Aplyang University Student Center (AD Center)

History & origins

The background of the AD Center lies in the expansion of Apryang Parish’s role in university ministry. Reflecting the concentration of universities in the Gyeongsan area, the Archdiocese of Daegu designated Apryang as a university-student hub parish in 2014. This created a growing need for a dedicated space that could accommodate student and young-adult gatherings and formation beyond what ordinary parish facilities could easily provide.

The university center was established in 2016 and blessed on March 13 by Archbishop Thaddeus Cho Hwan-kil. The Archdiocese’s official record describes a facility equipped with a café, study rooms, a hall, fellowship rooms, offices, meeting rooms, counseling rooms, and catechetical rooms. As introduced by the Catholic Times, the initials “AD” refer to the Latin Agnus Dei, meaning “Lamb of God.”

The AD Festival for university students and young adults also began in the year the center opened. It initially continued as an event intended to encourage exchange and growth in faith among students and young adults in the Gyeongsan area. The center consequently became a place not only for liturgy and catechesis but also for cultural programs and fellowship, a range of uses reflected in the design of the building itself.

Beginning with the ninth AD Festival in 2024, participation was expanded from the Gyeongsan area to university students and young adults across the entire Archdiocese of Daegu. The change shows how the center’s role has developed from a local base serving a university district into a broader diocesan platform connecting young Catholics with one another. This development shows that the center did not remain merely an auxiliary building but became a place where the Archdiocese could organize and expand university and young-adult ministry in concrete ways. Although it began in close connection with the territorial ministry of Apryang Parish, the widening scope of its programs allowed it to function increasingly as a diocesan point of connection for young Catholics from other parishes and universities as well.