Seodaeshin Church

History & origins

Seodaesin Parish emerged in the years around the Korean War, when the number of Catholics in this part of Busan increased with the arrival of displaced people. Father J. Connors of the Maryknoll Fathers, then pastor of Choryang Parish, recognized the need for a new parish, secured a site, and promoted construction of a church. As a result, the parish was separated from Jungang Parish and established on February 1, 1955, and its new church was completed in April of the same year.

As the parish community became established and grew, its territory was gradually divided. In 1961 the Goejeong area became a separate parish, and when Dongdaesin-dong Parish was established in 1964, the former Daesin-dong Parish came to be called Seodaesin-dong Parish. Its name later settled into the present form, Seodaesin Parish, in step with changes in local place names and the parish structure.

The parish did not limit its work to constructing a church. It also developed activities connected with the local community, including a credit union and educational and welfare initiatives. In 1969 pastoral responsibility was transferred from the Maryknoll mission to the Diocese of Busan, after which the parish continued under diocesan administration. Records from the 1990s also note practical outreach to neighbors, including free meal service and cooperative activity.

In 2025 a Mass of thanksgiving marked the parish's 70th anniversary. The anniversary stands as a milestone showing how the community, begun amid the urban changes that followed the war, has continued to the present through several parish divisions and changes in pastoral administration.