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About this place
Haeundae Parish belongs to the Udong District of the Diocese of Busan and has Saint Paul as its patron. Centered in Jung-dong, Haeundae-gu, it is a parish where local Catholics celebrate Mass and the sacraments, receive catechesis, and sustain their common life of faith. Although it stands in one of Korea’s best-known tourist districts, its primary identity is not that of a sightseeing destination but of a Catholic parish serving the ordinary religious life of the local faithful.
Saint Paul, the parish patron, represents a life devoted to the proclamation of the Gospel and mission. Within that spiritual framework, Haeundae Parish provides a place where local residents and visiting Catholics can take part in the Church’s liturgical and sacramental life. The parish is one of the long-standing Catholic communities of Busan’s eastern coastal area, showing the continuity of local Church life through the many changes of the Haeundae urban district.
History & origins
The Catholic community in Haeundae can be traced to November 8, 1959. At that time Father Jeong Su-gil, pastor of Suyeong Parish, responded to the long distance between the parish church and Haeundae and to the area’s growing population and number of Catholics by renting Hosu Café in Jung-dong for the first Mass and discussing the establishment of a mission station. Land was purchased in U 1-dong in March 1960, and the Haeundae mission station was formally established on April 15, 1961. Catholics from both Haeundae and the Gijang area came there for Mass and catechetical instruction.
In February 1962 the mission station became directly administered by the Diocese of Busan, beginning formal preparations for elevation to a parish. From June that year Father Je Chan-gyu took responsibility for the community and arranged a church of about 29 pyeong near the present parish site. From October Father Lee Yeong-sik continued the ministry and completed a church building in Jung-dong. This period marked the community’s transition from a temporary place for Mass to a stable Catholic community with its own liturgical space. The early church building completed in this period was later converted for use as a kindergarten, leaving a trace of how the growing parish adapted its earlier facilities for new pastoral and educational purposes.
Bishop Choi Jae-seon of Busan elevated Haeundae mission station to a parish on January 12, 1963, and appointed Father Kim Yu-jae as its first pastor. A priest’s residence was subsequently built, and a convent for a local community of the Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs was also established, expanding the pastoral infrastructure of the new parish. The history of Haeundae Parish is therefore the story of a small Mass community created in response to urban growth, developing through the mission-station stage into an independent parish. After the first pastor took office, a two-story priest residence was completed in November of that year, and a convent for a local community of the Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs was subsequently built and blessed the following October.
Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia
Haeundae Catholic Church: history and architecture
Read about the place's history, architecture, people, and events in the Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia articles are currently available in Korean.
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Busan Diocese (Diocese of Busan)
Official website: https://www.catholicbusan.or.kr
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