Jangseungpo Church

History & origins

The Catholic community in Jangseungpo began to grow under the pastoral care of Okpo Parish. According to records of the Diocese of Masan, Father Kim Hu-sang Paul, while exploring possibilities for evangelization in Jangseungpo and Majeon, helped Kang Jin-i Benedict return to the practice of the faith in 1931, after which the number of Catholics gradually increased. In the spring of 1935 the Majeon mission station was established, using the home of Jeong Sun-yong Thaddeus as a chapel, and in July 1937 a separate mission chapel was built.

The Korean War brought major changes to the social setting and pastoral needs of Jangseungpo. As refugees arrived through the port connected with Busan, Father Park Mun-seon James cared for refugees and Catholics while also preparing an educational project. In October 1952 Geoje Comprehensive Middle and High School opened in Majeon, with Father Park as its first principal. This educational work both served people displaced by the war and accompanied the process by which the Church community took firmer root in the Jangseungpo area.

Within this development, the Jangseungpo mission station was elevated to a parish on November 29, 1953, the Solemnity of Christ the King, and Father Park Mun-seon became its first pastor. Jangseungpo thereby became an independent parish separated from Okpo, continuing the local evangelization and communal life that had begun during its years as a mission station.

The mission chapel built in 1937 served as the center of the mission community for about sixteen years before parish status was granted, and it continued to function as the parish church for several more years until the community moved to the site of the present church. Jangseungpo Parish therefore did not begin with a new building followed by a community; rather, a small mission community grew around an existing chapel, acquired parish structure, and gradually expanded its physical base.