잠실 성당

History & origins

As Jamsil's apartment development caused the Catholic population to rise rapidly, the Jamsil mission station and the Municipal Housing mission station were operating in 1977. In December of that year the two communities were combined to form an independent parish. The first pastor, Fr. Peter Lee Byeong-mun, celebrated the parish's first Mass on December 17 in the former mission space on the second floor of the Shinsegae shopping building.

The growing congregation soon required a permanent church. A church-building committee was formed in 1978, the parish secured a building site in 1979, and Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan presided over the groundbreaking on March 8, 1980. Construction was completed on March 21, 1981, when the new church was dedicated.

As the district continued to expand, Jamsil gave rise to Dong-Jamsil (today Sincheon-dong) in 1981, Garak-dong in 1983, Seokchon-dong in 1988, Jamsil 7-dong in 1993, and Jamsil 5-dong in 1996. Sources disagree on the exact day of the parish's foundation—December 6, 7, or 9, 1977—so the public text uses only the securely shared date of December 1977.