홍제동 성당

History & origins

The prehistory of Hongje-dong Parish began when Catholic families settled in the Hongjewon area in the late 1930s and a mission community formed around 1940. A mission chapel was established in 1944. After liberation, the growing community worked toward becoming an independent parish. The current Catholic directory records September 13, 1949, as the establishment date; the parish was first known as Hongjewon before the name Hongje-dong became standard.

The Korean War caused serious damage to the church, and the community began rebuilding afterward. Reconstruction started in 1955 and a church was restored in 1956. In 1958 the parish acquired the site where the present church stands, using an interim church there in the early 1960s while expanding its pastoral base.

As the Catholic population grew, parts of the parish were repeatedly separated to form new communities. Territory went to the new Hongeun 3-dong parish around 2000, followed by the establishment of Hongje 4-dong Parish in 2003 and Hongeun-dong Parish in 2004. Hongje-dong’s history is thus both a story of rebuilding after war and of a mature parish giving birth to new parishes.