Hwangdeung Catholic Church

History & origins

Catholic community life in the Hwangdeung area predates the establishment of the parish by many decades. The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia notes that priests from Jeonju and Nabawi were visiting nearby mission stations around 1896–1897, suggesting that Catholic communities had already formed in the area before then. Around 1925 Father Cadars of Nabawi Parish administered the seasonal confession to Catholics in a believer’s home, an event associated with the formation of Hwangdeung Mission Station. The mission later passed under Gunsan Parish and then Iri Parish.

The immediate foundation for a parish was laid in 1959, when Father Jeong Jae-seok of Iri Parish purchased property containing a rice mill and house and converted it into a temporary church. In February 1960 Hwangdeung Mission Station was raised to quasi-parish status. One month later, on March 19, it became a parish and Father Kim Dong-eon was appointed its first pastor.

The new parish soon began construction of a permanent church. Work started in May 1960, a church of about fifty-five pyeong was completed in November, and a dedication ceremony followed in December. In subsequent years the church was expanded and the rectory, convent, and educational facilities were improved, while lay organizations and ministry to the mission stations became more structured.

Hwangdeung Parish thus did not begin at a single moment. Its history developed from rural Catholic communities of the late nineteenth century, through the mission station of the 1920s and a temporary church in the 1950s, into a parish in 1960. Its present network of mission stations continues on this historical foundation of rural evangelization and community formation.