Mulgulri Mission

History & origins

The Diocese of Chuncheon records 1930 as the year Mulgolli Mission Station was established. Since the present parish structure at Seoseok dates from the later 1960s, the Catholic community at Mulgolli clearly existed in the Naechon area of Hongcheon before the current parish organization was in place. The diocesan mission-station page, however, does not provide details about who founded the community in 1930, which parish first cared for it, or what its earliest chapel was like.

The present line of pastoral jurisdiction becomes clear in 1968, when the Seoseok community was elevated to parish status. The diocesan history of Seoseok Parish states that when the parish was erected on May 31, 1968, it assumed responsibility for the mission stations of Saenggok, Naemyeon, Jangpyeong, Mulgolli, and Gwangwon. From that point onward, at least, Mulgolli’s incorporation into the pastoral structure of Seoseok Parish is directly documented.

The Diocese of Chuncheon still lists Mulgolli today as a mission station under Seoseok Parish. The secure historical outline is therefore that a mission community was already present in 1930, that it came under the newly established Seoseok Parish in 1968, and that it has continued as a local Catholic community within that structure. Because public sources do not fill the intervening years with further detail, it would be inappropriate to add unverified events or individuals.