Taepyeong-dong Church

History & origins

Taepyeong-dong Parish was established on February 19, 1985, when it was separated from Yucheon-dong Parish. The Diocese of Daejeon’s record for the thirtieth anniversary states that Fr. Park Sang-ok became the first pastor. The new independent community soon began preparing a church of its own, and parishioners joined their efforts to hold the groundbreaking ceremony on September 14, 1986. The attempt to establish an independent place for liturgy and pastoral life within only a few years of foundation formed the first major chapter of the new parish’s history.

The completed church was consecrated on September 20, 1989, in a liturgy presided over by Bishop Joseph Kyeong Gap-ryong. A contemporary Catholic Times report described the church as standing on a site of 594 pyeong, with one basement level and two floors above ground, and as including not only the worship space but also a rectory, convent, and other facilities needed for parish life. The same report noted that the whole parish community had joined forces in the building project. The consecration therefore marked the completion of an independent pastoral home roughly four years after the parish was separated.

On September 20, 2015, Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik presided over a thanksgiving Mass for the parish’s thirtieth anniversary. During the Mass 121 people received Confirmation, and recognition was also given to those who had completed handwritten copies of the Bible and to parishioners who had served in local neighborhood groups. Before the liturgy, the faithful planted a commemorative tree in the church grounds. The diocesan record also noted that by that point the parish had produced seven priests and two religious vocations, showing that its development had also borne fruit in vocations.

The separation from Yucheon-dong, the groundbreaking and consecration of the church, and the communal observance of the thirtieth anniversary together trace Taepyeong-dong Parish’s development from a newly created community into an established local parish. From the beginning, parishioners participated directly in providing a church, and later generations continued that communal life through liturgy, service, and vocations.