Wonpyeong Church

History & origins

The roots of Wonpyeong Church are connected with the Benedictines who settled in Waegwan in the 1950s and took responsibility for Catholic ministry in the Seonsan and Gumi region. According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, support from Monsignor T. Bitterli of the Benedictine community enabled the purchase of land in the area then served by Gumi Mission Station. A church building of about fifty-one pyeong was completed in December 1956, and the community was elevated to Gumi Parish. At first a curate from Waegwan celebrated Mass regularly there; in 1957 Father G. Fisher arrived as the first resident pastor.

The early parish covered not only the town of Gumi but also a broad missionary territory extending into Seonsan and surrounding rural districts. As mission stations grew and parishes such as Seonsan became independent, the territory was gradually reorganized. In the 1960s and 1970s the parish was involved in rural development, cooperative finance, and educational initiatives. When the Gumi Industrial Complex accelerated urbanization, ministry increasingly turned toward factory workers. The pastoral focus thus shifted in step with the area's transformation from a rural missionary field into an industrial city.

In September 1979, after Sinpyeong Parish was separated from it, the former Gumi Parish was renamed Wonpyeong Parish. Later, additional communities such as Hyeonggok and Doryang became independent parishes as the Catholic population of Gumi continued to expand. In 1995 a Catholic cultural center was completed and used for Bible education, social welfare activities, and parish gatherings.

This history shows that Wonpyeong has functioned as more than one local parish; it has been one of the mother communities of Catholic life in Gumi. A small parish that began with Benedictine missionary support adapted its ministry to the growth of an industrial city and gave rise to several new parishes, helping shape the present Catholic structure of the region.