Hadan Catholic Church

History & origins

Catholic history in the Hadan area began with a community that predates the present parish. The Catholic Encyclopedia of Korea records a tradition that around 1890 Thomas Seo Ho-yeong moved to Hadan and worked to spread the faith locally while attending the Catholic parish then serving Busan. As the number of Catholics increased, the first mission station in the Hadan area was established in 1926 in the home of John Seo Seok-guk. When Daecheong-dong Parish was established in 1948, jurisdiction over the mission station was transferred there. A mission-station hall was completed in 1956.

When Goejeong Parish was created in 1961, the Hadan mission station was closed and local Catholics attended Mass at Goejeong. The population and Catholic community of Hadan continued to grow, however, and in 1965 a building was provided for catechumens and as a resting place for Catholics traveling from more distant areas. From the 1970s, urban development and continued Catholic growth increased the need for an independent pastoral center in Hadan once again.

Preparations for a new parish became concrete in the mid-1980s through efforts to secure a church site and plan construction. With the cooperation of the faithful, the present site was obtained and building work advanced. On February 6, 1988, Hadan Parish was separated from Goejeong Parish and formally established, restoring an independent parish to an area with a long mission-station tradition.

The new parish completed its church and celebrated the dedication in 1989, later developing Marian devotional space and other parish facilities as the community's foundation was strengthened. In the 2000s, the parish also carried out activities such as meal support for vulnerable neighbors and Bible study. Hadan's history therefore traces a path from early evangelization and a mission station, through a period of closure and administration by neighboring parishes, to the re-establishment of an independent parish, revealing the continuity of Catholic community life amid changes in the surrounding area.