Buke Mission Station

History & origins

Bugye Mission Station began with evangelization in Changpyeong-ri, Bugye-myeon, in 1987. According to a homily by an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Daegu, a faith community formed through the missionary efforts of Joanna Shin Hee-jo and sisters from St. Paul's Anna Home, and the first mission Mass was celebrated in Shin's home during the pastorate of Father Yi Chan-hyeon. A small community gathered in a private home thus became the starting point of the mission station.

As the number of faithful grew, a dedicated mission space became necessary. In January 1999 Ignatius Shin Jae-gi, then president of the Gunwi Parish pastoral council, purchased a two-story building in Changpyeong-ri and donated it to the Church. The building was renovated with mission funds, support, and offerings from benefactors. On May 22 of the same year Archbishop Paul Yi Mun-hi presided over the blessing and dedication of the mission chapel in the presence of about 150 people.

Bugye then continued as a rural mission station under Gunwi Parish. On Farmers' Sunday in 2020, Bishop John Bosco Jang Shin-ho celebrated Mass there and blessed agricultural produce. The sequence from a first Mass in a home, to a chapel made possible by the offerings of the faithful, and later to a Farmers' Sunday liturgy shows how Bugye developed as a community in which the everyday life of local residents and Catholic faith remain closely connected.