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About this place
Okpo Catholic Church is a parish of the Diocese of Masan in the second pastoral area of the Geoje district. The Catholic Church directory in Korea lists St. Andrew Kim Taegon as its patron and records the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres as serving the parish. Located in Okpo, one of Geoje’s major industrial centers, the parish is distinctive for bringing together Catholics whose families have long been rooted in the area and families who moved there in connection with the shipbuilding industry.
A diocesan parish profile presents Okpo as a community where the memory of early evangelization on Geoje meets the mobility of a modern industrial city. Because people frequently move into and out of the area, the parish has long received Catholics from other regions, foreign residents, and travelers, making it a place where people of different backgrounds meet through Mass and parish life. Visitors can therefore encounter both an active local parish and the continuity of Geoje’s older Catholic roots within the modern city.
History & origins
The history of Okpo Catholic Church begins before the present Okpo Parish, in the earlier history of Guksan Church and Jinmokjeong Mission Station. According to the Diocese of Masan, the Catholic community on Geoje passed through a long period of mission-station life, and on May 30, 1926, Jinmokjeong Mission Station was elevated as the island’s first parish under the name “Guksan Church.” Guksan Parish then served as a central community for the early Catholic Church on Geoje.
Changes in population and the Catholic community later led Guksan Parish to become Guksan Mission Station under Jangseungpo Parish in 1966. When the Daewoo shipyard was established in Okpo, a large influx of population and a new Catholic population created the need for a parish once again. Okpo Parish was therefore re-established on July 1, 1983, with Fr. Bae Jin-gu as its first pastor. The Catholic Church directory in Korea likewise records this date as the foundation date of the present Okpo Parish.
The efforts of the earlier Guksan community also contributed to obtaining the site for the new parish. A diocesan parish profile records that Catholics during the Guksan period collected rice offerings and contributions in preparation for a future church, and that these funds became a foundation for acquiring the Okpo church property. In this way, the old rural Catholic tradition of Guksan met the new Catholics who had arrived with the growth of the shipbuilding industry.
A monument commemorating the beginnings of Catholicism on Geoje and the memory of the old Guksan church continue to form part of Okpo Parish’s historical identity. The community has passed through a complex sequence—from mission station to Geoje’s first parish, back to mission-station status, and then to a new parish in an industrial city. This development shows how Catholic life on Geoje linked older roots of faith with a new urban community amid migration and industrialization.
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Building information
- Passenger elevators: 0
- 3 above-ground floors · 1 below-ground floors
- Approved for use in 1984
- Total floor area: 2,031㎡
Building-register record · · Source
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Sources and updates
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- Diocese source
- Data freshness
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- Source
- Francisco Diary
Diocese
Masan Diocese (Diocese of Masan)
Official website: https://cathms.kr
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