Yeongpung Catholic Church

History & origins

Current records of the Diocese of Cheongju give August 16, 2011, as the establishment date of Yeonpung Parish. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea directory likewise identifies Yeonpung as a quasi-parish in the Jungwon District. Established on the same grounds as the martyrs' shrine, the quasi-parish developed a structure in which the parish life of local Catholics and the shrine's liturgical and pilgrimage ministry could continue in one place.

The site of the quasi-parish had already been developed over time as Yeonpung Martyrs' Shrine. After the parish community was established, construction was undertaken for a new church commemorating the bicentenary of the birth of St. Luke Hwang Seok-du. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in 2013, and the church was dedicated on September 20, 2014, with the Bishop of Cheongju presiding. With a main church, a smaller chapel, a priest's residence, and office space, the building became a principal liturgical facility of the shrine.

Through this process, Yeonpung Quasi-Parish developed not by creating a separate historic site of its own, but by taking on both local parish life and pilgrimage ministry within the existing martyrs' shrine. Its relatively recent history, marked by the establishment of the quasi-parish in 2011 and the dedication of the commemorative church in 2014, continues the memory of St. Luke Hwang Seok-du's martyrdom within the liturgical life of the local Catholic community.