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About this place
Kwon Sang-yeon Catholic Church is a parish of the Diocese of Jeonju and a memorial church that especially recalls Blessed Kwon Sang-yeon James, who was martyred during the Sinhae Persecution. Serving a residential area in southwestern Jeonju, the parish is a center for Mass, the sacraments, catechesis, and ordinary Catholic life. Its patrons are Blessed Yun Ji-chung Paul and Blessed Kwon Sang-yeon James. The church’s name expresses a desire to carry the witness of Korea’s first martyrs into the life of a present-day parish community.
The church complex includes not only the main liturgical space but also a Eucharistic adoration chapel, a Marian courtyard, and rooms for gatherings and formation. It is therefore both an everyday parish for local Catholics and a place where visitors can encounter the early martyr tradition remembered by the Diocese of Jeonju. The name first directs attention to the martyr, while the prayer spaces in and around the church show how that witness continues in the liturgy and prayer of the community today.
The Hyoja-dong area in which the parish stands has continued to develop as a residential district, and the church serves to organize Catholic community life close to where people live. Because the church bears the name of a martyr, even an ordinary parish visit can become an occasion to remember the choices and sacrifices of the early Korean Catholics, bringing local pastoral ministry and the commemoration of martyrs together in one place.
History & origins
The community began on January 31, 2010, when Hyoja 4-dong Parish was established from territory separated from Woojeon Parish. It initially worshiped in a prefabricated temporary church, and as the new-town and residential population grew, securing a permanent church became an important task for the parish.
Marking the 230th anniversary of the Sinhae Persecution, the Diocese of Jeonju designated Hyoja 4-dong Parish in 2021 as one of the churches commemorating the first martyrs. After discussion by the diocesan presbyteral council, the official name Kwon Sang-yeon Catholic Church was chosen in 2022. At the same time, plans for a permanent church advanced: building approval was obtained near the end of 2021, construction began in June 2022, and the work was completed in the summer of 2023.
The new church was dedicated on September 2, 2023, in a liturgy presided over by Bishop Kim Sun-tae of Jeonju. A church seating about 400 people, a Eucharistic adoration chapel, multipurpose areas, and meeting rooms brought the period of the temporary church to an end. The parish entered a new stage in a permanent church formally bearing the name of Blessed Kwon Sang-yeon. Its development shows how a parish founded for a growing residential district came to be joined with the Diocese of Jeonju’s commemoration of the martyrs.
The change of name did not create a new community from nothing; rather, it added the memory of the Sinhae martyrs to the history of the already growing Hyoja 4-dong Parish. The parish’s chronology therefore brings together two developments: the growth of a local community founded to serve a new residential district and the later granting of a new symbolic role within the diocese’s work of honoring its martyrs.
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Building information
- Passenger elevators: 1
- 3 above-ground floors · 0 below-ground floors
- Approved for use in 2023
- Total floor area: 1,932㎡
Building-register record · · Source
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Sources and updates
- Information Status
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- Source
- Diocese source
- Data freshness
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- Last updated
- Source
- Francisco Diary
Diocese
Jeonju Diocese (Diocese of Jeonju)
Official website: https://www.jcatholic.or.kr
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