Salesio Center

History & origins

The prehistory of the House of Youth begins with the Auxilium Center, a ministry of the Salesian Sisters for young working women in the Masan area. In the late 1970s, the sisters opened a residence for young women employed in the industrial complex and operated it for about ten years. As social conditions and apostolic needs changed, they closed that facility and began planning a new center focused on the integral education and welfare of young people.

In 1988, the Auxilium Center was sold and the present site in Sodap-dong was purchased. Ground was broken for a new building in March 1991, and after about a year of construction a facility was completed that could accommodate education, lodging, liturgy, and community activities together. It included a kindergarten, chapel, hall, dining room, multiple bedrooms, and living quarters for the sisters.

On May 14, 1992, the House of Youth was blessed in the presence of Bishop Michael Park Jeong-il of the Diocese of Masan. At the time, the sisters presented it as a center for character education for young people in the region and planned it so that sizable groups of adolescents could be received for entrusted educational programs.

This change illustrates how the Salesian Sisters’ local apostolate expanded from protecting young working women during the industrialization era toward the integral formation and education of youth. The House of Youth gave physical form to that transition and has continued as a base for putting Salesian educational principles into practice in the Changwon area.