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About this place
Chilwon Catholic Church is a parish of the Diocese of Masan located in Chilwon-eup, Haman-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, within the diocese’s Masan district. The Catholic directory identifies the Immaculate Heart of Mary as its patron, and the Diocese of Masan likewise confirms the present parish name and location. It serves as a local center of Church life where Catholics in Chilwon and the surrounding rural area continue Mass, the sacraments, catechesis, and parish community activity.
The present character of Chilwon Catholic Church carries the legacy of a faith once sustained through mission stations scattered across the area. Long before an independent parish existed, lay Catholics in several villages took part in evangelization and the maintenance of local mission communities, and today’s parish gathers that local Catholic tradition around a single pastoral center. Its dedication to the Immaculate Heart of Mary also expresses an important devotional element in the identity of the parish community.
History & origins
The roots of Catholic faith in the Chilwon area can be traced to lay migration and evangelization in the early twentieth century. According to the Diocese of Masan, the local community began to form when Thaddeus Kim moved from Chungcheong-do to Jukcheong village in Unseo-ri, Chilbuk-myeon, in 1912. Tobias Kim Hak-dong was baptized in 1915 and began evangelizing, leading to the establishment of Jukcheong Mission Station the following year. In 1917, the evangelizing work of Catholics from Jukcheong led to the baptism of Stephen Kim Dang-du, who later helped lay the foundation for Jangam Mission Station.
Catholics from the Jukcheong and Jangam mission communities worked together to establish a new mission center in the main settlement of Chilwon. With the help of Fr. Peter Kim Dong-eon of Haman Parish, they purchased a house in Yongsan-ri and established Chilwon Mission Station in 1951. Land was later acquired at the present site in Guseong-ri. Construction of a church began in November 1955, the building was completed the following year, and a dedication was celebrated under Bishop Seo Jeong-gil of the Diocese of Daegu.
As the mission community became more stable, the Legion of Mary was established in 1963. In 1965, Fr. Barnabas Kim Gwan-ok, then a military chaplain at the Masan Army Hospital, resided at Chilwon Mission Station and built the Marian grotto that remains part of the parish’s devotional heritage. These developments in devotional life and community organization became an important foundation for the mission station’s eventual growth into an independent parish.
After a long period as a mission station, Chilwon was raised to quasi-parish status in January 1979 and Fr. James Choi Bong-won was assigned there. In January of the following year it was elevated to full parish status. The history of Chilwon Catholic Church therefore traces the growth of a local faith that began with migration and lay evangelization, developed through mission-station life and devotional organizations, and ultimately matured into a parish community.
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Building information
- Passenger elevators: 1
- 3 above-ground floors · 1 below-ground floors
- Approved for use in 2017
- Total floor area: 1,394㎡
Building-register record · · Source
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Sources and updates
- Information Status
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- Source
- Diocese source
- Data freshness
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- Last updated
- Source
- Francisco Diary
Diocese
Masan Diocese (Diocese of Masan)
Official website: https://cathms.kr
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