Geumwang Catholic Church

History & origins

Geumwang Parish was established on September 6, 1957, when it was separated from Janghowon Parish, today’s Gamgok Parish. The following year the present church site was purchased and a church and rectory were built. In 1960 a convent was completed and a local community of the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was established. These developments provided the early pastoral foundation for the Catholic community of Geumwang.

In August 1976 the Maryknoll missionaries who had been serving the parish withdrew, and Father Oh Woong-jin became pastor. On November 15 of the same year, five small units known as the “House of Love” were prepared to care for people who had nowhere else to turn; this initiative grew into what is now Kkottongnae. Geumwang Parish’s history is therefore not only the story of a local parish but also touches an important beginning in Korean Catholic social welfare.

A new church was built in 1980. As Kkottongnae expanded, its administration was separated from that of Geumwang Parish in January 1987. The parish continued to renew its own facilities: the old church and rectory were demolished in 1990, and a new rectory and education building were completed in 1991. A fire destroyed the convent in 1992, and a nursery and parish hall were later built on the site and completed in 1994.

This sequence shows how, while the parish was consolidating its local pastoral foundation, a work of social care emerged, grew into the distinct Kkottongnae community, and was followed by a renewed focus on the parish’s own pastoral structure.