성환 성당

History & origins

Seonghwan Parish was established on March 11, 1960, when a mission station under Cheonan Parish, today’s Cheonan Oryong-dong Parish, was elevated to the status of a parish. Both the Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism and the Catholic Church Directory in Korea use this date as the foundation of the parish and identify the Sacred Heart of Jesus as its patron. The change marked the growth of a mission-station community into an independent parish as the number of Catholics and the pastoral needs of northern Cheonan increased.

The territory of Seonghwan Parish was later reorganized as nearby communities developed. Ipjang Mission Station came under Seonghwan when the parish was separated from Cheonan in 1960, and on August 17, 1988, Ipjang itself was elevated to a parish. At that time, the new Ipjang Parish received the records of 329 households and 863 Catholics from Seonghwan. This change shows that Seonghwan once served a broad territory and later became a mother parish from which another parish emerged.

Pastoral care of mission stations continued even after such parish divisions. In 2010, the aging building of Shinhu Mission Station, under Seonghwan Parish, was enlarged and renovated and a blessing Mass was celebrated with the participation of parish clergy and mission-station Catholics. The current directory still records two mission stations under Seonghwan. The parish’s history therefore shows a continuing pattern: a community that grew from a mission station into a parish and then helped sustain surrounding mission stations and new parishes as the local Church expanded.