Donggu Chapel

History & origins

Donggujeom Mission Station was established in the early 1970s as Jinan Parish expanded its network of rural mission communities. The Catholic Church directory in Korea gives 1972 as its establishment year, while the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia’s history of Jinan Parish states that its thirteenth pastor, Father Park Seong-un, established Donggujeom in 1973. Because the two sources differ by one year, it is safer to understand the mission station as having taken formal shape around 1972–1973 rather than forcing a single exact year.

At the time, Jinan Parish was continually creating mission stations and evangelization points to serve Catholics scattered across the mountainous region. Donggujeom emerged as part of this pastoral expansion, helping Catholics in an outlying village of Jinan-eup remain connected to the parish and gather closer to home for common prayer and Mass.

Over time, the size of the rural community and the condition of mission facilities changed. The current Diocese of Jeonju list still records Donggujeom under Jinan Parish but marks it as having no separate building. Its history can therefore be understood as a movement from the expansion of rural ministry in the 1970s to a present situation in which the mission station’s name and community lineage remain more clearly than a physical chapel.