Daecheongdo (Sub-parish) Church

History & origins

Before the present Daecheongdo Quasi-Parish was established, Catholic communities on Daecheongdo and Socheongdo were served through the mission-station network of Baengnyeong Parish. The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia records that when Baengnyeong was raised from a mission station to a parish in 1959, its territory included Daecheongdo and Socheongdo and, because of the islands' geography, several mission stations were established on both islands. Island ministry at the time thus depended on a parish linking many small communities scattered across separate islands.

Father Edward Moffett, the first pastor of Baengnyeong Parish, expanded missionary activity in the island region and established mission stations on Daecheongdo and Socheongdo, while religious sisters participated in catechesis and relief work. This network gave Catholics living far from the mainland a practical structure through which they could gather regularly and sustain their faith.

The current Guide to the Catholic Church in Korea records January 26, 2004, as the establishment date of Daecheongdo Quasi-Parish. This marked a significant reorganization in which pastoral care for the Daecheong and Socheong area, previously organized within Baengnyeong Parish's mission network, gained its own quasi-parish center. The present arrangement, in which Daecheongdo Quasi-Parish oversees several mission stations, can thus be understood as a continuation of the long-standing island model of small local communities linked by a central church.