Yongsang-dong Catholic Church

History & origins

Yongsang-dong Parish was established on August 21, 1973. The Diocese of Andong's parish-foundation list records its original name as Dongbu-dong, and a Catholic Times article on the fiftieth anniversary likewise reports that the community began in August 1973 as Dongbu-dong Parish within the Andong Culture Center. The new parish reflected the growth of Andong's urban area and changes in where Catholics were living, creating a new center for a distinct local community.

For about eighteen years the community continued under the name Dongbu-dong Parish. In January 1991 it moved to its present location and changed its name to Yongsang-dong Parish. The move and renaming were more than an administrative adjustment: they relocated the parish center into the living area of the Catholic community that had become established in Yongsang-dong.

In September 2023, Bishop John Chrysostom Kwon Hyok-ju presided at a Mass marking the parish's fiftieth anniversary, with former Bishop René Dupont also taking part in the celebration. The parish looked back on five decades of faith while linking the anniversary to service in the local community. Its history can thus be traced from its beginnings amid Andong's urban expansion in the 1970s, through the 1991 relocation and renaming, to its development as a parish rooted in Yongsang-dong.