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About this place
Changnyeong Catholic Church is a parish of the Diocese of Masan located in Changnyeong-eup, Changnyeong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do. It is a center of faith where Catholics in and around the county seat continue their life of Mass, the sacraments, catechesis, and parish community, and it is identified as Changnyeong Parish in the official parish information of the Diocese of Masan. Its long history of growing in relationship with mission stations in the surrounding rural districts is also important for understanding the character of this place.
The significance of Changnyeong Catholic Church extends beyond a single church building. Over time, the parish played a central role as mission stations were established and transferred and as new parishes were separated from it, helping shape the structure of the local Church in Changnyeong. In the current diocesan organization, Changnyeong remains a parish of the Masan district and continues to connect the Catholic community of the 읍 center with memories of faith in the surrounding countryside. It can therefore be regarded as one of the Diocese of Masan’s historic parishes in which several generations of local evangelization and community life have accumulated.
History & origins
Changnyeong Parish began on August 8, 1949, when Changnyeong Mission Station was separated from Haman Parish and raised to parish status. After the first pastor, Fr. Peter An Dal-won, Fr. Florian Jeong Ha-gwon served the parish, establishing Sunhwa Kindergarten and Yeongsan Mission Station in 1953 and Goam Mission Station the following year. From its early years, parish ministry developed together with local education and the founding of outlying mission communities.
Under Fr. Balthasar Jang Ju-min, who arrived in 1957, construction of a new church was completed that October, and in June 1958 the church was dedicated in a liturgy presided over by Bishop John Choi Jae-seon. A rectory and facilities for mission stations were subsequently expanded, and Yeongsan Mission Station received a new building and dedication in 1964. Gugyeri Mission Station was established in 1968 and its building was completed the next year, showing how Changnyeong Parish grew as a center for pastoral care of Catholic communities across the surrounding rural area.
In January 1973, following a readjustment of diocesan boundaries, Changnyeong Catholic Church was transferred from the Diocese of Busan to the Diocese of Masan. Namji Parish was separated in 1977, while the 1980s and 1990s saw continued construction and renovation of the convent, kindergarten, and mission-station facilities. Mission jurisdiction was also adjusted according to pastoral circumstances: Bugok Mission Station moved between Namji and Changnyeong, and Gugyeri Mission Station was closed in 1993.
For the parish’s fiftieth anniversary in 1999, the rectory and education center were rebuilt and dedicated together with an anniversary Mass. In 2000, Yeongsan and Bugok mission stations were transferred to Namji Mission Parish. These changes show that Changnyeong Catholic Church was not a parish that simply preserved a fixed territory, but a central parish that repeatedly founded, separated, and reorganized mission communities as population patterns and pastoral conditions changed in Changnyeong-gun.
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Diocese
Masan Diocese (Diocese of Masan)
Official website: https://cathms.kr
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