Goksu Mission

History & origins

The roots of the Catholic community in Goksu are linked to the evangelizing activity of Joseph Kim Yeong-su, who settled in Goksu-ri in 1949. Through his evangelization, Joseph Kim Bok-su was baptized in 1955, and a local community began to take shape. In 1966, when Kim Bok-su became the first mission-station leader, Goksu Mission Station was formally established.

At first the community had no separate mission-station building. From 1972 the faithful held mission-station services in the leader’s home, and in 1981 they secured an approximately 18-pyeong brick building with a slate roof. From November of that year, sisters of the Korean congregation 성가소비녀회 began evangelization and medical service there and remained with the community until 2014, for about thirty-three years. From 1982, a military chaplain from a nearby unit and a priest from Yangpyeong Parish regularly celebrated Mass at the mission station, while the Legion of Mary and other local groups were organized in succession.

The community also continued to improve its facilities. In 1999 it built a mission-station complex with a chapel, education hall, and storage building. In 2016, marking the fiftieth anniversary of its formal establishment, the chapel, priest’s residence, and auxiliary buildings were newly built or renovated, and a memorial honoring figures associated with the early Korean Catholic community was installed; the new and renovated facilities were then blessed in a ceremony presided over by the diocesan bishop.

This development shows how Goksu grew from a small rural gathering in private homes into a mission station with dedicated liturgical and educational spaces. Even amid rural depopulation and an aging population, the history of local Catholics preserving the chapel and maintaining the community illustrates the role mission stations have played in sustaining continuity of faith in rural areas.