The Jeonghae Persecution, which began in February 1827 in Gokseong, Jeonnam, devastated the Catholic Church. Believers from the Jeolla region began to cross into the western part of Gyeongsangnam-do. Because this area was isolated by the mountains of Jirisan and Deogyusan, few people traveled through it, and thus no attention was paid to Catholics who sought refuge there. During the bitter cold of the Jeonghae year and the summer drought that followed, many Catholics who had hidden in the slash-and-burn fields around Deogyusan froze or starved to death. When warm spring finally arrived, the faithful began to disperse in search of inhabited villages and fled southward toward the regions of Masan and Busan.

By around 1860, there were 153 Catholic villages (교우촌) across the country, and eight of them were in the Masan region. In 1861, Father Felixclair Ridel entered Korea and succeeded Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop in evangelizing the Gyeongsang-do region. He was later appointed the sixth Vicar Apostolic of Korea in 1869. However, these Catholic villages largely disappeared during the Byung-in Persecution of 1866 and the Mujin Persecution of 1868. Afterward, missionary work in the Gyeongsang-do area resumed through Father Achilleo Rovert. Entering Korea in 1877 at the young age of twenty-four, he dedicated himself to pastoral ministry, living in hiding in remote mountainous areas. Assigned to Sannamugol in Waegwan in 1886, he oversaw many mission stations throughout Gyeongsang-do and even traveled as far as the Okpo mission station in Geoje in 1887 to administer baptism to the family of the martyr Blessed Joseph Yun Bong-mun.

On June 9, 1897, Father Kang Seong-sam Lorenzo—who had been ordained in Seoul on April 26, 1897, by Bishop Mutel and was the third Korean priest after St. Andrew Kim Dae-geon and Father Thomas Choe Yang-eop—was assigned as assistant pastor to **Myeongnye Church (명례성당)**, the first church in the Masan Diocese. The faithful of the Myeongnye mission station in Miryang had purchased a three-room house for 120 nyang to serve as the rectory, thereby establishing Myeongnye as the temporary parish. Upon Father Kang’s arrival, the parish thrived, but due to poor health, he died in Myeongnye on September 19,1903, at the age of thirty-eight. In 1916, the parish was officially recognized, and a church building was constructed under the name “Myeongnye Catholic Church.”

As mission stations throughout Gyeongnam grew, the need for a new parish became evident. The faithful first sought to establish a parish in Jinju. On July 21,1898, they submitted a petition to the bishop requesting a priest and worked actively to bring one to the area. Upon learning this, Father Emile Taquet of the Busan parish advocated for the establishment of a parish in Jinju and volunteered to serve there. He arrived in Jinju in June 1899 on the eve of Pentecost, welcomed warmly by the faithful. They purchased a neighboring house for 300 nyang—using the old house as the church and the new one as the rectory. The local population also welcomed the foreign priest, expecting him to curb governmental abuses. However, local troublemakers and officials openly opposed him and caused great difficulties. Because of these challenges, Father Taquet decided to relocate the parish. Although he first considered the Sochon mission station (in present-day Munsan Parish), he ultimately moved the parish to Masan. Within a year of his arrival, the parish was transferred to Masan, where**Wanwoldong Church** was established in 1900. Meanwhile, Jinju’s So-gok mission station became **Munsan Church** in 1905.

The Masan region, originally under the Diocese of Daegu but partly belonging to the Diocese of Busan, was elevated to diocesan status when Pope Paul VI formally established the **Masan Diocese** on February 15, 1966. Today, the diocese comprises seventy-four parishes, including one quasi-parish. In 2025, Bishop**Lee Seong-hyo Rino** was appointed as the sixth bishop of Masan.