Geundeok Mission

History & origins

Geundeok Mission Station was established as Seongnae-dong Parish in the Samcheok area extended its pastoral care into surrounding farming and fishing communities. According to the church-historical record of Seongnae-dong Parish, the parish established Geundeok Mission Station on March 10, 1956. The Guide to the Catholic Church in Korea records the same date, so the official beginning of the mission station is consistent in the two sources.

In its early years, local Catholics formed a mission-station community and continued their faith through visits by parish priests and mission-station observances. In the same period, Seongnae-dong Parish also established mission stations in surrounding places such as Dongmak, Gungchon, and Hosan, with Geundeok forming one part of this expansion of evangelization across the Samcheok area. As the community became established, a dedicated meeting hall was needed, and on November 1, 1963, a 35-pyeong hall for Geundeok Mission Station was blessed. It gave Catholics living away from central Samcheok a stable place to gather.

At that time Seongnae-dong Parish and Geundeok Mission Station belonged to the Diocese of Chuncheon. When the Diocese of Wonju was separated from Chuncheon and established on March 22, 1965, both were incorporated into the new diocese. The mission-station community subsequently continued within the pastoral network of the Diocese of Wonju in the Samcheok area.

The history of Geundeok shows not the rise of a large independent parish but the way a mother parish created mission stations to reach Catholics across a wide territory and how a local community secured its own gathering place. Because the foundation date, the blessing of the mission hall, and the change of diocesan affiliation are all supported by church records, the formation of the Catholic community in Geundeok and its incorporation into the Diocese of Wonju can be followed with relative clarity.