Bongsan-dong Catholic Church

Overview

Bongsan-dong Church is a church in Bongsan-dong, Wonju, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, belonging to the Catholic Diocese of Wonju. On May 26, 1972, it was separated and established from Wondong Parish, Dangu-dong Parish and Hakseong-dong Parish, and its patron is the Holy Family. The first pastor, Father Shin Hyeon-bong, led the formation of the Catholic Priests Association for Justice in 1974 and was imprisoned for the ‘3·1 Myeongdong Incident’ in 1976.

History

[Background of establishment] According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, Bongsan-dong administratively lies within the city of Wonju, but development was slow because of the Jungang Line railway. As the number of faithful grew from the early 1960s, centered on the poor village along the railway, the diocese established Bongsan-dong Parish on May 26, 1972 and appointed Father Shin Hyeon-bong as the first pastor. The history of the diocese on the homepage of the Catholic Diocese of Wonju also records the new establishment of Bongsan-dong Parish on May 26, 1972. The present church site was land that Father Yang Dae-seok of Wondong Parish had bought in the early 1960s to found a middle school, but approval from the Diocese of Chuncheon, to which it then belonged, was not obtained, so the school foundation was delayed, and after the Diocese of Wonju was erected in 1965, it was changed to a church site.

[Construction of the church] According to the encyclopedia, immediately after taking office Father Shin Hyeon-bong prepared a temporary church and rectory in a house and lot donated by the faithful Yang Seung-hak and celebrated the first Mass on October 2, 1972. On June 23 of the following year he began construction of a new church and completed a church of 65 pyeong on September 25 of that year.

[Period of the pastor’s imprisonment] According to the encyclopedia, when Father Shin Hyeon-bong was imprisoned on March 10, 1976 for being involved in the ‘Declaration for Democratic National Salvation’ (3·1 Myeongdong Incident) and was sentenced to prison the following year, leaving the parish priest’s post vacant, priests of the Columban Missionaries and of the diocese took turns in charge of parish ministry. Even so, parishioners laid out a Marian garden in May 1976, received the transfer of Socho Catholic mission chapel from Hakseong-dong Parish on February 19, 1977, and steadily offered Masses for those suffering. With Father Shin Hyeon-bong’s release on July 17, 1977, the parish met a new turning point.

[Later transformation] According to the encyclopedia, under the 4 pastor, Father Lee Dae-sik, Taejang-dong Parish was newly established on September 23, 1981, and Socho Catholic mission chapel was transferred to it, and on November 7 of the same year a catechesis room of 23 pyeong was newly built. The 5 pastor, Father Park Mu-hak, built a convent of 25 pyeong on October 30, 1983, and successive priests expanded or remodeled the rectory and other annex facilities. The parish steadily grew after its foundation, then decreased for a while in the early 1990s, but from 1993 apartment complexes were built in the Haenggu-dong, Bongsan-2-dong and Taejang-dong areas along with an urban development plan, and new residents are again increasing, the encyclopedia notes.

[Jurisdiction and statistics] According to the encyclopedia, the jurisdiction covers all of Bongsan-1·2-dong, Haenggu-dong and Taejang-1-dong, and parts of Gaeun-dong and Bangok-dong. The statistics are 1,098 faithful in 1972, 1,809 faithful in 1978, 1,788 faithful in 1984, 1,877 faithful in 1990, and 1,383 faithful in 1996.

[Successive pastors] The priests listed by the encyclopedia are the first, Antonio Shin Hyeon-bong (1972. 5–1977. 12), the 2 , Roberto An Seung-gil (1977. 12–1979. 3), the 3, Andrea Kim Jong-tae (1979. 3–1981. 5), the 4, James Lee Dae-sik (1981. 5–1983. 5), the 5, John Park Mu-hak (1983. 5–1986. 7), the 6, Cunibert Cho Gyu-nam (1986. 7–1990. 2), the 7, Aloysius Yang Dae-seok (1990. 2–1991. 4), the 8, Thaddeus Kim Yong-seong (1991. 4–1995. 2), the 9, Joseph Jeong Ui-jun (1995. 2–1996. 2), and the 10, Peter Yu Yeong-gu (1996. 2–).

[Father Shin Hyeon-bong] According to Hankyoreh (obituary), Father Antonio Shin Hyeon-bong was born in Gwangju, Jeonnam in 1930, was ordained a priest in 1961 and began priestly life as assistant priest at Hoengseong Church, and in July 1974, prompted by the detention of Bishop Ji Hak-sun, led the formation of the Priests Association for Justice together with Fathers Ham Se-ung, Mun Jeong-hyeon and others. After a prayer meeting for the association’s formation at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul on September 26, 1974, a foreign press photo became known showing a policeman strangling his neck as he shouted “Release Bishop Ji Hak-sun” during a street march. In 1976 he announced the ‘Wonju Declaration’ at a joint old- and new-religion prayer meeting held at Wondong Church in Wonju, and was imprisoned for 15 months for the ‘3·1 Myeongdong Cathedral Declaration for Democratic National Salvation Incident’. According to OhmyNews, when Bishop Ji Hak-sun was taken away by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency in July 1974 and sentenced to 15 years in prison with 15 years of disqualification, Father Shin Hyeon-bong traveled around dioceses across the country appealing for a campaign to save him, and was then pastor of Bongsan-dong Church in the Diocese of Wonju. The same article reports that he was arrested on March 10, 1976 for violating Emergency Measure No. 9, was sentenced by the Supreme Court to 3 years in prison with 3 years of disqualification, was released on suspension of execution of sentence on July 17, 1977, and was acquitted 37 years later after the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court en banc confirmed in 2013 that Emergency Measure No. 9 was unconstitutional and void. Both articles report that he died at age 93.

Related places and people

• Wondong Parish, Dangu-dong Parish and Hakseong-dong Parish: the parishes from which Bongsan-dong Parish was separated. From Hakseong-dong Parish it received Socho Catholic mission chapel in February 1977 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Taejang-dong Parish: newly established on September 23, 1981, receiving Socho Catholic mission chapel from Bongsan-dong Parish (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Father Antonio Shin Hyeon-bong: first pastor of Bongsan-dong Parish, who led the formation of the Catholic Priests Association for Justice (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, Hankyoreh, OhmyNews).
• Bishop Ji Hak-sun: then head of the Diocese of Wonju, detained in July 1974 and sentenced to 15 years in prison (OhmyNews, history of the Catholic Diocese of Wonju).

References and sources

1. Research Institute of Korean Church History, Korean Catholic Encyclopedia “Bongsan-dong Parish”. Background of establishment and site, first Mass and church construction, period of the pastor’s imprisonment, separation, statistics and successive priests.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/2644
2. Catholic Diocese of Wonju, history of the diocese (1970s). New establishment of Bongsan-dong Parish on May 26, 1972.
   http://www.wjcatholic.or.kr/company/history?y=1970
3. Hankyoreh, “Father Shin Hyeon-bong, who led the formation of the Priests Association for Justice, dies”. Ordination and association activity of Father Shin Hyeon-bong, the 1976 incident and imprisonment, pastoral career.
   https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/society/obituary/1025845.html
4. OhmyNews, “Father Shin Hyeon-bong, who led the anti-Yushin struggle in the 70s, dies” (published on January 4, 2022). Pastor of Bongsan-dong Church in 1974, arrest in 1976 and release in 1977, acquittal in 2013.
   https://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002800175