Chorakdo Mission Station

History & origins

Catholic life in Chorakdo began to take clear form in 1956, when Hong Sun-gyo Magdalena, then seventeen years old, became the first resident of the village known to embrace the Catholic faith. She traveled by boat from the island, continued through Sambong, and then went on to Dangjin Catholic Church to receive catechesis. Despite opposition from her family, she was baptized and later visited neighboring homes to share the faith. At the time, Chorakdo still had the practical conditions of an island, making travel to the parish church itself a demanding journey.

After spending time away from her hometown, Hong Sun-gyo completed studies at a catechetical institute and returned to Chorakdo as a missionary in early 1985. Her missionary work helped lead to the establishment of Chorakdo Mission Station on Christmas Eve that year. Beginning in January 1986, mission-station services and Legion of Mary meetings were held in the home of the first mission-station president, Hong Seong-jik Paul; the community then consisted of sixteen adults and eight children.

Support from other Catholic communities was important in securing a permanent place. Hong Sun-gyo sought assistance from the social welfare association of Myeongdong Parish in Seoul, and Hyehwa-dong Parish in Seoul and Sambong Mission Station of Dangjin Parish also contributed. The Catholics of Chorakdo raised additional building funds, purchased a village common-work building, and adapted it for worship. The mission-station building was dedicated on September 7, 1986.

The community grew rapidly after its establishment. Within three years, the record cited by the Catholic Peace Newspaper counted forty-six baptized Catholics and twenty catechumens, for a total community of sixty-seven including the missionary. The meaning of Chorakdo's history lies not in projecting an unverified ancient Catholic village tradition backward, but in the documented sequence by which one resident's conversion, her return as a missionary, and the solidarity of neighboring Catholic communities became an actual mission station and place of worship.