Nam-milyang Catholic Church

History & origins

Nammiryang Parish began in 2004 when it was separated from Miryang Parish and was initially called Yerim Parish. The Catholic Church directory in Korea records September 17, 2004, as its establishment date. According to a Catholic Times report on the later dedication of the new church, the new parish was centered at that time in Yerim-ri, Sangnam-myeon, Miryang, and began as an independent pastoral community for southern Miryang while also caring for three mission stations in the surrounding area.

As the community developed, securing a more stable parish church and facilities became an important task. The parish began preparing for a new church in 2008 and, after several years of preparation, held a groundbreaking ceremony on March 31, 2012, to begin construction. This was not merely the construction of another building: it marked a transition in which the parish center was being moved to a new location and space was being prepared for the community’s future life.

In October of the same year, the parish name was changed from Yerim to Nammiryang. The Catholic Church directory in Korea also records this change, which coincided with the period when the new church was being built and the parish center was shifting. The name “Nammiryang,” rather than the name of a single village, came to express the parish’s broader regional character.

The new church was built in Gagok-dong, Miryang, and dedicated on April 7, 2013, with Bishop Hwang Cheol-su presiding. The Catholic Times described it as a reinforced-concrete building with a site area of 2,394 square meters and a total floor area of 1,201 square meters. The sequence of the 2004 separation and beginning as Yerim Parish, preparations from 2008, the 2012 groundbreaking and name change, and the 2013 dedication provides a relatively clear outline of how Nammiryang became established as an independent parish community.