Gwangmyeong Catholic Church

Overview

Gwangmyeong Church is a church in Gwangmyeong-dong, Gwangmyeong-si, Gyeonggi-do, belonging to the Suwon Diocese. Beginning as the Gwangmyeong-ri Catholic mission chapel in 1946, it was elevated to the Gwangmyeong-ri parish on April 12, 1975, and the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia lists its patron as St. Joseph the Worker.

History

[Gwangmyeong-ri Catholic mission chapel] According to the Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia, the mother parish of Gwangmyeong Church was Dorim-dong Church in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul [former Yeongdeungpo Church]; in 1946, at the house of Yu Ji-hwa (Heriberto) in Gwangmyeong-ri, with 5 households and 33 faithful gathered, the first Mass was celebrated by Father Park Il-gyu (Andrea) officiating, establishing the Gwangmyeong-ri Catholic mission chapel attached to Dorim-dong Church (the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia gives the Gwangmyeong-ri lot number as 310, while the Culture Encyclopedia gives 301). After this Catholic mission chapel, where Father Park Il-gyu visited once a month to celebrate Mass, completed its spring pan-gong devotions in 1950, it was naturally dissolved by the 6·25 War, then revived as a Catholic mission chapel belonging to Guro Church, which had separated from Dorim-dong Church in March 1963 (now Guro 3-dong Church), and from September 1968 it belonged to Oryu-dong Church, which had separated from Dangsan-dong Church. The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia records the mother parish at that time as the Oryu-dong Parish of the Seoul Archdiocese and gives the number of faithful then as 17.

[Jurisdiction of the Suwon Diocese and quasi-parish] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, when the Gwangmyeong and Gaebong areas developed into a large new housing apartment complex in August 1972 and the population and number of faithful surged, the Suwon Diocese took jurisdiction, and on October 22 the Gwangmyeong-ri Catholic mission chapel Mass was celebrated at the house of Lee Gap-yeong (Gabriel) in Gwangmyeong-ri, officiated by Father Jang Deok-ho (Callistus), director of the Suwon Diocese pastoral ministry office, with 128 faithful participating. The faithful carried out a campaign to find believers through newspaper advertisements, posters, and personal contacts, and in December they leased the 2 floor of the Gukjeon Photo Studio building at the Gwangmyeong-ri intersection on a jeonse lease and used it as a temporary Catholic mission chapel. The Catholic mission chapel was elevated to a quasi-parish on January 1, 1973. The Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia records that on June 1, 1974 it moved to a temporary church leased on the 2 floor of the Eunseong Bathhouse in Gwangmyeong-ri for a deposit of 200 ten thousand won. Father Go Geon-seon (Paul), ordained a priest in December 1974, served the Gwangmyeong-ri quasi-parish ministry as assistant priest of the Buksudong Parish, and on March 5, 1975 a branch of the Caritas Sisters was opened (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

[Elevation to parish] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, on April 12, 1975 the Gwangmyeong-ri quasi-parish was elevated to the Gwangmyeong-ri Parish, and the first pastor was Father Jeong Ji-ung Joseph. At the time of the elevation from Catholic mission chapel to quasi-parish, the community sold 510 pyeong of woodland near the Gwangmyeong-ri church cemetery that the Seoul Archdiocese had donated as a church site, and purchased 350 pyeong for the present church lot (the Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia records that it sold 5,570 square meters of woodland and purchased 1,157 square meters for the present church lot), and formed a pastoral council and appointed district leaders. According to the Culture Encyclopedia, the number of faithful at the founding of the parish was about 1,200, which grew to 1,724 in the year-end statistics of that year, and soon after taking office the first pastor formed a pastoral council and appointed leaders for 9 districts.

[Construction and dedication of the church] Construction of the church began on August 31, 1975 with a groundbreaking ceremony (the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia says church construction began on that day, while the Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia says the groundbreaking ceremony was held in the presence of diocesan Bishop Kim Nam-su and a church construction committee was formed), and the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia records that it was completed in July 1976. The Culture Encyclopedia records that construction began on April 23, 1976, all work was finished in July, and the church dedication ceremony was celebrated on May 5, 1977, officiated by Bishop Kim Nam-su.

[Separation of the Cheolsan Parish and renaming] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, as population flowed rapidly into the new housing complexes around Gwangmyeong-ri, 1,500 pyeong at 63-2 in Cheolsan-ri was purchased on September 30, 1980 as the site for a new parish, and the Cheolsan Parish was separated on March 4, 1982. The Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia records that when the 2 pastor, Father Sim Yeong-taek, took office on April 16, 1980, the number of parish faithful reached more than 4,000, making division unavoidable, and with the creation of Cheolsan Church (first pastor Father Jang Deok-ho), more than 500 faithful from the Cheolsan 3-dong, Cheolsan 4-dong, Haean-dong, and Soha-dong districts were divided into the new parish. On July 1, 1981, as Gwangmyeong-ri, Cheolsan-ri, and Soha-eup were separated from Siheung-gun and elevated to Gwangmyeong-si, the parish name was also changed to ‘Gwangmyeong Parish’ (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).

[Expansion after the 1980s and Catholic mission chapel] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, Gwangmyeong Parish lay in low land and often suffered flood damage, and as the number of faithful grew, opinion converged on expanding the church. After demolishing the buildings on 22 pyeong of land at 158-836 in Gwangmyeong 4-dong purchased on September 25, 1982 and on 32 pyeong of land at 158-1354 purchased on October 25, 1986, expansion work on the church and education hall began on May 22, 1988, and on December 1 of that year 60 pyeong of church and 120 pyeong of education hall were added (the Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia records an expansion of 595 square meters [church 198 square meters, education hall 396 square meters]). On January 20, 1991, 271 pyeong of land with a building (building area 40 pyeong) at 220-13 in Noonsa-dong, Gwangmyeong-si, plus 37 pyeong of woodland, was purchased and secured as a Catholic mission chapel site, and on May 1, 1992 the Noonsa-dong Catholic mission chapel signboard ceremony was held. The Culture Encyclopedia records that on September 2, 2008 Gwangmun Church was created and came to have jurisdiction over all of Gwangmyeong 6-dong in Gwangmyeong-si, part of Gwangmyeong 7-dong, Noonsa-dong, and all of Gahak-dong.

[Pastors] According to the Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia, on February 26, 1985 Father Yang Byeong-muk, who had ministered at Pyeongtaek Church, took office as the 3 pastor, and on April 14, 1988 Father Hwang Ik-seong took office as the 4 pastor. The successive priests in the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia are the first Jeong Ji-ung Joseph (1975.4–1980.4), 2 Sim Yeong-taek Francis Xavier (1980.4–1985.2), 3 Yang Byeong-muk Luke (1985.2–1988.4), 4 Hwang Ik-seong Augustine (1988.4–1993.6), and 5 Bae Yeong-seop Peter (1993.6–), while the Culture Encyclopedia lists Father Hong Chang-jin (John Bosco) as pastor as of 2014.

[Jurisdiction and church statistics] The jurisdictional area recorded in the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia is Gwangmyeong 1 and 3–7-dong, Cheolsan 1 and 2-dong, Hagon-dong, and Noonsa-dong in Gwangmyeong-si, and the affiliated Catholic mission chapel is the Noonsa-dong Catholic mission chapel. Church statistics are 1,724 in 1975, 4,999 in 1981, 6,979 in 1988, and 8,591 in 1993. The Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia records that Gwangmyeong Church belongs to the Gwangmyeong District of the Ansan Vicariate in the Suwon Diocese, that the church dedication day is May 5, 1977 [officiant Bishop Kim Nam-su], and that its jurisdictional area is all of Gwangmyeong 3-dong, Gwangmyeong 4-dong, Gwangmyeong 5-dong, and Hagon-dong, plus parts of Gwangmyeong 6-dong [Okgil-dong], Gwangmyeong 7-dong, and Gwangmyeong 2-dong.

Architecture and Space

According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, the church of Gwangmyeong Parish began construction on August 31, 1975 and was completed in July 1976, and on December 1, 1988 60 pyeong of church and 120 pyeong of education hall were added. The Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia records that the church dedication ceremony was celebrated on May 5, 1977, officiated by Bishop Kim Nam-su, and that this day is the church consecration day. In June 1974 it temporarily used the 2 floor of the Eunseong Bathhouse (Culture Encyclopedia), and before that the 2 floor of the Gukjeon Photo Studio (Encyclopedia).

Related Places and People

• Dorim-dong Church (former Yeongdeungpo Church), Guro Church (now Guro 3-dong Church), Oryu-dong Church: churches in the Seoul area to which the Gwangmyeong-ri Catholic mission chapel successively belonged (Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia, Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Cheolsan Parish (1982.3) and Gwangmun Church (2008.9): parishes separated from Gwangmyeong Church (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia).
• Noonsa-dong Catholic mission chapel: the Catholic mission chapel of Gwangmyeong Parish for which the site was secured in 1991 and whose signboard ceremony was held on May 1, 1992 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Father Jang Deok-ho: director of the Suwon Diocese pastoral ministry office who celebrated the Gwangmyeong-ri Catholic mission chapel Mass in 1972, and first pastor of the Cheolsan Parish (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia).

References and Sources

1. Research Institute of Korean Church History, Korean Catholic Encyclopedia “Gwangmyeong Parish”. Gwangmyeong-ri Catholic mission chapel and quasi-parish, elevation to parish in 1975, church construction, separation of the Cheolsan Parish, expansion in the 1980s, Noonsa-dong Catholic mission chapel, church statistics, successive priests.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/454
2. Academy of Korean Studies, Digital Gwangmyeong Culture Encyclopedia “Gwangmyeong Church” (written by Choe Pan-hong). Gwangmyeong-ri Catholic mission chapel in 1946, changes of the mother parish, founding in 1975, dedication in 1977, division of Cheolsan Church, creation of Gwangmun Church, present status.
   https://gwangmyeong.grandculture.net/gwangmyeong/toc/GC03100928