Gapcheon

About this place

Gapcheon Mission Station is a mission station of the Diocese of Wonju and a local Catholic community in Gapcheon-myeon, Hoengseong County. A Catholic Peace Newspaper account identifies it today as a mission station under Cheongil Parish, while the Guide to the Catholic Church in Korea also lists it among the mission stations of the Diocese of Wonju. Its basic character is that of a place where Catholics scattered across a broad rural area can remain connected with their parish and continue prayer and liturgical life.

The Gapcheon area carries memories of Catholic villages that are older than the present mission-station building. Church-historical sources describe Catholic communities in the Hoengseong area around the time of the Byeongin Persecution and also preserve records that regard Bamgol Mission Station as the root of Gapcheon. The present Gapcheon Mission Station is meaningful as a place that links those regional memories of faith with the life of today's community. The fact that the earlier Catholic village and the current mission station belong to the same stream of local Catholic history is important for understanding the place. Sources differ, however, on what point should count as the formal “foundation” of the mission station, so this introduction confines itself to its present identity and regional significance; the dating issue is treated separately in the history section.