화양동 성당

History & origins

Before Hwayang-dong Parish was established, local Catholics had to travel to several parishes, including Cheonho-dong, Imun-dong, Wangsimni, and Seongsu-dong, to attend Mass. As distance and transportation became increasingly difficult, plans for a new parish moved forward. A site was obtained in 1970, and in November a rented building in Hwayang-dong began serving as a temporary church and rectory. The current Catholic directory records November 6, 1970, as the establishment date.

The first pastor was a Columban missionary. The community soon sought a more permanent location and in 1971 acquired land and a building in the area of the present church, which it renovated and enlarged. Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan presided at the church dedication in 1974.

As the parish grew, the older church was demolished and rebuilt in 1978, with the new church dedicated later that year. Pastoral responsibility, which had been entrusted to the Columban Missionaries, passed to the Archdiocese of Seoul in the spring of 1979. The parish’s history traces the transformation of a dispersed Catholic population into an established local parish under diocesan care.