Deoksu Catholic Church

History & origins

The official directory of the Archdiocese of Daegu records January 4, 1978, as the establishment date of Deoksu Parish. An archdiocesan monthly magazine, in a retrospective on the evangelization history of Pohang, states that in March of the same year Deoksu was separated from Pohang Parish—today’s Jukdo Catholic Church—as the city’s second parish. Although the administrative establishment date and the narrative date of separation differ, both sources identify 1978 as the year in which the Deoksu community began as an independent parish.

The establishment of Deoksu was an early example of the later proliferation of parishes in the Pohang area. As the Catholic population and residential districts expanded after the establishment of Pohang Parish in 1950, additional independent pastoral territories became necessary. The separation of Deoksu therefore marked an important transition toward a more distributed Catholic pastoral network in Pohang.

On October 28, 2018, the parish celebrated the 40th anniversary of its establishment with a Mass of Thanksgiving, during which 115 people received Confirmation. The anniversary formally marked the continuity of a community begun in 1978 that had continued its Catholic life as an independent parish through decades of change in Pohang.