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About this place
Yeokgok 2-dong Catholic Church is a parish of the Diocese of Incheon and has Saints Philip and James the Apostles as its patrons. The official Catholic directory of Korea lists it as an independent parish serving the Bucheon area, with parish life centered on the church itself and no mission station under its jurisdiction. Through Mass, the sacraments, catechesis, and community activities, the parish provides a regular setting for the faith life of local Catholics.
The parish name itself uses the local designation Yeokgok 2-dong, showing that this is a territorial parish rooted in an ordinary residential community rather than a shrine or religious-house chapel. Visitors can understand it as a parish church of the Diocese of Incheon dedicated to Saints Philip and James, with its present liturgical and community life forming the central meaning of the place.
The patronage and parish status recorded in the official directory make clear that this community is not simply a local facility but a Catholic parish entrusted with liturgy and the sacraments within the diocesan structure. With no mission station presently listed under it, the church and parish community itself form the principal Catholic center for the local faithful.
History & origins
The history of Yeokgok 2-dong Parish is rooted in the rapid urban growth of Bucheon and the Yeokgok area during the 1970s and 1980s. Even after Yeokgok Parish was separated from Sosa Parish in 1981, the number of Catholics continued to rise. In response, the Diocese of Incheon established Yeokgok 2-dong Parish on September 21, 1988, and appointed Maryknoll missionary Fr. Romanus Theisen as its first pastor.
The new parish did not begin with a church building of its own. The first pastor used a house in the Yeokgok area as the rectory, while parishioners celebrated Mass at the Sacred Heart church of Songsim Women’s University, now the Songsim campus of the Catholic University of Korea. The faithful then continued raising funds for a permanent church, eventually establishing their own church building together with rectory and convent facilities and securing the pastoral foundation of an independent parish.
In August 2000, a community of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary of Mirinae was established at the parish, adding the presence of a religious community to its apostolic life. The parish’s history therefore traces the formation of a new parish in a rapidly growing urban district, its beginnings in temporary liturgical space, and the gradual building of its own church and pastoral infrastructure.
The figures preserved in the encyclopedia also show how the new parish became established. It records 2,627 Catholics in 1988, around the time of foundation, 3,271 in 1992, and 3,601 in 1999. These figures indicate that after separation the Yeokgok 2-dong community continued to grow and gradually stabilized the pastoral structure of an independent parish. The early history of Yeokgok 2-dong can therefore be summarized as a diocesan response to the rapid growth of the mother parish, followed by a period in which Catholics maintained community life in temporary spaces while building the foundations for a church of their own. In the context of Bucheon’s urbanization, parish division was not merely an administrative act but the creation of a new liturgical space and a new local community structure.
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Building information
- Passenger elevators: 1
- 3 above-ground floors · 1 below-ground floors
- Approved for use in 2001
- Total floor area: 3,111㎡
Building-register record · · Source
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Sources and updates
- Information Status
- Official
- Source
- Diocese source
- Data freshness
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- Last updated
- Source
- Francisco Diary
Diocese
Incheon Diocese (Diocese of Incheon)
Official website: http://www.caincheon.or.kr
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