Bisandong Catholic Church

Overview

The Bisan-dong Church is a church in Bisan-dong, Dongan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, belonging to the Suwon Diocese. It was established on October 4, 1978 by splitting from Jungang Parish, its first pastor was Father Kim Chang-rin, and its patron is Saint Joseph, Model of Workers.

History

[Background of Establishment] According to the Catholic Times, the Bisan area was a typical rural village with natural hamlets, and as it was only about 1 km from its mother parish, Jungang Parish, there was no plan to establish a parish. However, entering the 1970 decade, as the Anyang area was urbanized and the number of faithful surged, Jungang Parish organized a building committee for the new Bisan-dong church in 1978 and purchased the church site. The newspaper writes that the establishment of Bisan-dong Parish took place together with that of Myeonghak Parish and thus shares the same background as Myeonghak Parish. In the Korean Catholic Bishops’ Conference directory, the establishment date of both Bisan-dong and Myeonghak is October 4, 1978.

[Establishment of the Parish and Construction of the Church] The parish community, established on October 4, 1978, celebrated Mass in the rented house where its first pastor, Father Kim Chang-rin, lived, while devoting all its efforts to building the church. The faithful celebrated Mass in the basement of the church completed in 1979, completed construction on October 30, 1982, and held the dedication ceremony for the new church in May 1983. At the dedication, Bishop Kim Nam-su praised the church as “one of the most beautiful churches in the Anyang area and indeed in the diocese” (Catholic Times).

[Expansion of Facilities] According to the Catholic Times, as the number of faithful grew, the parish expanded facilities such as the education hall, and although some facilities including offices were demolished due to the widening of Gyeongsu-daero, it was still using the church built at the time of the parish founding as of the article in 2016. In 1993, it newly built an education hall for Sunday school students, and at that time applicants for the elementary summer faith school reached about 1,300. Even before the completion of the church, it began building the Bisan Our Lady Kindergarten and completed it in 1981, and the kindergarten secured a new building in 2014.

[Pastoral Activities] The Catholic Times introduces Bisan-dong Parish as a ‘youth-vitalized parish.’ In 2008, it prepared a separate Holy Week liturgy for youth and visited a parish of the Military Diocese to organize a barracks-experience program. In terms of evangelization, in 1999 it dedicated 470 new families, and in 2007, through street evangelization and a prayer campaign centered on small communities, it brought about 500 people to enter the Church. Alongside territorial small communities, it created personal ‘Cell’ communities to vitalize the small communities, held the Liturgy of the Hours daily in the Eucharistic Adoration room, and from 2014 implemented the parish renewal program ‘Bisan-dong Youth Day.’

Related Places and People

• Jungang Church (Anyang): The mother parish from which the Bisan-dong parish split (Catholic Times).
• Myeonghak Church: A parish established on the same October 4, 1978 as Bisan-dong Parish (Catholic Times, Korean Catholic Bishops’ Conference directory).
• Father Kim Chang-rin: The first pastor of Bisan-dong Parish (Catholic Times).

References and Sources

1. Catholic Times, “[Following the History of Parishes in the Diocese] Bisan-dong Parish in the Anyang Vicariate” (August 21, 2016 issue, No. 3008). Background of establishment, church construction and dedication, facilities, pastoral activities.
   https://www.catholictimes.org/article/201608160164757
2. Korean Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Korean Catholic Directory “Bisan-dong”. Belonging to Vicariate 2 of the Suwon Diocese, Anyang District 1, establishment date October 4, 1978, patron Saint Joseph, Model of Workers.
   https://directory.cbck.or.kr/m/catholicInfo.asp?gubun=4&code=201000518