상모 성당

History & origins

One important strand of Catholic memory in the Sangmo area is the former Imeun mission station. Official material from Sangmo Parish explains that Imeun began as a mission station of Wonpyeong Parish and later came under Sinpyeong Parish. After evangelization efforts produced many new Catholics in 1962, land was acquired and a mission-station building was constructed in 1963. The parish itself explicitly notes, however, that Imeun was not the direct administrative predecessor of Sangmo Parish.

The present Sangmo Parish was separated from Sinpyeong Parish and established on June 28, 2002. According to the parish's official introduction, local Catholics began by setting up a small altar in a temporary office and celebrating Mass there; they later joined together to build the parish church. This is more accurately understood as the formation of a new independent parish by a growing local Catholic population than as a direct administrative succession from the former mission station.

In 2022 the parish marked its 20th anniversary with a parish day that included a pilgrimage by the whole community to Jinmokjeong Shrine in Gyeongju. The event became a point of remembrance for the two decades since the parish's establishment. The history of Sangmo Catholic Church thus shows two distinct but related layers: the older memory of Catholic life around the mission station and the establishment of an independent parish in 2002.