Gochon Catholic Church

History & origins

Catholic history in Gochon is closely connected with lay evangelization that preceded the establishment of the present parish. The Servant of God Song Hae-bung John the Baptist was unable to return to seminary after liberation and, from 1946 onward, devoted himself to night-school education and evangelizing work in the Bucheon and Gimpo areas. Longtime Catholics in Gochon later recalled that they had learned catechism from him and received the faith through his efforts, a memory that remained strong after the parish was created.

Song Hae-bung was killed at Cheondeung Pass in Gochon on October 11, 1950, during the Korean War. The Bishops' Committee for the Causes of Saints includes him among the group of eighty-one Servants of God and records both his death in Gochon and later field investigations. His life is an important background showing that a foundation of lay evangelization and Catholic community already existed in Gochon before the formal parish.

The present Gochon Parish was established on July 5, 1999, under the patronage of St. John the Baptist. Its first pastor, Fr. Cha Dong-yeop, later wrote that soon after arriving he repeatedly heard local Catholics speak about Song Hae-bung and the faith they had received through him. The new parish thus took shape while inheriting a local memory of faith that predated its formal establishment.

As Song Hae-bung's grave became associated with the hill behind Gochon Church and diocesan investigations for his cause were conducted there, the parish's history became even more closely linked with the memory of local evangelization. The history of Gochon Parish is therefore not limited to its administrative establishment in 1999; it also includes the way the witness and sacrifice of an earlier lay generation continued in the memory of the later parish community.