죽전 성당

History & origins

The Catholic community in the Jukjeon area has a mission-station history that predates the establishment of the parish. The Encyclopedia of Korean Catholicism records that in 1887 Fr. Robert moved to the home of Francis Yi Jang-eon in Songgol, in the Saebanggol area near Daegu, corresponding to the Jukjeon area, and that the place subsequently began to be used as a mission station. After several changes of parish jurisdiction, the Jukjeon mission station came under Sangri-dong Parish in 1968.

As part of projects commemorating the bicentenary of the Catholic Church in Korea, the Archdiocese of Daegu approved the creation of Jukjeon-dong Parish in November 1982. On February 4 of the following year, the Jukjeon and Gamsam mission stations were combined to establish the parish, with Fr. Thomas Yun Im-gyu appointed as its first pastor. The community initially celebrated Mass in a tent church and began construction of a new church on the Jukjeon mission-station site in May 1983. Catholic Times also recorded the Jukjeon church project as part of the archdiocese's bicentennial church-building program.

The new church, with one basement level and two above-ground floors, was completed and dedicated in September 1984. Educational and convent facilities were expanded in the 1990s, and as apartment development brought an increase in Catholics in the area, Seongseo Parish was separated in 1996 and Igok Parish in 1998. The progression from a mission station to an independent parish and then to a mother parish for neighboring communities reflects the interaction between urban expansion in western Daegu and changes in parish jurisdiction.

For the parish's 30th anniversary in 2013, a lecture on culture and spirituality was held, followed by a commemorative Mass presided over by the archbishop, during which 156 people received Confirmation. The history of Jukjeon Church thus brings together an older mission-station tradition, the establishment of a parish and construction of a church through the bicentennial project, and the later creation of daughter parishes as the city grew.