Cheolwon Catholic Church

History & origins

The Cheorwon parish community traces its beginnings to around 1955. According to the Diocese of Chuncheon, a Catholic named Stefano Shin moved from Myojang-myeon in Cheorwon to Dongson and gathered four or five Catholic households for prayer services in his home. The group was established as a mission station under Jungnim-dong Cathedral Parish, and a priest came each month to celebrate Mass.

In 1957 a church was built with prefabricated materials brought from Japan through a United States postwar reconstruction assistance program. On June 4 of that year the mission station was elevated to parish status and became the Parish of the Epiphany of the Lord. Its original territory was extensive, covering Cheorwon-eup, Galmal-myeon, Dongson-myeon, and Gwanin-myeon in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi Province, while also caring for the four mission stations of Jipo-ri, Gwanin, Munhye-ri, and Yonghwa. A new church building was completed in August 1985 and remains in use today.

Cheorwon’s identity as a divided border region continued to shape parish history. During the Great Jubilee of 2000, the Diocese of Chuncheon held a national “Day of Prayer for Reconciliation and Unity of the Korean People” near Woljeong-ri Station in Cheorwon, and parishioners from Cheorwon worked with Catholics from neighboring parishes to support the event. This history shows that Cheorwon Church is not only a parish formed during postwar reconstruction but also a community that has prayed for reconciliation and peace amid the continuing reality of division.