Sogaeul-ri Mission Station

History & origins

The formation of the Catholic community on Baengnyeongdo is closely intertwined with the island's history around liberation and the Korean War. According to the Catholic Peace Newspaper, the community began to take shape in the 1940s among Catholics who crossed the sea from Jangyeon in Hwanghae Province. In 1958 Father Yun Eul-su baptized people on the island and sent sisters of the Inbo Sacred Heart congregation. The following year, Edward J. Moffett became the first pastor of Baengnyeongdo Parish and laid a more stable pastoral foundation.

The island's mission stations were formed village by village during this early period of ministry. A 2024 Catholic Peace Newspaper account states that several mission stations were established on Baengnyeongdo around 1960 through Father Moffett's energetic pastoral work and explicitly names Sogaeul-ri among those that remain. More recent reporting likewise confirms that ten mission stations, including Sogaeul-ri, continue to form a network with Baengnyeongdo Parish. The exact founding date of Sogaeul-ri itself, however, is not given in the available sources, so no specific day or year beyond this broader context is asserted.

Although the island's population and number of Catholics have declined over time, the mission stations remain places that preserve the memory of Catholic faith on Baengnyeongdo. Today's pilgrimage route links the parish and the village mission stations once again as a single path, making visible the history created together by refugees, missionaries, religious sisters, and island Catholics after the war. The meaning of Sogaeul-ri is clearest when understood within this wider history of the Baengnyeongdo Catholic community.