Jangjae-dong Mission

History & origins

The growth of the Catholic community in Jinan was closely connected with Catholics who settled in mountain areas after fleeing persecution in the late nineteenth century. The Catholic Encyclopedia's history of Jinan Parish records that as many as twenty-seven mission stations were established in the area between 1886 and 1900. Jangjae-dong Mission Station emerged within this expansion, and the Korean Catholic directory records its establishment in 1890.

The mission stations around Jinan were initially part of the broad territory of Jeonju Parish. A major change came in 1900, when a separate parish structure was organized around Eoeun-dong. As the Catholic population in Jinan grew and pastoral care for Catholics scattered through the mountain districts became increasingly necessary, the mission stations served not merely as gathering places but as important bases for local pastoral life.

In 1921, Fr. Yi Sang-hwa Bartholomew, the second pastor of Jinan Parish, temporarily moved the parish residence to Jangjae-dong Mission Station while seeking a location with better conditions for evangelization. In June 1922, the parish center was moved again, this time to Handeul Mission Station in Maryeong-myeon. The fact that Jangjae-dong served for about a year as a temporary parish base shows the weight the community carried within Catholic life in Jinan at the time.

Although the parish center later moved elsewhere, Jangjae-dong remained a mission station and continued the faith life of the local community. It is still listed by the Diocese of Jeonju under Jinan Parish, showing that the stream of faith that began with the growth of Catholic villages and mission stations in the late nineteenth century continues into the present.