bocheon Mission Station is generally estimated to date from around that year. The early community grew through the missionary efforts of local Catholics, including its first lay leaders.

In 1960, Fr. Gerard Kennedy of Eumseong Parish secured land for the mission station, and in 1963 the faithful made earthen bricks themselves and built a chapel, which was then dedicated. In 1979, however, double-tracking of the Chungbuk railway line absorbed the site into the railway corridor, forcing the community to demolish the building. The faithful acquired the site of the former Wonnam-myeon office and rebuilt the mission station, which was blessed that same year by Bishop Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk.

The building underwent a major renovation in 1986 and was remodeled again in 2003, giving it its present form. The history of Bocheon Mission Station is thus the story of a small rural Catholic community that preserved a place of faith through evangelization, voluntary labor, relocation, and rebuilding. In particular, the fact that the faithful made earth bricks themselves to build the first mission station, and then created a new community space when railway construction forced them to move, shows that the voluntary participation of local Catholics was central to the mission station’s continuity.