Boksan Catholic Church

History & origins

The roots of Boksan Catholic Church go back to 1954, when the Ulsan mission station was established under Eonyang Parish. As a stable Catholic community took shape in the Ulsan area, it was erected as a parish on April 26, 1956, under the name Ulsan Catholic Church. Construction of the parish church was completed in 1957, giving the Catholic community in central Ulsan a firm base for growth around an independent parish.

The church also appears in a chapter of the region’s modern civic history. According to a record introduced by the City of Ulsan, gatherings connected with the democratization movement were held at Ulsan Catholic Church in 1987, including a memorial and public condemnation of torture and violence following the death of Park Jong-cheol and a memorial Mass for the May 18 Democratization Movement. This shows that the church was not only a place of liturgy for Catholics but also a place where voices from civil society gathered.

In 1998, Ulsan Catholic Church was renamed Boksan Catholic Church after the local area. The physical church also changed over time; a City of Ulsan account states that the site took on its present appearance in 2008. Through changes in name and building, the continuity of the parish community was maintained.

In 2016, the Diocese of Busan officially recorded celebrations for the parish’s 60th anniversary. The history of this community, now extending well beyond half a century, remains one strand in the story of Catholicism in Ulsan: beginning as a mission station, growing into an urban parish, and contributing to the wider spread of Catholic communities across the region.