Mukho Pilgrimage Catholic Church

Overview

Mukho Church (Mukho Star of the Sea Church) is a church in Donghae City, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, belonging to the Diocese of Chuncheon, elevated on June 1948 from a Catholic mission chapel under Imdang-dong Parish to a parish. It is the parish where Father Patrick Reilly, martyred during the Korean War, served as pastor, and its patron is Star of the Sea.

History

[Spread of the Gospel and the mission-chapel era] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, the Gospel was first preached in the Mukho area when Ha Gyeong-yeon (Joseph) moved here from the Okgye area of Gangwon-do in 1931, and a faith community was formed in 1934 through the active evangelization of Hong Yo-han, Jeon Augustine and others. The Mukho mission chapel, established in 1940 as a Catholic mission chapel under Gangneung (now Imdang-dong) Parish, purchased a Japanese-style house on the hill behind the Mukhojin-ri customs office (now 15 Mukhojin-dong) and used it as a church.

[Elevation to parish] The Chuncheon Diocese website and the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia state that Mukho Parish was elevated on June 1948 from a Catholic mission chapel under Imdang-dong (Gangneung) Parish to a parish. The diocesan website states that, as no church building had been prepared, the first pastor, Father Francisco McGann, set up a temporary rectory in a Japanese-style house near Mukho Harbor, celebrated Mass and carried out pastoral ministry.

[6·25 and Father Patrick Reilly] According to the Chuncheon Diocese shrine guide, Father Patrick Reilly arrived on August 1949 but was martyred during the Korean War, leaving Mukho Parish without a pastor. The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia states that in the 6·25 unrest communist forces occupied the church, and the pastor, who had briefly taken refuge in the house of catechist president Nam Bong-gil in Manu-ri, was arrested together with the president and, while being taken to Gangneung, was killed on August 29, 1950 beside the Bamjae railway tunnel in Okgye-myeon, Gangneung City (now Donghae 2 Tunnel on the expressway), about 10 km from Mukho. The encyclopedia’s list of successive pastors records the 2 pastor as Brennan Patricio (P. Brennan) (1949.9~1950.8), while the Chuncheon Diocese website names the same person as Father Patrick Reilly.

[Closure and restoration of the parish] The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia states that Mukho Parish was closed for 7 years (1950.8~1957.5) because of the 6·25 unrest. The Chuncheon Diocese website states that, with the pastorate vacant, the faithful attended Mass at nearby Samcheok Parish and that in 1954 it became a Catholic mission chapel under Samcheok Seongnae-dong Parish (now a church of the Diocese of Wonju after the diocesan division in 1965). The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia likewise states that in 1954 it became the Mukho mission chapel under Samcheok (now Seongnae-ri) Parish. On June 1957, when Bishop Quinlan, then Vicar Apostolic of Chuncheon, completed the present church building, it was restored as a parish after 7 years. The Catholic Newspaper states that Bishop Thomas F. Quinlan of Chuncheon decided to establish a parish commemorating priests martyred in the Korean War and in 1957 newly built Mukho Church to commemorate Father Reilly and elevated it to a parish. The Chuncheon Diocese website states that Vicar Quinlan sought to build new churches in three places (Soyang-ro, Mukho and Samcheok) to commemorate priests martyred during the war.

[Late 1950s to 1990s] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, the number of faithful, only about 30 at the time of restoration as a parish, reached about 500 in 2 years. On December 1972 it prepared St. Joseph Cemetery, a communal cemetery for parishioners, in Mangsang-dong, and on June 16, 1984 it built the 3-story Daegeon Education Hall for use as catechism rooms and group meeting rooms. Of the parish land, 105 pyeong originally in private ownership was purchased on March 1989 after a continuing dispute with the landowner. The Chuncheon Diocese website states that for educational work for children of poor families in the area it took over Namho Vocational Middle and High School on November 1968, renamed it Namho Higher Civic School and ran educational work for 15 years, but closed it on February 1982. On January 28, 1992, with the establishment nearby of Cheongok-dong Parish of the Diocese of Wonju, it transferred the registers of Mukho parishioners living in the new parish’s territory, and on June 1, 1994 the Okgye mission chapel under its jurisdiction was elevated to a parish, reducing the number of faithful (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

[Church statistics and successive pastors] The jurisdiction recorded by the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia is Dongho-dong, Balhan-dong, Hyangro-dong, Bugok-dong, Samun-dong, Mukho-dong, Eodal-dong and Mangsang-dong, and the numbers of faithful are 494 in 1959, 708 in 1962, 1,485 in 1978, 1,484 in 1984, 1,889 in 1989, 1,881 in 1992, and 1,253 in 1994. The successive pastors are the 1st, McGann Francisco (1948~1949.9), the 2 Brennan Patricio (1949.9~1950.8), the 3 Hassett Antonio (1957.6~1959.1), the 4 Healy Joseph (1959.1~1962.11), the 5 Hassett (1962.11~1968.6), the 6 Murphy James (1968.6~1970.10), the 7 Oxley Bernardo (1970.10~1974.5), the 8 Kennedy Brendan (1974.5~1978), the 9 Neehan John (1978~1980.2), the 10 McGonagle Dionysius (1980.2~1981.8), the 11 Park Yeong-geun John the Apostle (1981.8~1987.4), the 12 Lee Heung-seop Lawrence (1987.4~1993.9), the 13 Bae Jong-ho Thomas (1993.9~1995.2), and the 14 Jeong Gwi-cheol Benedict (1995.2 to the present). Here “present” means the time of writing of that dictionary.

[Life and martyrdom of Father Patrick Reilly] The deceased-priests entry on the Chuncheon Diocese website describes Father Patrick Reilly as a priest of the Missionary Society of St. Columban born in Ireland on October 21, 1915, ordained on December 21, 1940 and deceased on August 29, 1950, with his grave in the Chuncheon Diocese clergy cemetery. It gives his career as entry into Korea in 1947, Wonju (now Wondong) in 1948~1949, and Mukho in 1949~1950. The diocesan shrine guide states that he entered Korea in 1948, began ministry as pastor of Wonju Parish and was appointed pastor of Mukho Parish in 1949, so the year of entry differs by source.

According to the Chuncheon Diocese shrine guide, when the Korean War broke out the faithful prepared a boat and urged him to flee, but he refused, saying, “A shepherd cannot abandon his sheep and flee alone.” While hiding in the inner room of the catechist president’s house in Manu-ri and celebrating Mass, he was arrested together with the president on the report of a villager sympathetic to the communists, and while being transferred with other prisoners from Mukho to Gangneung he was shot dead on August 29, 1950 at Bamjae-gol. Villagers later found the body and buried it nearby, then on October 10, 1951 moved it to the Jukrim-dong clergy cemetery with a funeral Mass. The Catholic Newspaper writes that Father Reilly is thought to have been shot by communist forces when he could no longer walk during the transfer, and that his remains could be found after the recapture of Gangneung on September 28, 1950 through the efforts of faithful who remembered him. The catechist president was President Nam Bong-gil (Francisco) (Catholic Newspaper).

The Chuncheon Diocese shrine guide states that Mukho Church faithful erected a martyrdom monument at Bamjae-gol and made walking pilgrimages to honor his martyrdom, but as it stood at the entrance of the Yeongdong Line tunnel, danger from train operation became an issue, so in 2021 the diocese newly created a pilgrimage site at San 47-3, Nakpung-ri, Okgye-myeon, Gangneung City.

Architecture and Space

[Church building] The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia states that the present church building was completed on June 1957. The Chuncheon Diocese website states that on June 1957, when the present church building was completed, its patron was named “Star of the Sea” and part of the relics of St. Kim Dae-geon were enshrined inside. The Catholic Newspaper writes that the church is a Gothic church with white pillars and sky-blue outer walls, and that in the middle of the yard beside the church stands a martyrdom monument inscribed “Ra Badeurichio Martyrdom Monument.” The Chuncheon Diocese website states that parishioners erected the Father Patrick Reilly martyrdom monument in 1974 and observe a memorial day around the martyrdom anniversary each year.

Related Places and Persons

• Martyrdom site of Father Patrick Reilly: a Chuncheon Diocese pilgrimage site under Mukho Parish, located in Nakpung-ri, Okgye-myeon, Gangneung City (Chuncheon Diocese shrine guide).
• Soyang-ro Church and Samcheok Church: churches that Vicar Quinlan sought to build anew together with Mukho Church to commemorate martyred priests (Chuncheon Diocese shrine guide).
• Imdang-dong Parish (Gangneung): the mother parish that supervised the Mukho mission chapel until the parish elevation in 1948 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, Chuncheon Diocese website).
• Samcheok Seongnae-dong Parish: the parish that supervised the Mukho mission chapel from 1954, becoming part of the Diocese of Wonju after the diocesan division in 1965 (Chuncheon Diocese website).
• Cheongok-dong Parish (Diocese of Wonju) and Okgye Parish: registers were transferred with the establishment of Cheongok-dong Parish in 1992, and the Okgye mission chapel was elevated to a parish in 1994 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

References and Sources

1. Research Institute of Korean Church History, Korean Catholic Encyclopedia “Mukho Parish” (Vol. 5). Spread of the Gospel and mission-chapel era, parish elevation in 1948 and closure during 6·25, restoration in 1957, development, statistics, successive pastors.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/2138
2. Chuncheon Diocese website, Parish “Mukho Star of the Sea Parish.” Year of establishment 1948.06., church completion in 1957 and patron, mission chapel under Samcheok Parish in 1954.
   https://www.cccatholic.or.kr/parish/parish/view/36
3. Chuncheon Diocese website, Shrine “Mukho Church (Martyr Father Patrick Reilly).” First pastor, background of church construction in 1957, Namho Higher Civic School, martyrdom monument and memorial day.
   https://www.cccatholic.or.kr/parish/holyland/12?t=3
4. Chuncheon Diocese website, Shrine “Martyrdom Site of Father Patrick Reilly.” Circumstances of his martyrdom and transfer of remains, creation of new pilgrimage site in 2021.
   https://www.cccatholic.or.kr/parish/holyland/11?t=3
5. Chuncheon Diocese website, Deceased Priests “Ra Badeurisio Patrick Reilly.” Date of birth, date of ordination, date of death, pastoral career.
   https://www.cccatholic.or.kr/diocese/priest/sacred/149
6. Catholic Newspaper, “Tracing the Footsteps of Korean War Martyrs (2) Martyrdom Site of Father Patrick Reilly and Mukho Church of Chuncheon Diocese” (2020.9.8). Circumstances of martyrdom, church construction and parish elevation in 1957, appearance of church and martyrdom monument.
   https://www.catholictimes.org/article/202009080243381