Sinbong-dong Church

History & origins

The formation of Shinbong-dong Parish is best understood within the urbanization of western Cheongju and the successive division of existing parishes. According to the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia’s history of Bongmyeong-dong Parish, a new urban area began to develop in western Cheongju in the late 1970s and the population increased rapidly. Sachang-dong Parish was separated from Sajik-dong Parish in 1981, and Bongmyeong-dong Parish was then separated from Sachang-dong in 1986. As the city expanded, the pastoral territories serving Catholic communities became increasingly subdivided.

As the population and number of Catholics around Bongmyeong-dong continued to grow, Bongmyeong 2-dong Parish was newly established on July 25, 1992, and this community became today’s Shinbong-dong Parish. The same date is confirmed by the current records of the Diocese of Cheongju. With the creation of the new parish, the existing Bongmyeong-dong Parish transferred the relevant parish registers and for a time used the name “Bongmyeong 1-dong Parish,” before returning to the name Bongmyeong-dong Parish in 1996.

This chronology shows how new parishes were created from existing ones in response to residential expansion and a growing Catholic population in western Cheongju. Shinbong-dong did not emerge in isolation; it took shape within a sequence of pastoral divisions extending through Sajik-dong, Sachang-dong, and Bongmyeong-dong. This background helps explain the parish as a Catholic community formed alongside the growth of the western urban area of Cheongju.