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History & origins

The roots of the Ephatha community can be traced to 1957, when the German Sister Heo Ae-deok began teaching catechism to people with hearing disabilities at Donam-dong Church in Seoul. Catechesis and faith gatherings for Deaf Catholics continued around Donam-dong and later expanded through sign-language catechesis and liturgical activity in several locations. In 1986, the Seoul Catholic Deaf Mission was established under Seoul Catholic Social Services, giving the apostolate a more organized foundation.

For many years the mission continued Mass, education and community activities without a church of its own, borrowing space from other Church institutions. As the community grew, the need for a place where Deaf Catholics could see sign language clearly throughout the liturgy became increasingly urgent. Around 2017, when the mission marked sixty years from its 1957 beginnings, construction of a new church entered a full-scale phase.

The new church was completed in August 2019 and dedicated on August 25 with Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung presiding. On the same day, Ephatha Quasi-Parish was raised to the status of a parish. The new building provided a stepped main church designed for clear visibility of sign language, caption screens, a smaller church, language and auditory-therapy rooms, and retreat facilities, finally realizing a dedicated spiritual home long desired by the community.

The name “Ephatha” is closely connected with this history. Taking the Gospel word “Be opened” as its name expresses not only healing but the conviction that the Church itself must be open to communication through sign language and visual forms. The architecture of the new church and the parish’s canonical development gave concrete form to that pastoral vision. The journey from a small catechism class in 1957, through the establishment of the Deaf Mission and decades of worship in borrowed spaces, to an independent parish and church shows how Catholic pastoral ministry for Deaf people in Korea developed into a community-centered parish life.