Dangjin Catholic Church

Overview

Dangjin Church is a church in Eupnae-dong, Dangjin-si, Chungcheongnam-do, belonging to the Diocese of Daejeon. Separated from Hapdeok Parish, it was established in 1939, and its first pastor was Father Fromentoux. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism, its patron is Queen of All Saints. It spun off Gijisi Church in 2003 and Sucheon Church in 2011, and held the dedication ceremony for the new church on November 19, 2016.

History

〔Background of Establishment〕 According to the Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia, the plan to establish a new church in Dangjin had been conceived since the mid-1930s. Hapdeok Church, the mother church of Dangjin, had spun off Yesan Church in 1927 but grew rapidly and felt the need to spin off a new church, and Dangjin was chosen as the site for the new church because it was the seat of the county office. In the nearby county seats of Seosan and Yesan, churches had long stood in the town center, but Dangjin had none. The Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism notes that before the parish was established, there were about 10 Catholic mission chapels in the Dangjin area under the jurisdiction of Hapdeok Parish (now Guhapdeok Parish), then belonging to the Diocese of Seoul.

Hapdeok Church prepared for the division of the new church from 1938. On the present site of Dangjin Church stood Dangjin Elementary School, which moved its school buildings elsewhere in April 1938, leaving an 2-bay building formerly used as elementary-school classrooms that could be used as a church, and the site commanded a view of the whole town of Dangjin, making it suitable for building a church (Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia).

〔Establishment of the Parish〕 In 1939, it was separated from Hapdeok Parish, and Father Fromentoux (E. Fromentoux) took office as the first pastor. The Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism records that it was separated as a parish after the priests’ retreat ended in May 1939, while the Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia records the establishment date as April 30, 1939, the day the first pastor was appointed. According to the encyclopedia, it purchased the former Dangjin National School site and 2 classroom buildings at lot 507-2, Eupnae-ri, Dangjin-eup, and carried out evangelization. The Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia states that its initial jurisdiction covered Dangjin-eup, Seokmun-myeon, Godae-myeon, Songsan-myeon, part of Songak-myeon, part of Sunseong-myeon, part of Myeoncheon-myeon, and Unsan-myeon in Seosan-si, which continued until the jurisdiction between Dangjin Church and Seosan Church was adjusted in November of that year after the administrative reorganization in 1957. In the early days, lacking the means to build a church, the interior of the 2-bay building formerly used as an elementary school was remodeled for use.

〔The 6-25 War and Social Work〕 The Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism records that the No. 4 pastor, Father Cordesse (M. Cordesse), was kidnapped and killed during the 6-25 War. The No. 5 pastor, Father Yu In-seong, established an orphanage for war orphans (Sohwa Nursery) on April 3, 1952, and on October 15 of the following year purchased a wooden tin-roofed house (70 pyeong) at lot 570-2, Eupnae-ri to provide medical benefits for local patients, establishing Sohwa Clinic. According to the Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia, the original name of Sohwa Nursery was the Hapdeok Nursery Branch; the orphanage long operated by Hapdeok Church had difficulty accommodating the children increased by the Korean War, so it opened a branch, and in 1953 there were 48 children.

On September 24, 1956, it took over Unsan Higher Civic School, which had been founded by the Methodist Church, built new school buildings, and on March 6, 1958 received formal authorization as Daecheol Middle School and opened it (Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism). The Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia states that, as the further schooling of nursery children after graduating from elementary school emerged as a problem, a proposal was made for the Catholic Church to take over the school in Unsan, the Diocese of Daejeon accepted it and founded Daecheol Middle School in Unsan-myeon, Seosan-si on March 6, 1958, and the admitted nursery children lived and studied with sisters in houses prepared near the school. Sohwa Kindergarten is recorded differently by source: the encyclopedia gives its opening as June 15, 1957, while the Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia states it opened on the grounds of Dangjin Church with authorization on August 14, 1956. In June 1958, with the establishment of the Diocese of Daejeon, its affiliation changed from the Diocese of Seoul to the Diocese of Daejeon (encyclopedia).

〔Seongmo Clinic〕 Sohwa Clinic built a new building in October 1973 with the help of the Catholic Women’s Association of Austria, changed its name to Dangjin Seongmo Hospital, and was blessed and opened in September 1975; on November 28, 1992 its name was changed again to Seongmo Clinic (Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism). The Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia states that until Seongmo Hospital became fully independent in 1975, the pastor of Dangjin Church concurrently served as hospital director.

〔Construction of the Church in the 1960s〕 On January 18, 1966, it founded a credit union, and in September of the same year demolished the old church, temporarily moved the church into the convent, and began new church construction. Construction was at times halted for lack of funds, but Father Byeon Gap-seon visited other parishes every Sunday and raised building funds in Canada and the United States, advancing the work. On December 10, 1967, the first Mass was celebrated amid incomplete facilities, and on April 30, 1968, the dedication ceremony for the church with a building area of 110 pyeong was held, presided over by Bishop Hwang Min-seong (Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism). According to the Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia, in 1964 the faithful reached 2,615, making the old tile-roofed church remodeled from elementary-school classrooms too small; moves to build a new church had existed since the early 1960s without result, but with the arrival of a new priest in June 1965, fundraising began in earnest from July. Construction started in June 1967 at a total cost of 640 won.

〔After the 1970s〕 After the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres, a branch of the Society of the Holy Word was installed in July 1976 and cooperated in pastoral ministry, and from March 1985 Dangjin Seongmo Clinic was transferred to the Society of the Holy Word. On March 10, 1985, it completed an education hall (130 pyeong) equipped with an auditorium, ondol rooms, and a kitchen, opening it as an educational venue and as a lecture hall, wedding hall, and banquet hall for the local community. It built a new parish office in July 1986 and expanded the kindergarten in August, followed the church expansion in December 1988 with an expansion of the rectory and education hall in December 1990. The parish, which had jurisdiction over Catholic mission chapels reaching 20 places, held catechist formation meetings every Sunday from 1982 to resolve the shortage of mission-chapel leaders and promote the revitalization of mission-chapel communities, and returned mission-chapel dues to the chapels for their self-reliance (Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism).

〔Divisions〕 The Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia states that with the completion of the Sapgyocheon seawall in 1979, traffic patterns changed and industrialization proceeded, causing the population of the Dangjin area and the faithful of Dangjin Church to increase dramatically. When the faithful exceeded 4 thousand in the 2000s, it spun off Gijisi Church in 2003 to have jurisdiction over Gijisi, Songsan, Banggye, Bugok, Bogun, and Dangsan districts; after the division, Dangjin Church had 3,594 faithful and Gijisi Church had 754. In 2009, it held the 70th anniversary celebration of its foundation and published the “History of Dangjin Parish of the Catholic Church.” In 2011, it spun off another church in Sucheong-dong, and the newly established Sucheon Church had 1,154 faithful. After the divisions, Dangjin Church had jurisdiction over all of Eupnae-dong and part of Wondang-dong, with 4,198 faithful as of 2012.

〔New Church〕 According to the Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia, as the church built before 50 deteriorated, raising safety concerns, and became too small for the faithful, the existing church was demolished and the groundbreaking ceremony for the second church building was held on March 7, 2015. After 9 months of construction, the first Mass was celebrated in the new church on December 24 of the same year, and in the following year, on November 19, 2016, the dedication ceremony was held with the Bishop of the Diocese of Daejeon. At the same time, the rectory and convent were also built with 2 stories.

〔Present Status〕 Dangjin Church is the district-head church of the Dangjin District in the Diocese of Daejeon (Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia). As of 2015, it has jurisdiction over all of Eupnae-dong and part of Wondang-dong, with 4,198 faithful.

〔Church Statistics and Successive Pastors〕 The church statistics recorded in the Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism are 1,995 in 1956, 2,761 in 1960, 2,674 in 1966, 2,300 in 1970, 2,275 in 1975, 2,467 in 1980, 2,437 in 1985, and 3,248 in 1993. The jurisdiction recorded in the encyclopedia is all of Dangjin-gun and Songak-myeon, Songsan-myeon, Godae-myeon, Seokmun-myeon, Daehiji-myeon, Jeongmi-myeon, Myeoncheon-myeon, and Sunseong-myeon, and the Catholic mission chapels under its jurisdiction are Bogun, Bugok, Banggye, Songsan, Dangsan, Geumam, Hanggok, Okhyeon, Gosan, Sambong, Chorakdo, Saseong, Majung, Cheonui, Dosan, Sanseong, Bongseong, Sagiso, Seongbuk, and Guryong, totaling 20 places. The successive priests are the first, Emilio Fromentoux (1939.5-1940), No. 2, Francisco Park Won-yeong (1940-1946), No. 3, Joseph Lee Bok-yeong (1946-1948.8), No. 4, Mario Cordesse (1948.8-1950.9), No. 5, Francisco Yu In-seong (1952-1967.12), No. 6, Cirillo Byeon Gap-seon (1967.12-1968.7), No. 7, Francisco Kim Sun-ho (1968.7-1969.12), No. 8, Benedict Gu Ja-o (1969.12-1971.7), No. 9, Paul Jo Byeong-gi (1971.7-1976.9), No. 10, Paul Kim Byeong-jae (1976.9-1981.1), No. 11, Thomas Jang Yeong-sik (1981.1-1986.4), No. 12, Paul Kim Dong-eok (1986.4-1988.2), No. 13, Paul Kim Gi (1988.2-1992.8), and No. 14, Roberto Jeong Ho-yeong (1992.8-) (as of the time of writing of the encyclopedia).

Architecture and Space

The Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia states that to the east of the new church stands Daegon Hall, completed in 2002 and used as a meeting and education space for the faithful, and in the same building Sohwa Kindergarten, founded in 1956, is operated. In Seongsim Hall to the south of the church, kitchen facilities are equipped so events and meetings can be held.

On the church grounds are a ginkgo tree 800 years old and a zelkova tree 150 years old, designated as protected trees of Dangjin-si in 1982, and the Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia states that this shows this was the historic site of Dangjin’s former government office.

The old church dedicated on April 30, 1968 had a building area of 110 pyeong and was demolished in 2015 for safety reasons (Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism, Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia).

Related Places and People

• Hapdeok Church (Guhapdeok Parish): the mother church of the Dangjin area, which spun off Yesan Church in 1927 and Dangjin Church in 1939 (Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism).
• Gijisi Church and Sucheon Church: churches spun off from Dangjin Church in 2003 and 2011 respectively (Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia).
• Daecheol Middle School: a school opened in Unsan-myeon, Seosan-si on March 6, 1958, founded in connection with Sohwa Nursery of Dangjin Church (Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism, Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia).
• Dangjin Seongmo Clinic (Seongmo Hospital): a medical institution originating from Sohwa Clinic of Dangjin Church, located just below Dangjin Church (Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism, Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia).
• Father Fromentoux (E. Fromentoux): the first pastor of Dangjin Parish in 1939. Father Cordesse (M. Cordesse) was the No. 4 pastor and was kidnapped and killed during the 6-25 War (Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism).

References and Sources

1. Institute for Korean Church History, Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism “Dangjin Parish” (Vol. 3). Separation and foundation from Hapdeok Parish in May 1939, the 6-25 War and social work, church dedication in 1968, education hall, church statistics, mission chapels under jurisdiction, successive priests.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/1234
2. Academy of Korean Studies, Digital Dangjin Culture Encyclopedia “Dangjin Church”. Foundation on April 30, 1939, background of establishment, nursery, hospital and school, divisions in 2003 and 2011, new church construction in 2015-2016, present status.
   https://www.grandculture.net/dangjin/toc/GC06400957