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About this place
Boksan Catholic Church (복산 성당) is a parish of the Boksan District in the Catholic Diocese of Busan and serves as a central place in Ulsan’s Jung-gu for Mass, the sacraments, and the communal life of local Catholics. The official Catholic directory of Korea lists Our Lady of Sorrows as its patron and the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the religious community serving there. Its role as the parish bearing the name of the Boksan District also makes it an important point of reference within the Catholic community of central Ulsan.
Alongside its present parish life, the church carries the memory of the growth of Catholicism in the Ulsan area. It was formerly known as Ulsan Catholic Church and later took the local name Boksan Catholic Church. A visitor can therefore encounter not only a living place of liturgy and faith today, but also a site that helps explain how the Catholic community took root in urban Ulsan and expanded into other communities.
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.
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Building information
- Passenger elevators: 1
- 5 above-ground floors · 1 below-ground floors
- Approved for use in 2007
- Total floor area: 5,966㎡
Building-register record · · Source
Accessibility information
- Entrance rampAvailableOfficial source checked August 24, 2026 · Source
- Accessible parkingAvailableOfficial source checked August 24, 2026 · Source
Some accessibility details are unavailable. Please check with the location before visiting.
Sources and updates
- Information Status
- Official
- Source
- Diocese source
- Data freshness
- Fresh
- Last updated
- Source
- Francisco Diary
Diocese
Busan Diocese (Diocese of Busan)
Official website: https://www.catholicbusan.or.kr
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