Jwadong Catholic Church

History & origins

Jwadong Parish was created in February 1997 by separation from Haeundae Parish as the large-scale development of Haeundae New Town and the influx of residents created a need for a new parish. The Catholic Times of Korea reported at the time that the new town was being built for roughly 33,000 households and a resident population of about 120,000. The expectation that a single church would not be sufficient for future pastoral needs formed part of the background to both the new parish and its church-building plans.

Immediately after the parish was established, it did not yet have a permanent church. Parishioners celebrated the principal Sunday Mass in a small park within the new town, while other Masses rotated among apartments. Because urban planning restrictions made temporary tents or prefabricated buildings difficult to use, ordinary residential spaces became the early parish’s places of worship. Parishioners raised funds for church construction while also carrying out local service such as litter collection and traffic guidance.

Taking the large population of the new town into account, the parish pursued a plan to provide church spaces on both its eastern and western sides. Contemporary records state that a first church was to be built on a western site and that another site had been secured in the east for an additional church. This history shows that Jwadong Parish did not begin around a completed building; rather, the faithful first gathered for Mass in a rapidly growing new town and then worked to create the religious spaces their community needed.

This early record shows that the formation of Jwadong Parish occurred almost simultaneously with the development of the new urban district. Catholics who had moved in from many different places formed a community before they had a church, and combined local service with fundraising to create a place of faith. That experience gives a concrete picture of the communal foundations from which the parish grew.