Inchang-dong Catholic Church

Overview

Inchang-dong Church is a church in Inchang-dong, Guri-si, Gyeonggi-do, belonging to the Diocese of Uijeongbu. It was separated from Guri Church and established in 1997 (the introduction page on the homepage gives the founding year-month as 1997.2.14, while the church history records the separation and establishment as 1997-02-04), and its patron is St. Paul the Apostle. Starting from an underground church in 1997, it moved into the church expanded on August 15, 2008 and held the dedication ceremony on May 18, 2014.

History

〔Separation, establishment and temporary church〕 The church history on the Inchang-dong Church homepage records on February 4, 1997 “separated and established from Guri Church under Seoul Archdiocese N0 97-7 (238 households, 1,208 faithful / population 48,262)”. The introduction page on the same homepage gives the founding year-month as 1997.2.14, and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea directory also lists the establishment date as 1997.2.14. According to the chronology, the first pastor, Father Paul Kwon Heung-sik, took office on February 28, and the first Mass was celebrated in the temporary church (prefabricated building) on March 2. District Masses began on March 10, districts and small groups were organized on March 16, and the 1-th pastoral council (chairman Fabiano Ahn Byeong-wan) was formed on March 30. There were the first initiation ceremony for catechumens on April 20, the establishment of the Queen of Christ Curia on May 11, the first First Communion (19 persons) on May 31, and the first adult baptism (66 persons) on July 5.

〔Underground church〕 The chronology records that the parish design was promoted on July 13, 1997, the groundbreaking ceremony for the present underground church was held on September 21, and Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan visited the parish on October 23. The entrance ceremony for the underground church was held on December 21 and the first Mass (year-end Mass) in the underground church was celebrated on December 31. It notes that the underground church was completed on November 6, 1998, designed by Cheongmok Design and built by Donggwang Construction. On February 1, 2000, part of Gyomun 1-dong (Ttalgiwon), 54 households and 110 persons, transferred from Guri Parish to Inchang-dong Church, and on February 12 the Church Development Promotion Committee was launched. On August 24, 2000 the branch house of the Franciscan Missionary Service Sisters was established.

〔Church extension and entrance〕 The chronology records the inauguration and appointment ceremony of the church-building committee on July 25, 2004, the appointment of building committee members on March 26, 2006, the purchase of 55 pyeong of land at 399 Inchang-dong in the name of the diocese on April 30, and the selection of the church designer (Dongwoo Architecture) on August 27. It records that the building permit (Guri City Construction Division-7729) was received on March 30, 2007, the catechesis rooms were moved due to church construction on April 9, the contractor was selected as Juhan Industrial Development on May 9, and the groundbreaking Mass for the church extension was celebrated on May 13. The entrance Mass was celebrated on August 15, 2008, and the use approval for the extension (Guri City 2006-Construction Division-Extension Permit-6) was received on September 1. A fundraising campaign for the church-building fund for the dedication (offering at least 100 ten thousand won per household) began on March 1, 2009, and the dedication ceremony of Inchang-dong Church was held on May 18, 2014. The chronology from 2004 to 2011 records several bazaars and food bazaars for the church-building fund.

〔Separation of Galmae-dong Church〕 According to the chronology, Galmae-dong Church was separated and established on August 24, 2017 (341 persons / 132 households). The monthly Mass at Galmae-dong Church (fourth Saturday at 17 o’clock, on the church site) was celebrated on September 23, 2017, and fundraising for the construction subsidy for Galmae-dong Parish (4 hundred million) began on February 25, 2018. Father Joseph Lee Young-jae took office as pastor of Galmae-dong Church on September 4, 2018 (handover 2018.8.30), and Sunday Mass at Galmae-dong was newly established at the Inchang-dong small chapel on October 7. The Galmae-dong establishment date in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea directory is 2018.08.24, differing in year from the chronology.

〔Parish events〕 The chronology records the establishment of the Diocese of Uijeongbu on October 11, 2004 (first bishop Joseph Lee Han-taek) and in the same year the first diocesan bulletin on October 17, the opening of the Inchang-dong Church homepage (Good News Club) on October 18, 2009, the installation of the 2-th Bishop of Uijeongbu, Peter Lee Ki-heon, on May 4, 2010, the beatification Mass for Pope Francis’s visit to Korea (Gwanghwamun) on August 16, 2014, and the 20-th anniversary of the parish founding (Confirmation, bazaar, agape) on June 24, 2017. On October 21, 2018 the districts were reorganized from 28 districts into 8 districts and 1 outlying areas. Confirmations are recorded as on March 7, 1999 (Bishop Kim Ok-kyun, 110 persons), on September 2, 2001 (Bishop Kang Woo-il, 123 persons), on June 28, 2003 (Bishop Lee Han-taek, 90 persons), on October 19, 2008 (Bishop Lee Han-taek, 177 persons), on November 5, 2011 (Bishop Peter Lee Ki-heon, 139 persons), on November 6, 2016 (119 persons), on June 24, 2017 (93 persons), on July 27, 2019 (47 persons), and others.

〔Jurisdiction and statistics〕 The introduction page gives the jurisdiction as Inchang-dong, part of Gyomun 1-dong, Sano-dong and Galmae-dong in Guri-si, Gyeonggi-do, districts / small groups as 9 districts and 34 small groups, households as 2,027 households, and faithful as 4,564 persons.

〔Vocations〕 The chronology notes that Beda Yang Jong-seok of the parish entered the seminary on February 28, 2007 and was ordained a priest on February 5, 2014, Andrew Kang Tae-hyeon entered the seminary on February 26, 2010 and was ordained a priest on February 1, 2017, and Augustine Park Seong-jin entered the seminary on February 28, 2019.

〔Patron saint〕 The introduction page gives the patron as St. Paul. The patron-saint page introduces St. Paul the Apostle as a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin holding Roman citizenship, explains that he studied in Jerusalem as a pupil of Gamaliel, worked as a tentmaker, and became the Apostle to the Gentiles after experiencing a vision of Christ on the way to Damascus. The same page introduces that, according to Clement of Rome, Paul was dragged to Rome and executed on the same day as St. Peter (the view of Eusebius).

〔Pastors〕 The clergy / religious page lists the 1-th Paul Kwon Heung-sik (took office 1997-02-28), 2-th John the Baptist Kim Jong-won (2001-03-06), 3-th Peter Kim Young-seok (2005-06-07), 4-th John Bosco Ji Jeong-tae (2009-09-08), 5-th Peter Kim Young-cheol (2012-09-01), 6-th Benedict Kim Seong-su (2016-09-01), 7-th Simeon Kim In-seok (2021-02-04), 8-th John the Apostle Shin Gi-bae (2025-02-18). The church history records the taking of office of the 3-th Peter Kim Young-seok (2005-06-07), 4-th John Bosco Ji Jeong-tae (2009-09-08, dean), 5-th Peter Kim Young-cheol (2012-09-01), 6-th Benedict Kim Seong-su (2016-09-06), 7-th Simeon Kim In-seok (2021-02-16), with some dates differing. The first assistant pastor was Andrew Lee Yong-gwon, with the clergy page giving the date of taking office as 2003-12-04 and the church history as 2003-12-05.

Architecture and Space

〔Current buildings〕 The introduction page gives the site area as 1,895 sqm (573 pyeong), total floor area as 2,985.6 sqm (903 pyeong), and a reinforced concrete structure with 1 basement floor and 5 above-ground floors. By floor, basement 1 (853.02 sqm) is used as hall and catechesis rooms, floor 1 (546.62 sqm) as office, religious-goods shop, management room and catechesis rooms, floor 2 (767.42 sqm) as church and catechesis rooms, floor 3 (342.46 sqm) as choir and catechesis rooms, and floor 4 (476.08 sqm) as rectory and convent.

〔Church logo〕 According to the introduction page, the red cross in the logo is the cross motif of St. Paul the Apostle signifying Paul’s martyrdom, the white background signifies the purity of Christ, the blue IC are the initials of Inchang-dong signifying faith, belief and hope, the C-shaped fish signifies Jesus Christ, and 1997 signifies the founding year.

Related Places and People

• Guri Church: In 1997, Inchang-dong Church was separated and established from this parish under an official letter of the Seoul Archdiocese, and in 2000 faithful in part of Gyomun 1-dong transferred their affiliation from Guri Parish to Inchang-dong Church (Inchang-dong Church homepage chronology).
• Galmae-dong Church: The Inchang-dong Church chronology records that it was separated and established from Inchang-dong Church in 2017.

References and Sources

1. Uijeongbu Diocese Inchang-dong Church homepage, “Church History”. Separation and establishment in 1997, underground church, church extension and entrance in 2008 and dedication in 2014, separation of Galmae-dong Church, taking of office of pastors and assistant, Confirmation.
   http://sd.uca.or.kr/inchang/default.aspx?mnucd=20002852
2. Uijeongbu Diocese Inchang-dong Church homepage, “Introduction”. Founding year-month, patron saint, jurisdiction, statistics, current buildings, church logo.
   http://sd.uca.or.kr/inchang/default.aspx?mnucd=20002851
3. Uijeongbu Diocese Inchang-dong Church homepage, “Patron Saint”. Introduction to St. Paul the Apostle.
   http://sd.uca.or.kr/inchang/default.aspx?mnucd=20002853
4. Uijeongbu Diocese Inchang-dong Church homepage, “Clergy / Religious”. Dates of taking office of successive pastors.
   http://sd.uca.or.kr/inchang/default.aspx?mnucd=20002854
5. Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, Korean Catholic Directory list of parishes in the Diocese of Uijeongbu “Inchang-dong” and “Galmae-dong”. Inchang-dong establishment date February 14, 1997, Galmae-dong establishment date August 24, 2018.
   https://directory.cbck.or.kr/OnlineAddress/SearchList.aspx?cgubn=g&char=all&gubn=4&gubn2=all&gyogu=201000020&paged=100&sort=0&start=1&tbxSearch=