Jinan Catholic Church Handul Mission Station

History & origins

Handul Mission Station is recorded as having been established in 1901. As the Catholic community of the Jinan area grew, the center of Jinan Parish was moved from Eoeun-dong to Handul in 1922, and construction of a new church proceeded that year. Diocesan records state that the first Mass in the new church was celebrated on December 22 and that Bishop Demange later visited and blessed the church and Marian image in 1924. During this period Handul functioned not merely as a mission station but as the parish center for the Jinan region.

The community and its facilities experienced serious difficulties during the Korean War. When the parish center was later moved to Jinan-eup, Handul became a mission station again. After the war, an aging structure was replaced by a newly built mission-station church and priest’s residence. Diocesan accounts describe local Catholics carrying timber and sand themselves and making bricks for the construction, showing how the rural community helped preserve its place of faith.

Handul was raised to parish status again in 1977. In 1985, however, the parish was closed under a diocesan reorganization and Handul once more became a mission station under Jinan Parish, a status that continues today. The repeated change from mission station to parish and back again illustrates how church structures in the Jinan area were adjusted over time in response to population and pastoral conditions.