덕명동 성당

History & origins

Deokmyeong-dong Parish was established on 15 January 2014 in response to the expansion of residential areas and the growth of the Catholic population around Yuseong. Its mother parish was Yuseong Parish, and before the new community had its own facilities, members continued their parish life there for a time. On 23 February 2014, the new community celebrated its first Mass in a temporary space in the Deokmyeong-dong area. Diocesan records also note that neighboring parishes helped the new parish by sharing liturgical furnishings and chairs.

Almost immediately after its establishment, the parish began preparing to build its own church. A groundbreaking ceremony took place on 21 June 2014 on a site of about 4,670 square meters. Plans included a church and rectory as well as classrooms and multipurpose community spaces. The design also sought to preserve a substantial portion of the site's natural green area and place a Stations of the Cross within it, combining the needs of a new urban parish with an environment for prayer and contemplation.

In early 2015, parishioners were still celebrating Mass in a rented part of a commercial building while construction of the new church continued. The diocese also appealed to the wider diocesan community to support the building project of the new parish. The movement from a community initially dependent on temporary space and help from neighboring parishes and the diocese toward its own church and educational facilities illustrates how a new parish took root alongside a growing residential district on the outskirts of Daejeon.