Baegun Church

History & origins

Catholic life in the Baegun area appears in records from the late nineteenth century. The Catholic Encyclopedia of Korea states that a mission station existed in Aeryeon-ri, Baegun-myeon, in 1894 and that Father Le Merre of Pungsuwon Parish visited it. The available sources do not justify claiming an uninterrupted institutional continuity from that early community to the present parish, but they do show that Catholics were already living their faith in mission-station form in the Baegun area at an early date.

The modern Baegun community entered a new phase in the late 1980s. While the area was under Seobu-dong Parish in Jecheon, construction of a church for local Catholics began in April 1989 and the building was completed on November 21 of that year. Having a permanent place for liturgy gave the mission community a firmer basis from which to develop into an independent parish.

On January 28, 1992, Baegun was separated from Seobu-dong Parish and elevated to an independent parish. In the years that followed, the parish formed sister-parish relationships and promoted direct sales of local farm produce, while medical teams from an urban partner parish also provided free clinics in the 1990s. These developments show that Baegun Parish grew not only as a place of worship but also within the social life and mutual support of a rural community. Today's parish stands on a local history marked by the early mission-station memory, the 1989 church construction, and the 1992 parish foundation.

In 1994, the parish formed sister-parish relationships with urban communities including Seongnam-dong Parish in Suwon and Bangbae-dong Parish in Seoul, promoting direct sales of local agricultural products. In 1996, a medical team from Bangbae-dong Parish provided free medical care. These forms of exchange between a rural parish and urban parishes show that Baegun’s pastoral life addressed economic and medical needs alongside liturgical and community life.