Songnim-dong Catholic Church

History & origins

In the early 1950s, the Catholic population of the Songnim-dong area increased, adding to the pastoral burden of Dapdong Parish, which then served a wide territory. Dapdong prepared to establish a new parish by organizing a church-building committee in October 1954 and obtaining a site the following month. Construction began in April 1955, and a two-story church was completed and dedicated in September of that year, around the time Songnim-dong Parish became independent from Dapdong. The present Catholic Church directory and the Catholic Encyclopedia of Korea give different specific days for the establishment, so the history is stated here at the reliably shared level of September 1955.

The new parish developed into a large community as eastern Incheon expanded rapidly after the war. With continued growth, several new parishes were successively separated from Songnim-dong: Dohwa-dong in 1960, Hwasu-dong in 1962, Yeongjong in 1965, Seoknam-dong in 1974, and Songhyeon-dong in 1976. These separations reduced the territory of Songnim-dong while at the same time spreading independent Catholic communities across eastern Incheon and nearby island areas.

The parish continued to maintain its church facilities and programs of faith formation and community life in the old city center. Even after the establishment of its daughter parishes, Songnim-dong remained an independent community under the patronage of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is still listed as a parish of the Diocese of Incheon. Its history can therefore be seen as a progression from the pastoral need to divide Dapdong Parish, through postwar urban growth and the birth of new parishes, to the continuing life of a long-established downtown community.