Bupyeong 2-dong Catholic Church

History & origins

Catholic life in Bupyeong began before the parish itself, in the mission-station period. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Father Deneux of Dapdong Parish established a Bupyeong mission station in 1909. The number of Catholics later grew, although the mission appears to have ceased activity by the late 1920s. In 1941 a Catholic community was re-formed among employees and workers at the Incheon Army Arsenal, and a separate Baekmajang mission station was established the following year.

During the Korean War, Bupyeong Parish was formally established in March 1952, creating a more stable pastoral structure. The first pastor, Father Peter Kim Yeong-sik, built up the parish amid wartime hardship and displacement. The parish also undertook social-service work, opening the Yeonbaek Seongmowon orphanage in 1952 and the Seongmo Jaeae Hospital in 1955. In the late 1950s it secured the present site and began construction of a church, which was completed under the succeeding pastor.

As the local population and Catholic community grew, the original parish territory was gradually divided. Bupyeong 1-dong Parish, now Bupyeong 4-dong, was separated in 1964; Juwon, now Ganseok 4-dong, followed in 1978; Bupyeong 3-dong in 1982; and Ilsin-dong and Bupyeong 5-dong in 1983. Around 1964, the original Bupyeong Parish also came to be known as Bupyeong 2-dong, establishing the name used today.

This history shows that Bupyeong 2-dong was not merely an old church building but a mother community from which several new parishes emerged as postwar Bupyeong urbanized and expanded. The present parish continues its liturgical and sacramental life on that historical foundation.