Nayu-dong Catholic Church

History & origins

As apartment complexes and residential districts in Naun-dong expanded rapidly, the number of Catholics in the territory of Oryong-dong Parish also grew. In January 1988 the Naun-dong area was separated from Oryong-dong and formed as a new parish, with about 831 Catholics transferred to the new community. The current diocesan record and the older encyclopedia differ on the exact day in January, so only the month and year are used here.

The new parish initially had no church of its own and celebrated Mass in rented commercial buildings. It moved to another commercial space near the end of 1988 and in December 1990 erected a prefabricated church on land prepared by the diocese. That property was later included in a land-development project, forcing the parish to seek another permanent site.

The parish purchased new land in January 1993 and held the groundbreaking for a new church that December. Construction was completed in April 1995, ending the period in which the community had moved among temporary churches and providing the stable foundation of the present parish. The history of Naun-dong shows a typical urban pattern in which a parish was divided as a new residential district grew and then developed from temporary worship spaces into a permanent church.

The repeated moves before completion of the permanent church show that establishing a parish and securing a permanent building do not always happen at the same time. The Naun-dong community first began as an independent pastoral unit and then sustained parish life in commercial and prefabricated spaces while working over several years toward a permanent church. That process itself is an important part of the history of a parish formed in a growing urban district.