평화 성당

History & origins

Pyeonghwa Parish was established on October 25, 1958, while the scars of the Korean War were still deeply felt. Benedictine Father Fabiano Tak Se-yeong arrived as the first pastor and led both the formation of the community and the construction of the church, seeking financial assistance from benefactors in Germany. Parishioners, including the first lay chairman, James Yu Chang-guk, helped secure and clear a site that had housed war refugees, and the faithful also contributed labor and offerings to the construction.

The church was designed by Benedictine Father Alwin Schmid. His 1958 design for Pyeonghwa Catholic Church became an important starting point for the many churches and mission chapels he would later design in Korea, and it is presented as an early expression of his architectural approach, which emphasized the liturgy while seeking harmony with the local environment. As the parish grew, it cared for several mission stations, including Jikji, Sinam, Acheon, and Gwangcheon, thereby broadening the foundations of evangelization in the Gimcheon area.

In 2008, the parish marked the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation with a commemorative Mass and the presentation of a fifty-year parish history. The occasion recalled the labor of early missionaries and lay Catholics as well as the relationships the parish had built with the local community through schools and mission stations. The story of a community founded amid postwar poverty and rooted locally through church construction, mission-station ministry, education, and evangelization continues in the history of Pyeonghwa Parish today.