Kkotdongne Love Retreat Center

History & origins

The Training Institute of Love was developed as the community of supporters around Kkottongnae expanded. A Catholic Times account published at the time of its opening records that supporters had carried out the “One-Heart Hand-in-Hand Movement of Love” from 1986 to secure the site. Government assistance, donations, benefactors, and volunteer labor then contributed to the realization of a large training facility.

Government archival photographs record a completion ceremony for the Training Institute of Love at Eumseong Kkottongnae on October 10, 1996, attended by the prime minister. Kkottongnae’s official chronology identifies this as the completion of the education building and records that the residential building was completed and the institute formally opened on May 13 of the following year. Catholic Times confirms the same opening date.

The institute subsequently became a venue for Kkottongnae’s educational and spiritual activities. A particularly significant moment came on August 16, 2014, when Pope Francis visited during his trip to Korea and met approximately 4,000 Korean religious at the Training Institute of Love. Government archival photographs clearly identify both the location and the participants, marking the institute as a place remembered for an important gathering in the life of the Korean Catholic Church.