Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan Shrine of Love and Sharing

Overview

The Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan Love and Sharing Park is a shrine of the Catholic Archdiocese of Daegu in Yongdae-ri, Gunwi-eup, Gunwi-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, a park created around the birth home where Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan spent his childhood. It opened on March 27, 2018, and the Archdiocese of Daegu manages and operates it through private consignment.

History

[Birth Home of Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan] The Archdiocese of Daegu shrine guide describes this place as the place where Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan spent his childhood until entering the minor seminary after attending Gunwi Elementary School. The Cardinal’s family was a yangban family from Yeonsan in Nonsan County, South Chungcheong Province, a family of martyrs that had accepted the faith since the early days of the spread of Catholicism, and it is said that his grandfather John Kim was arrested in Yeonsan during the Byeongin Persecution and martyred in prison in Seoul, and that his grandmother Kang Mal-son endured hardship with her young children after her husband’s martyrdom while caring for fellow believers.

[Parents and Move] The same guide notes that his father Kim Yeong-seok helped Father Robert, who was in charge of ministry in Gyeongsang-do, and that his mother Seo Jung-ha was a descendant of the Dalseong Seo clan, a well-known believing family in Daegu. Through Father Robert’s matchmaking, Joseph Kim Yeong-seok and Martina Seo Jung-ha married and moved here in April 1922. The Cardinal was born as the youngest among 5 sons and 3 daughters, and in the year he turned 8, after his father died of dropsy, his widowed mother supported the family by peddling earthenware and fabrics.

[Park Creation Process] According to the chronology on the park’s official website, the basic concept and feasibility study service began in 2010, implementation-plan approval was received in 2014, construction began in May 2015 and was completed in December 2017, followed by an opening commemorative event in March 2018. The project period was 6 years from 2012 to 2017, and the total project cost was 121 hundred million won (national 61 hundred million, provincial 18 hundred million, county 42 hundred million). Separately, it is said that provincial 2 hundred million won went to restoring the birth home, county 9 hundred million won to purchasing the site, and Archdiocese of Daegu 13 hundred million won to contents.

[Opening and Blessing Ceremony] According to Archdiocese of Daegu news, Archbishop Thaddeus Cho Hwan-gil, the diocesan bishop, celebrated the blessing ceremony for the Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan Love and Sharing Park and the Gunwi County Youth Training Center at 2:30 p.m. on March 27, 2018. The event was attended by Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, Archbishop of Seoul, Governor Kim Kwan-yong, Gunwi County Mayor Kim Yeong-man, and about 300 citizens. The Archdiocese of Daegu introduced it as consisting of the Love and Sharing Park (1 ten thousand 7 thousand 282㎡), the Youth Training Center (9 thousand 322㎡), parking lots and other auxiliary facilities.

Architecture and Spaces

The park’s official website introduces that inside the park are the birth home of Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan and an onggi kiln, Stephen Chapel, the Way of the Cross, a memorial exhibition hall, a memorial park, the Forest of Peace, and a lawn plaza. In terms of buildings, on the 1 floor above ground of the park are a memorial hall and offices, on the 2 floor above ground are a chapel, a rectory and convenience facilities, and outdoors are the birth home, the Way of the Cross, the Forest of Peace, a memorial garden, a central plaza, a lawn plaza and an onggi kiln. The site area is 32,128㎡. The exhibition space of the memorial hall presents the Cardinal’s life journey combined with the process of shaping onggi. The youth training center has a capacity of 100 people, with 7 dormitory rooms, offices, lecture rooms and a cafeteria on the 1 floor, 9 dormitory rooms, an indoor assembly hall, small meeting rooms and 2 leader dormitory rooms on the 2 floor, and outdoors a sports field, a mini-camping ground, an outdoor assembly hall, a meeting plaza and an artificial rock wall. Gunwi County introduces the restored birth home as an old thatched three-room house with a narrow wooden veranda and low eaves.

Related Places and People

• Gunwi County Youth Training Center: a training facility that celebrated its blessing ceremony together with the park (Archdiocese of Daegu).
• Stone Standing Buddha in Hagok-ri: a cultural heritage item introduced as nearby information around the park in the Gunwi County culture and tourism guide (Gunwi County).
• Yeonsan in Nonsan County, South Chungcheong: the ancestral home of Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan’s family (Archdiocese of Daegu shrine guide).

References and Sources

1. Catholic Archdiocese of Daegu, shrine “Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan Love and Sharing Park (Birth Home of Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan)”. Meaning of the birth home, the Cardinal’s family and childhood, facilities around the park.
   https://www.daegu-archdiocese.or.kr/page/shrine.html?idx=7&process=read&srl=&view_option=
2. Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan Love and Sharing Park official website, “Introduction”. Park status, building status, chronology (2010–2018), project cost.
   http://www.cardinalkim-park.org/introduction
3. Catholic Archdiocese of Daegu, “Blessing Ceremony for the Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan Love and Sharing Park and the Gunwi County Youth Training Center” (2018-03-29). Blessing ceremony on March 27, 2018 and facility areas.
   https://www.daegu-archdiocese.or.kr/page/arch.html?gotopage=118&idx=158236&process=read&searchPart=&searchStr=&sections=move&srl=archmove&sub_category=arch
4. Gunwi County Culture and Tourism, “Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan Love and Sharing Park”. Character of the park and appearance of the restored birth home.
   https://www.gunwi.go.kr/tour/page.do?cmd=2&code_uid=37&code_uid=37&conts_uid=280&mnu_uid=354&pageNo=1&srchColumn=&srchDay=&srchKwd=