Philippine Missionary Society

History & origins

As the Philippines approached the fourth centenary of receiving the Gospel, the Catholic bishops of the country decided to establish a foreign mission society so that gratitude for the faith they had received could be expressed by sharing the Gospel with other peoples. In their founding statement, the Philippine hierarchy declared its intention to answer Christ’s command to preach the Gospel and to share the light of faith with neighboring peoples, formally announcing that the society would be founded in 1965. The Directory of the Catholic Church in Korea likewise records 1965 as the year of the Mission Society of the Philippines’ establishment.

As the society expanded its overseas mission, it entered Korea on September 7, 1992. It continued missionary and pastoral work within the Korean Church, and on May 15, 2015, a separate Incheon community was established in the Diocese of Incheon. The community was based inside Dapdong Cathedral Church, and the Korean Catholic directory explicitly identifies migrant ministry as its apostolate.

Seen in this sequence, the history of the Incheon community shows how the founding ideal of the Philippine Church—sharing the faith it had received—reached Korea and then took a concrete form in migrant ministry within the local Church of Incheon. The society’s founding in 1965, its arrival in Korea in 1992, and the establishment of the Incheon community in 2015 form a continuous history that explains the place’s present mission.