Beolmal Church

History & origins

Beolmal Parish was established on January 28, 2003, as a new parish in the Anyang area. It was formed during a period when urban development and population growth were leading to the subdivision of existing parish territories, and it took St. Paul Chong Hasang as its patron. After the parish was created, securing a church and spaces for education and meetings suited to an independent community became a major task.

The new church was not a short-term construction project. A Diocese of Suwon report published before the dedication says that the community spent almost seven years gathering prayers, devotion, and material support for the church. Parishioners approached construction not merely as an expansion of facilities but as the shared work of building the Lord's house, and the long period of preparation also became a time in which the newly formed parish grew in internal unity.

On October 10, 2010, seven years after its establishment, Beolmal Parish celebrated the dedication of its new church. The diocesan account, which introduced Beolmal alongside another parish dedicating a church on the same day, described a church prepared over a long period as though the community had patiently laid it brick by brick. The dedication marked an important transition from a parish still forming its physical base to one with a stable liturgical home.

The church thereafter became the lasting center of parish life within the urban neighborhoods of Dongan-gu, Anyang. The history of Beolmal Catholic Church follows a relatively clear sequence: parish establishment in 2003, years of preparation for a permanent church, and dedication in 2010. It illustrates how a parish created in response to urban growth became rooted through the active participation of its members in building an independent home for Catholic life.