Hasan Mission

History & origins

The organized Catholic community in Hasan dates back to the period immediately after the Korean War. According to records preserved by Gasil Parish, Maria Kim, who came from Seoul to stay with her family in the area, began evangelizing her neighbors. The community grew quickly after the family of Peter Park Hyeong-taek was baptized, eventually gathering around Park with roughly fifty faithful from sixteen households.

To provide a permanent mission chapel, Park donated 176 pyeong of his own land to the Church. A wooden chapel of about twenty-two pyeong was built on the site and blessed on May 19, 1955, by Father Mo An-se of Gasil Parish. Park was then appointed head of the mission community and continued evangelization. When the community was larger, parishioners reportedly carried sand and made concrete blocks themselves to maintain and improve the facilities.

As the rural population and the number of Catholics declined over time, the mission station nevertheless continued under the pastoral care of Gasil Parish. In the 2000s, the faithful renovated the facilities themselves, and catechetical pictures and devotional materials from the 1950s and 1960s were discovered near an old confessional. These materials were transferred for preservation to places such as the Gasil Parish history hall and Gwandeokjeong, carrying forward the memory of postwar rural evangelization and mission-station life.