목천 성당

History & origins

Mokcheon Parish was established on January 26, 1999. The current Korean Catholic directory records the same date as the parish’s foundation and identifies Saint Peter the Apostle as its patron. It is a relatively young parish, created so that Catholics in southeastern Cheonan could continue liturgical and pastoral life within an independent parish community.

Lay devotional life was organized quickly after the parish was founded. According to the Diocese of Daejeon, the “Gate of Heaven” praesidium of the Legion of Mary was established on August 8, 1999. Its members took part not only in parish events and liturgical service but also in activities for the wider community, including cleaning and bathing service at welfare facilities, and the group later gave rise to another men’s praesidium.

In 2009 the parish’s tenth anniversary coincided with the five-hundredth meeting of the “Gate of Heaven” praesidium. This record shows that Mokcheon’s first decade was not merely a period of establishing facilities; it was also a time in which the community developed its internal structure through lay spirituality and service.

Mokcheon continues today as a parish in the Cheonan East district and has one mission station under its care. The documented history centers on the 1999 establishment of the parish, the formation of lay organizations in the same year, and the growth of community activity through its first decade; unverified claims about earlier Catholic villages have not been added to the parish’s history.