Sinpyeong Mission Station

History & origins

The Catholic community of Shinpyeong began to form in February 1948 when the family of Kim Gi-man (Thaddeus) moved to the area from Jangseong in South Jeolla Province. Kim and his family practiced their faith and shared it with their neighbors, gradually increasing the number of Catholics. In November 1952, ninety-seven people were baptized and Shinpyeong Mission Station took on a formal communal identity.

The community did not begin with substantial facilities. A building for use as a mission station was obtained in 1959, and as the number of Catholics and their activities grew, a more suitable space became necessary. A new site was secured in 1976, construction followed, and in August 1977 a new mission-station building was blessed, providing the community with a more stable place of faith.

As parish structures in the Jeongeup area were later reorganized, Shinpyeong became connected with Yeonji-dong Parish and has continued within that relationship. The defining pattern of its history is the development from the evangelizing activity of one lay Catholic family to dozens of baptisms and the establishment of a mission station. It offers a clear example of how everyday witness and neighborhood relationships among lay Catholics helped form a rural Catholic community.