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History & origins

Sejong St. Paul Parish was established on August 19, 2015, by separation from Sejong St. Francis Parish. The change coincided with the rapid increase in population and Catholic numbers after the creation of Sejong City, when a single parish could no longer easily serve the expanding new-town districts. A 2018 account of the mother parish, Sejong St. Francis, also records that it had spun off both Sejong St. Paul and Sejong St. John and supported the building of their churches.

The new parish developed as an independent community under the patronage of Pope St. Paul VI. Because Sejong St. John Parish was separated from Sejong St. Francis on the same date, the 2015 division marked an important transition in Catholic pastoral organization in Sejong, from a structure centered on one parish to a network of several local parishes.

In 2025 the parish marked its tenth anniversary with a one-day retreat for all parishioners, attended by about 500 Catholics for lectures and Mass. The event provides a later milestone showing that, a decade after separation, the parish had taken root as an independent community of faith. The history of Sejong St. Paul therefore reflects the subdivision of parishes and the establishment of new Catholic communities in response to Sejong City’s rapid urban growth.