About this place
Pureun Namu (“Green Tree”), the Youth Education Center, is a diocesan facility of the Diocese of Busan with educational and retreat functions. The directory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea lists it among the Diocese of Busan's retreat and prayer houses, while a Catholic Times report from its opening describes it as a comprehensive education center created for the re-education and spiritual growth of the faithful and for youth character formation and cultural activities. It is therefore better understood not as a territorial parish church but as a diocesan space supporting education and growth in faith.
The name “Pureun Namu,” meaning “Green Tree,” evokes images of life and growth that fit its role as a youth education center. The founding purpose linked healthy character formation and cultural opportunities for young people with the continuing education and spiritual growth of adult Catholics; these are not isolated functions but parts of a broader mission to help form and strengthen the diocesan community. Its present listing as a retreat and prayer facility also indicates that visitors should understand the place within the context of diocesan education, retreat, and renewal rather than ordinary parish life.
History & origins
The Diocese of Busan developed the Pureun Namu education center to provide a dedicated space for continuing formation of the faithful and for young people. According to the Catholic Times, a groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 24, 2003, followed by approximately one year and two months of construction. The completed diocesan education center consisted of one basement level and five stories above ground. It was planned not simply as a meeting facility but as diocesan infrastructure capable of accommodating educational, cultural, and spiritual programs together.
The building was blessed on November 23, 2004, in a ceremony presided over by Bishop Augustine Jeong Myeong-jo. At the time, the diocese stated that the center would be used for the spiritual growth and continuing education of the faithful as well as for healthy character formation and cultural activities for young people. This purpose shows an effort to bring youth ministry and adult faith formation together within a single diocesan facility.
Specific programs may have changed over time, but the current directory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea continues to list “Pureun Namu (Youth Education Center)” among the retreat and prayer houses of the Diocese of Busan. This indicates that the comprehensive educational function envisioned at its opening has continued in a diocesan facility that also encompasses retreat, prayer, and faith formation.
No later major expansion or substantial alteration of the facility could be verified in the reliable public sources consulted, so no additional events have been added. The documented history of Pureun Namu can therefore be traced from the diocese's plan and construction of a dedicated space for youth and Catholic education, through its blessing, to its continuing role as a diocesan facility for education and retreat.
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Building information
- Passenger elevators: 1
- 5 above-ground floors · 1 below-ground floors
- Approved for use in 2004
- Total floor area: 3,473㎡
Building-register record · · Source
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Sources and updates
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- Source
- Official source
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- Source
- 한국천주교주교회의 온라인 주소록
Diocese
Busan Diocese (Diocese of Busan)
Official website: https://www.catholicbusan.or.kr
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