Seokyung Catholic Church

History & origins

According to the official records of the Catholic Diocese of Cheongju, Seogyeong Parish was established on January 28, 2004. As residential areas in western Cheongju expanded, a separate parish was created for Catholics in and around Gagyeong-dong, with Saint Luke Hwang Seok-du as patron. After the parish was organized, providing a permanent church suited to the size and daily life of the new community became an important task.

Construction of the new church began in January 2007 and was completed in December of the same year. The Catholic Times reported that the three-story building was erected on a detached-housing lot within an apartment district, on a site of about 421 square meters with a total floor area of about 685 square meters. The first floor contains the parish office, interview room, dining room, and meeting room; the second contains the priest's residence, nursery, and meeting space; and the third floor is the main church.

Bishop Jang Bong-hun presided over the dedication of the new church on May 6, 2009. The design was intended not to create a large monumental building but to arrange the spaces a small urban parish actually needed so that small-community life could be strengthened. By concentrating liturgical, pastoral, and fellowship functions in one compact building, the parish responded practically to its apartment-centered residential environment.

Seogyeong's history therefore proceeds from the establishment of the parish in 2004, through construction and completion of the church in 2007, to its dedication in 2009. The dedication settled the previously dispersed activities of the young parish into a permanent liturgical home and provided the foundation for continued growth within the Gagyeong-dong neighborhood. The dedication of the church marked the stage at which community activities that had been dispersed after the parish was established became rooted in a proper liturgical space, providing a foundation for Seogyeong Parish to continue growing within the surrounding residential area.