Inje Church

Overview

Inje Church is a church in Inje-eup, Inje-gun, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, belonging to the Diocese of Chuncheon, and was established on June 26, 1954, immediately after the end of the Korean War, after splitting from Hongcheon Parish. Its patron is the Queen of the Holy Rosary, and in 1957 the church building was completed by remodeling a theater building that had been destroyed in the Korean War, leaving only its walls.

History

〔Establishment and temporary church〕 According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, Inje Parish was established under harsh conditions immediately after the end of the Korean War. The first pastor, Father John J. Lynch (Im), secured the faithful by carrying out relief work for local residents with supplies and food aid received from the National Catholic Welfare Conference (N.C.W.C.) of the United States. At first, a tent was pitched on the vacant lot behind the present church site and used as a temporary church, but it was completely destroyed by fire, and thereafter, with the support of the faithful from U.S. military units, a Quonset hut temporary building was installed and used as the temporary church until May 1957. The Chuncheon Diocese website states that this hut was used as the temporary church for 2 years.

〔Church building〕 According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, with aid from the United States, the theater that had been destroyed in the Korean War, leaving only its walls, was remodeled, and on November that year a church with a total floor area of 135 pyeong was completed. The Chuncheon Diocese website states that a single-story church came to be completed at the present church site on June 1957, explaining that this building was designed and constructed with aid from the United States from the Japanese colonial-period theater that had been destroyed by shelling during the Korean War, leaving only its walls, and was completed on November 27 that same year.

〔Self-supporting operation〕 According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, Inje Parish was operated with support from foreign missionary societies until 1970, attempted self-supporting operation from the tenure of the 3th pastor, Father John the Baptist Cheon Singi, and the foundation for parish self-support was laid in this period as the 6th pastor, Father John the Apostle Lee Jeong-haeng, promoted the church dues system and actively involved the faithful in establishing and executing the budget and settlement.

〔Expansion of facilities〕 During the tenure of the 7th pastor, Father Thomas Aquinas O Sang-cheol, on October 1983 a single-story education hall with a scale of 98 pyeong was newly built, and a nursing home was established and operated with dividend profits from the credit union, so that in 1986 a nursing home building of 36.8 pyeong was completed and elderly persons without family support were cared for. The 8th pastor, Father Thomas Jo Gyu-ho, drew up plans to repair the damaged church, carried out extensive work in 1988 on the church exterior walls and replacing the tin roof with copper sheeting, and created a Marian garden on August 1989. The 10th pastor, Father Francis Xavier Yun Heon-sik, expanded the nursing home by 33 pyeong to a total of 69.8 pyeong, and on November 1998 expanded the existing education hall to 2 stories, which is also used as a small auditorium and small chapel (all from the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

〔Church strength and successive pastors〕 The jurisdictional district recorded by the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia is the entire Inje-eup area. The number of the faithful was in 1968 1,433 persons, in 1974 1,710 persons, in 1980 1,440 persons, in 1985 1,643 persons, in 1990 760 persons, in 1995 743 persons, and in 2000 872 persons. The successive pastors were the 1st, John J. Lynch (Im) (1954.6~1967.2), the 2th, Paul P. White (Baek) (1967.2~1970.9), the 3th, John the Baptist Cheon Singi (1970.9~1973.4), the 4th, Thomas Song Seong-sik (1973.4~11), the 5th, Matthew Heo Dong-seon (1973.11~1978.1), the 6th, John the Apostle Lee Jeong-haeng (1978.1~1982.10), the 7th, Thomas Aquinas O Sang-cheol (1982.10~1987.5), the 8th, Thomas Jo Gyu-ho (1987.5~1993.9), the 9th, John the Apostle Kang Seong-gu (1993.9~1996.8), the 10th, Francis Xavier Yun Heon-sik (1996.8~1999.2), and the 11th, John the Apostle An Gi-min (1999.2~present). Here ‘present’ means the time of writing of this encyclopedia.

Related places and people

• Hongcheon Parish: In 1954 Inje Parish split off from this mother parish (Chuncheon Diocese website).
• Yanggu Parish: The Yanggu Catholic mission chapel, which had been under Inje Parish jurisdiction since after 1954, was raised to a parish in 1967 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia Yanggu Parish entry, Chuncheon Diocese website).
• National Catholic Welfare Conference (N.C.W.C.) of the United States: The first pastor, Father Lynch, carried out relief work with relief supplies from this organization (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

References and sources

1. Research Institute for Korean Church History, Korean Catholic Encyclopedia “Inje Parish” (Vol. 9). Establishment in 1954, temporary church, remodeled church in 1957, self-supporting operation, education hall, nursing home, Marian garden, statistics on church strength, successive pastors.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/5215
2. Chuncheon Diocese website, parish “Inje Queen of the Rosary Parish”. Establishment year 1954.06.26., split from Hongcheon Parish, relief work, church remodeled from a theater building.
   https://www.cccatholic.or.kr/parish/parish/view/18