Su-an-bo Catholic Church

History & origins

The direct beginning of Suanbo Parish is traced to the end of 1955, when Fr. Joseph Ok Bo-eul of Chungju Parish established Suanbo Mission Station in Anbo-ri. According to a Catholic Times of Korea article marking the parish’s 60th anniversary, this mission station marked the point at which the post-liberation Catholic community of the Suanbo area appears clearly in the historical record.

Suanbo Mission Station became a parish on February 20, 1963, a date also recorded as the parish’s establishment date in the official directory of the Diocese of Cheongju. As a new parish it received responsibility for Suhoe, Jangyeon, and Yeonpung mission stations, as well as Mireuk-ri and Taeseong, and by 1969 the parish community had grown to 1,102 Catholics across five mission stations.

Groundbreaking for the parish church took place in July 1964, and the church was completed and dedicated on November 29, 1965. The jurisdiction later changed: Taeseong Mission Station was transferred back to Goesan Parish, while Yeonpung Mission Station separated as a quasi-parish in 2011. This shows how Suanbo once served as a pastoral center linking a broad surrounding region and then saw new pastoral units emerge as local communities developed.

In 2023 the parish celebrated a Mass of thanksgiving for its 60th anniversary. From its beginnings as a mission station in 1955, through parish establishment in 1963, church construction, and changes in the network of mission stations, its history shows the long continuity of Catholic life in the Jungwon area.