Hongcheon Church

Overview

Hongcheon Church is a church in Hongcheon-eup, Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, belonging to the Diocese of Chuncheon, and was established when the Songjeong Catholic mission chapel was elevated to a parish on June 1923. Its patron is the Virgin Mary conceived without original sin, and in 1936 the parish moved from Songjeong-ri to Huimang-ri, Hongcheon-eup, its present location, changing its name from Songjeong Parish to Hongcheon Parish. The present church was completed on April 1955.

History

〔Songjeong Catholic Mission Chapel〕 The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia states that it is unclear exactly when the Catholic faith spread to the Hongcheon area, but the 《Diary of Bishop Mutel》 contains an account of meeting the brother of seminarian Paul Kim, who lived in Hongcheon, on December 1900, and the 1903 report on the state of the mission of Pungsuwon Parish mentions the Songjeong (present-day Hwachon-myeon, Hongcheon-gun) mission chapel, estimating the period of establishment of the mission chapel as between 1902 and 1903. The Diocese of Chuncheon website states that a 1901 report by the pastor of Wonju Wondong Parish records 111 faithful in the Songjeong area and that the Songjeong mission chapel is also mentioned in the record of Bishop Mutel’s tour of mission chapels on October 1900, so the mission chapel at Songjeong appears to have been established between 1900 and 1901. The estimated periods in the two sources differ from each other.

〔Elevation to Parish〕 The Songjeong mission chapel, formerly under the jurisdiction of Pungsuwon Parish, was transferred when Chuncheon Gomsil (present-day Jukrim-dong) Parish was established in 1920 and was elevated to a parish on June 1923, with Fr. Joseph Hwang Jeong-su taking office as the first pastor (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). The Diocese of Chuncheon website states that the Songjeong mission chapel became a mission chapel under the jurisdiction of Goeun-ri Parish when a parish was established in Goeun-ri, Chuncheon, on February 22, 1920 and was elevated to a parish on June 21, 1923. The report for 1923–1924, immediately after the elevation, states that it administered 1 parishes and 8 mission chapels, including Gwandae-ri and Bupyeong-ri in Inje-gun and Hongcheon-gun, with a total of 652 faithful.

〔Relocation of the Church Site〕 According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, the 2th pastor, Fr. Ludovico Kim Gyeong-min, judged that further expansion would be difficult because Songjeong-ri was far from downtown Hongcheon, so he purchased the site in Huimang-ri, Hongcheon-gun, the site of the present church, and newly built a church, but the actual relocation of the parish was only accomplished in 1936, during the term of the 3th pastor, Fr. Marco Sim Jae-deok. The Diocese of Chuncheon website states that Songjeong Parish, which had been expanding its mission by building a hanok of about 10 kan in Songjeong-ri, moved to Huimang-ri, Hongcheon-eup, in 1936 and changed the parish name from Songjeong Parish to Hongcheon Parish.

〔Pastoral Care by the Columban Society and Rebuilding of the Church〕 In 1939, pastoral care of the Gangwon region was entrusted to the Missionary Society of St. Columban, and priests of the Columban Society took charge of pastoral care of the parish. Fr. Athanasius Choe Dong-o, who took office as the 9th pastor toward the end of the Korean War, rebuilt the wooden church destroyed in the war on September 1953 and began construction of the present church the following year. Fr. Philip Crosbie (P. Crosbie, Jo Seon-hui), the 8th pastor who had experienced the Death March and had been expelled to his home country Australia, re-entered Korea on August 1954 and returned as the 10th pastor, continuing the church construction and also building a new rectory. Fr. Crosbie increased the mission chapels from 3 (Gyeolun, Songjeong and Mulgeolli) to 15, newly built 12 mission-chapel halls, and founded the Marian Association and the Legion of Mary. The new church and rectory were completed on April 1955, and on August 1957 a branch of the Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was established (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). The Diocese of Chuncheon website also states that the present church was completed on April 1955.

〔1960~1970s〕 The 11th pastor, Fr. Matthias Keane (M. Keane, Jang), founded the Sacred Heart Society on July 1962 and held the Acies ceremony as a single parish alone. The 13th pastor, Fr. Cornelius Murphy (C. Murphy, Jeon), elevated the Seoseok mission chapel to a parish in 1968 and withdrew the branch of the Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on August 1970. The 14th pastor, Fr. Thomas Kim Jeong-sik, established a branch of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Pohang (now the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) in 1975 and in the following year elevated the Seongsan mission chapel, separating it as a parish (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). The Diocese of Chuncheon website states that Seoseok Parish was elevated to a parish on May 31, 1968.

〔1978~1990s〕 The 15th pastor, Fr. Thomas Aquinas O Sang-cheol, immediately after taking office fully carried out repair work on the church and ancillary buildings, published the parish bulletin for the first time in 1979, and in the same year withdrew the branch of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Pohang on October and newly built a convent and hall, re-establishing the branch of the Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help the following year. The 16th pastor, Fr. John Lee Jeong-haeng, organized apostolic groups such as the St. Anne Society and the Marian Association and celebrated the blessing of the education building on October 1985. The 17th pastor, Fr. Paul Maeng Seok-cheol, carried out expansion work on the parish cemetery on April 1989, and the following year held the golden jubilee celebration of Fr. Crosbie, who had served three times as pastor of the parish, on April, began new construction of the rectory (60 pyeong) and celebrated its blessing on December 1992, and opened the nursing homes ‘House of Anna’ and ‘House of Joachim’ on May 1994 and November respectively. The 19th pastor, Fr. Anselm Im Heon-gyu, carried out repair work on the church on May 1996 and began expansion work on the hall on September, completing it on December (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

〔Separation of Yeonbong Parish and the 2000s〕 Fr. Im Heon-gyu purchased a site for new construction on March 1997 in order to separate a parish, a ‘Committee for the Establishment of a New Parish’ was formed, construction of the new church began on July 1999, and Yeonbong Parish was separated on August. On June 1999, the ‘Faith Meeting of the Jubu Region for the 60th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Diocese of Chuncheon’ was held in the parish courtyard, attended by over 16,000 clergy and laity. The 20th pastor, Fr. Moses Kim Jae-bok,整理 parish registers immediately after taking office, and the 21th pastor, Fr. Matthew Heo Dong-seon, prepared a wake room and a memorial chamber and celebrated their blessing on September 2002, and the following year held an event commemorating the 80th anniversary of the parish establishment on June (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

〔Church Growth and Successive Pastors〕 The numbers of faithful recorded in the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia are 3,307 in 1964, 2,834 in 1971, 2,357 in 1976, 2,716 in 1982, 2,196 in 1988, 2,458 in 1994, 1,856 in 2000, and 1,742 in 2004, and the jurisdiction is Hongcheon-eup and part of Bukbang-myeon, with 1 mission chapel under its jurisdiction, the Gyeolun mission chapel. Successive pastors run from the first, Joseph Hwang Jeong-su (1923.6–1928.5), to the 2th, Ludovico Kim Gyeong-min, the 3th, Marco Sim Jae-deok, the 4th, Peter Kim Yeong-sik, the 5th, Thomas Neligan (T. Neligan, Gan), the 6th, Bernard Geraghty (B. Geraghty, Ji), the 7th, James Maginn (J. Maginn, Jin), the 8th, Philip Crosbie (1947.2–1950.6), the 9th, Athanasius Choe Dong-o, the 10th, Crosbie (1954.8–1961.7), the 11th, Matthias Keane, the 12th, Crosbie (1962.11–1968), the 13th, Cornelius Murphy, the 14th, Thomas Kim Jeong-sik, the 15th, Thomas Aquinas O Sang-cheol, the 16th, John Lee Jeong-haeng, the 17th, Paul Maeng Seok-cheol, the 18th, John Hwang Yeong-taek, the 19th, Anselm Im Heon-gyu, the 20th, Moses Kim Jae-bok, and the 21th, Matthew Heo Dong-seon (2002.1–present). Here, ‘present’ means the time of writing of this encyclopedia.

Related Places and People

• Inje Parish: it was separated and established from Hongcheon Parish on June 26, 1954 (Diocese of Chuncheon website).
• Seoseok Parish: in 1968, under Fr. Murphy, pastor of Hongcheon Parish, the Seoseok mission chapel was elevated to a parish (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). The Diocese of Chuncheon website states that the Seoseok mission chapel was installed by Fr. Philip Crosbie (Jo Seon-hui), who was pastor of Hongcheon Parish, on October 10, 1956.
• Seongsan Parish: in 1976, a mission chapel was elevated and separated as a parish from Hongcheon Parish (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Yeonbong Parish: it was separated from Hongcheon Parish on August 1999 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia). The Diocese of Chuncheon website gives the date of establishment as September 8, 1999.
• Fr. Philip Crosbie (P. Crosbie, Jo Seon-hui): he served three times as pastor of Hongcheon Parish and increased the mission chapels from 3 to 15 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

References and Sources

1. Research Institute of Korean Church History, Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, “Hongcheon Parish” (Vol. 12). Period of estimated establishment of Songjeong mission chapel, elevation to parish in 1923, relocation of church site in 1936, completion of church in 1955, separated parishes, successive pastors, statistics on church growth.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/6992
2. Diocese of Chuncheon website, parish “Hongcheon Blessed Virgin Mary Conceived without Original Sin Parish”. Year of establishment 1923.06.21., period of estimated establishment and jurisdictional changes of Songjeong mission chapel, relocation in 1936 and name change, completion of church in 1955.
   https://www.cccatholic.or.kr/parish/parish/view/19
3. Diocese of Chuncheon website, parish “Inje Queen of the Rosary Parish”. Fact of separation from Hongcheon Parish on June 26, 1954.
   https://www.cccatholic.or.kr/parish/parish/view/18
4. Diocese of Chuncheon website, parish “Seoseok St. Andrew Kim Dae-geon Parish”. Background of installation of Seoseok mission chapel and elevation to parish on May 31, 1968.
   https://www.cccatholic.or.kr/parish/parish/view/13
5. Diocese of Chuncheon website, parish “Yeonbong St. Timothy Parish”. Fact of separation from Hongcheon Parish on September 8, 1999.
   https://www.cccatholic.or.kr/parish/parish/view/21