마석 성당

History & origins

The Maseok community's recorded history includes the 1976 transfer of Maseok Mission Station from Cheongpyeong Parish of the Diocese of Chuncheon to Guri Parish of the Archdiocese of Seoul. In 1978 the community secured property, renovated and blessed an existing building, and then built a new mission church, which was completed and blessed in November of that year.

The dates surrounding parish establishment need to be distinguished rather than collapsed. The Catholic Church Directory in Korea gives February 22, 1985, as the establishment date, while the parish's official history records a jurisdictional change on February 22 and describes February 24 as the day Maseok was separated and newly established as a parish. Fr. Thaddeus Lee Sang-jun arrived as the first pastor on March 7. As the community later grew, areas including Pyeongnae, Changhyeon, Cheonma, and Sudong were successively separated into new parishes.