Dolmaru Chapel of Dangjin Parish

History & origins

The creation of Dolmaru Mission Station was shaped by rural population decline and changing transportation conditions in Jeongmi-myeon. According to a Catholic Peace Weekly report on the mission station, six communities under Dangjin Parish—Majung, Sanseong, Saseong, Dosan, Cheonui, and Bongseong—were brought together into one community. Instead of absorbing the smaller mission stations into one of the existing ones, the parish chose to establish a completely new place that all of the communities could share.

In 1994, the then pastor of Dangjin Parish, Father Jeong Ho-yeong, commissioned architect Seung H-Sang to design the new mission chapel. After construction, Bishop Joseph Kyeong Kap-ryong dedicated the church on November 14, 1996, and the new community formally began that November. The name “Dolmaru” is said to have come from the appearance of a rock on the hill, while the exposed concrete and the use of light behind the altar became defining features of the new sacred space.

At the time, there was also hope that the mission station might eventually develop into a new parish. Those plans did not materialize as the regional development outlook weakened amid the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the collapse of the Hanbo Group. The community nevertheless continued as a mission station, and a priest’s residence was added in 2003.

This history shows that Dolmaru was more than a simple consolidation of facilities. It was an attempt by dispersed rural Catholic communities to create a new common center in response to changing patterns of life and mobility. Its continued status today as a mission station of Dangjin Parish shows that the consolidation became an enduring form of Catholic community life in the area.