Annyeong Catholic Church

History & origins

Annyeong Parish was established on October 1, 2004, after being separated from Byeongjeom Parish. As population and residential areas expanded in eastern Hwaseong, a new parish became necessary and Catholics around Annyeong-dong formed an independent community. At the 25th-anniversary celebration of Byeongjeom Parish in 2010, the mother parish and its daughter communities, including Annyeong and Gisan, celebrated together, clearly reflecting this relationship.

Since its foundation, Annyeong Parish has continued the liturgical and sacramental life of local Catholics under the patronage of Saint John Mary Vianney. Its growth has accompanied the expansion of residential areas in Hwaseong, and over time the need for a church building suited to long-term pastoral use became more apparent.

In 2026 the construction office of the Diocese of Suwon formally announced a design competition for a new Annyeong church. This marks a new stage in the parish’s development after more than two decades as an independent community. Its history thus moves from separation from Byeongjeom, through the consolidation of its own parish life, toward preparation for a new pastoral space for the coming period. The new-church project does not imply abandoning the history of the existing community; rather, it is a process of carrying the parish life accumulated since its foundation into a space suited to the future. The movement from a small daughter community to an established parish and then to a new architectural transition illustrates how demographic and pastoral changes in a locality can reshape the physical environment of a parish. If construction of the new church proceeds, that process will become the next chapter of the parish’s history. At present, however, the officially documented chronology can be stated with confidence only through the design-competition stage.