Changbuk

About this place

Changbuk Mission Station belongs to Bu’an Parish in the Diocese of Jeonju and is located in Changbuk-ri, Gyehwa-myeon, Bu’an County. Current diocesan mission-station information registers Changbuk under Bu’an Parish, and it continues as a local place of faith where Catholics in the farming communities of the Gyehwa reclaimed land gather.

A diocesan feature on the mission station explains that Changbuk developed among settlers and farming families in the reclaimed-land area. Residents first gathered at the mission-station leader’s home for communal Catholic services; later the diocese secured land and local Catholics took part together in constructing a building. This background gives Changbuk particular significance as a place where the social history of settlement on Gyehwa Island meets local Catholic faith. Though modest in scale, the mission station preserves the memory of Catholics forming a community during the process of settling the reclaimed land.