Samjang Mission Station

History & origins

The exact year in which Samjang Mission Station was first established cannot be determined from the sources currently available. A clearly documented turning point in the history of the present community, however, came at the end of 2002, when a new mission-station building was completed. Samjang, then a mission station of Jingyo Parish, completed the building in Jeongsu-ri, Okjong-myeon, Hadong-gun, and on December 27 Bishop Ahn Myeong-ok of the Diocese of Masan presided over its blessing.

The new building was made possible by land donated by a former mission-station leader, funds raised in various places by the parish priest, Fr. Jo Myeong-rae, and the help of benefactors. It was a one-story concrete building of 95 pyeong on a 250-pyeong site. The facility was intended not only for the liturgy and fellowship of the local community but also for retreats by individuals and groups visiting the Jirisan and Okjong area and for rest by priests. At the blessing Mass, the bishop called on the community to become a fellowship that shared faith and proclaimed the Gospel in the local area.

Samjang continued thereafter to be recorded as a mission station of Jingyo Parish. A 2020 diocesan introduction to Jingyo Parish listed Samjang, together with Bukcheon and Okjong, as one of its three mission stations, and in 2025 the diocese recorded a pastoral visit and Mass by the bishop at Samjang.

The verifiable history therefore centers less on an unconfirmed date of original foundation and more on the process by which local Catholics and benefactors secured a dedicated mission-station space and sustained the community through its continuing connection with the parish and the diocese.