Yonggye Catholic Church

History & origins

Yonggye Parish was established on September 3, 1993. This was a period during Archbishop Paul Ri Moun-hi's tenure when new parishes were being created in response to urban growth and changes in the Catholic population. Beginning as a newly established parish, the local faithful gradually developed liturgical life, catechesis, and apostolic organizations within their own community.

The way the community was organized became more concrete over time. The archdiocesan magazine Bit records that, following a pastoral formation program in 2004, Yonggye divided its territory into five zones and worked to establish small Christian communities centered on Gospel sharing and service to neighbors. It was an effort to restore close relationships and active participation within a parish that was becoming larger.

By 2011, the parish's adult catechists' association was documented as providing systematic formation for catechumens, including not only regular classes but also individual and home-based catechesis. Under priestly guidance, lay catechists took sustained responsibility for this apostolate, helping both evangelization and the integration of newly baptized Catholics into parish life.

The meaning of the parish's patron also became visible on an archdiocesan level. For the jubilee marking the bicentenary of the birth of Saint Andrew Kim Taegon, the Archdiocese of Daegu designated Yonggye in 2020–2021 as one of the jubilee pilgrimage churches of the Second Vicariate. The parish's history thus shows a local community that developed small-community life and lay catechetical ministry and later also served as a place of pilgrimage commemorating the faith of its patron saint.