Chimsan Catholic Church

History & origins

The formation of Chimsan Parish was connected with a large parish-expansion program undertaken by the Archdiocese of Daegu as the Korean Catholic Church approached its bicentennial. In 1983, the Catholic Times reported that the Archdiocese was establishing nine new parishes in a single year and listed Chimsan among them, with preparations also under way for a new church. The report shows that the process of creating an independent pastoral unit in response to population growth and urban expansion had already begun.

The administrative dating, however, differs between the contemporary report and the Archdiocese’s current record. Current Archdiocesan parish information gives August 5, 1984, as the official establishment date of Chimsan Parish. It is therefore safer to understand the 1983 article as documenting the period of decision, priest assignment, and preparation for the church, while using the present diocesan date as the formal establishment date.

Chimsan thus emerged within the Archdiocese’s early-1980s expansion of parish structures in preparation for the bicentennial of the Korean Church. As a separate community took root in the growing residential district, it adopted Saint Augustine Yi Gwang-heon as patron and continued the memory of Korea’s martyrs within ordinary parish life.