Haemi Catholic Church

History & origins

The Catholic community in Haemi reappears in records in the late nineteenth century after having suffered heavily during the persecutions. A community of believers was recorded at Hwangsogogae in 1889, and the area later passed successively under the jurisdiction of Sugok Parish and Seosan Parish. Local Catholics established their own mission station in 1952, when about thirty believers began gathering in the home of a Catholic in Josan-ri.

The mission station moved in 1957 to a house inside Haemi Fortress, and in 1962 it acquired a martyrdom site near the former prison. A mission hall was built in 1966, but it was demolished in 1981 as part of the restoration of Haemi Fortress, forcing the community to use a temporary meeting place. In 1983 the mission station moved outside the fortress to the site of the present parish church, providing the basis for its later elevation to parish status.

On April 11, 1985, the Haemi mission station was elevated to Haemi Parish. The diocese established the parish not only in consideration of the local community but also because of the importance of caring for the Haemi martyr site. The parish organized efforts to honor the martyrs and began developing the sacred site. With participation from Catholics throughout Korea, land was acquired so that by the end of the 1990s a substantial area around Haemi Fortress had been secured for the martyr memorial.

The functions of the shrine and the parish gradually became separate. A project to build a new church at the shrine was undertaken, and the shrine church was completed in 2003. The work of developing and administering the martyr site, which Haemi Parish had previously carried, was then transferred to a separate shrine structure. This process shows how a community that began as a mission station grew into a local parish while ministry honoring the martyrs developed into a distinct sanctuary, producing the two places that exist today.