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About this place
Chiram-dong Catholic Church is a parish of the Diocese of Masan in the Jinju district, located in Chiram-dong, Jinju-si, Gyeongsangnam-do. The Catholic directory identifies Saint Francis of Assisi as the parish’s patron, and at the same address it also lists the Order of Friars Minor as the “St. Francis Friary / Parish, Chiram-dong, Jinju.” The fact that parish ministry and a Franciscan religious community continue in the same place is a defining feature of Chiram-dong Catholic Church.
The church is both a parish where Catholics in Jinju continue their life of Mass, the sacraments, catechesis, and community, and a place where Franciscan religious life and missionary tradition remain close at hand. The Catholic directory also shows members of the same friary participating not only in parish ministry but in ministry to migrants, illustrating how the parish and the missionary vocation of the Franciscan community meet in this pastoral setting. The patron saint and the presence of the friary together allow visitors to understand Chiram-dong not simply as a local parish but as a place where Franciscan spirituality and the memory of mission in western Gyeongsangnam-do continue within present-day pastoral life.
History & origins
The origins of Chiram-dong Catholic Church are connected with the arrival of Franciscan missionaries in western Gyeongsangnam-do. According to the Diocese of Masan, Fr. Constancio Ju Bu-ui of the Genoa Province in Italy arrived in Korea in December 1955, and Fr. Donato Kang Ji-hong arrived the following year and stayed at a temporary friary on Geoje. Under pastoral cooperation with the diocesan authorities of the time, they began Franciscan community life and missionary work in western Gyeongsangnam-do.
In May 1957, Bishop John Choi Jae-seon of the Diocese of Busan entrusted the pastoral care of Jinju’s Okbong-dong Catholic Church to Franciscan missionaries as part of the mission effort in western Gyeongsangnam-do. Fr. Ju served as pastor of Okbong-dong, while Fr. Kang became the first pastor of Samcheonpo Parish, and for a period they lived together in Okbong-dong. In these years the Franciscans expanded their pastoral and missionary foundations in Jinju, Samcheonpo, and other parts of western Gyeongsangnam-do.
Around 1959, recognizing the need for a friary in Jinju capable of receiving seminarians and religious candidates, land was secured in Chiram-dong. With the assistance of Msgr. Egano, the papal representative, the site became the foundation for a friary and church. Ground was broken for the friary in June 1964 and the building was completed in November of that year, providing the physical basis for an independent Franciscan community and parish ministry in Chiram-dong.
On March 1, 1965, Fr. Donato Kang Ji-hong took office as the first pastor, marking the full beginning of parish ministry at Chiram-dong. The parish subsequently took its place in the Diocese of Masan while remaining connected with the Franciscan friary. Its beginnings therefore remain an example of diocesan pastoral needs and a religious order’s missionary activity converging to form a new parish community.
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Masan Diocese (Diocese of Masan)
Official website: https://cathms.kr
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