Sanggye-dong Catholic Church

Overview

Sanggye-dong Church is a parish belonging to Nowon District 5 in the Central Seoul Region of the Seoul Archdiocese, located in Sanggye-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul. It was elevated on December 18, 1970 from a Catholic mission chapel under the jurisdiction of Jangwi-dong Parish to a parish, and its patron is St. Luke. Priests of the Missionary Society of St. Columban served as the early pastors, and pastoral care for displaced residents and marginalized neighbors forms the heart of the parish history.

History

[Sanggye Catholic Mission Chapel] From early 1960, large numbers of displaced residents from the Jeonnong-dong area moved into the Sanggye-dong area under the urban redevelopment policy. About 20 faithful living there invited a priest from Imun-dong Parish to celebrate Mass, and around 1967 established the ‘Sanggye Catholic Mission Chapel’ on 250 pyeong of city-owned land obtained with the help of Joseph So. The Sanggye Catholic Mission Chapel came under the new parish the following year on October 18 when Jangwi-dong Parish was newly established.

[Establishment of the parish] The faithful of the mission chapel planned to build a new church, but construction was impossible because the mission site was bound by the greenbelt. Fr. B. Geraghty of Jangwi-dong Parish planned the division of the parish and, with the help of the Missionary Society of St. Columban, purchased 400 pyeong of the present church site on March 10, 1969, and additionally purchased 26 pyeong on October 8, 1970 to begin construction, completing a 46-pyeong church on December 10 after only 2 months. When Sanggye-dong Parish was established on December 18, 1970, Fr. P. Muldoon of the Missionary Society of St. Columban took office as the first pastor.

[The 1970s] Fr. Muldoon visited faithful families in a campaign to find the faithful and organized the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in February 1972 to devote himself to ministry to the poor, and by the mid-1970s the number of the faithful reached about 2,500. The 3 pastor, Fr. P. Bradly, began building a new church on July 30, 1977 and completed a new 120-pyeong church on April 9 of the following year, and on May 30 remodeled the old church to provide the St. Luke Cultural Center.

[The 1980s] Under the 5 pastor, Fr. P. Tierney, Gongneung-dong Parish was established on December 3, 1981, and 246 faithful from Hagye-dong and Junggye-dong were transferred to the new parish. On May 19, 1982, the parish purchased a 15-pyeong building in Sanggye 3-dong, remodeled it as a convent, and on September 1 invited the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Around this time the parish experienced the problem of displaced residents: when demolition of the Sanggye 5-dong area was announced in April 1986 and residents were forcibly evicted, the parish continued to offer prayers for the displaced people and, on September 28 of that year, jointly with Protestant churches appealed to all sectors of society to guarantee the right to livelihood of the displaced people and detainees. On August 22, 1988, the parish was transferred to the diocese, and Fr. Matthew Hwang In-guk took office as the 8 pastor. As the number of the faithful exceeded 1 ten thousand due to the creation of a large apartment complex in the Junggye-dong area, Fr. Hwang planned the division of the parish, and on February 4, 1989, when the Nowon mission chapel was elevated to a parish, the parish registers of 1,776 households and 5,074 persons were transferred to the new parish.

[The 1990s] With continued development of the area, the parish separated Junggye-dong Parish on August 22, 1990, transferring the parish registers of 367 households and about 1,000 persons, and separated Sanggye 2-dong Parish on September 24, 1992, transferring the parish registers of 272 households and 696 persons. The 9 pastor, Fr. Bartholomew Heo Geun, held the ‘Madeulgol Peace Festival’ on October 25, 1989 and shared joy with local residents, and the 10 pastor, Fr. Gu Yobi, provided ‘Maeumteo’ at 111-170 Sanggye 4-dong on April 23, 1992 for young people with no place to study. The 11 pastor, Fr. Francis Kim Hyeon-bae, computerized parish office work in June 1994, held an event in October of the following year to commemorate the 25 anniversary of the parish foundation, and from June 1, 1997 began to celebrate Mass in English for foreign workers. The 12 pastor, Fr. Peter Ju Pyeong-guk, planned the construction of an education hall and began construction on May 2, 1998 on a scale of about 2 basement floors and 5 above-ground floors. The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia records that Sanggye-dong Parish has, since its foundation, lived with poor neighbors as a ‘church with marginalized neighbors’ and has taken the lead in the movement to help North Korean compatriots.

[Parish statistics and successive pastors] The numbers of the faithful in the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia are 1,500 in 1971, 2,529 in 1976, 3,992 in 1982, 11,295 in 1988, 5,182 in 1992, and 5,522 in 1996. The successive pastors are recorded as the first, Patrick Muldoon (1970. 12–1974. 5), the 2, Michael Dodd (1974. 5–1975. 9), the 3, Paul Bradly (1975. 9–1979. 3), the 4, Denis Monaghan (1979. 3–1981. 2), the 5, Peter Tierney (1981. 2–1985. 2), the 6, Andrea O’Leary (1985. 2–1987. 10), the 7, Thomas Cleary (1987. 10–1988. 8), the 8, Matthew Hwang In-guk (1988. 8–1989. 2), the 9, Bartholomew Heo Geun (1989. 2–1991. 8), the 10, Job Gu Yobi (1991. 8–1993. 10), the 11, Francis Kim Hyeon-bae (1993. 10–1998. 2), and the 12, Peter Ju Pyeong-guk (1998. 2–).

Jurisdiction and Affiliation

The jurisdiction recorded in the Korean Catholic Encyclopedia is all of Sanggye 3-dong and 4-dong and parts of Sanggye 5-dong and Junggye 4-dong. The online directory of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea lists foundation date 1970.12.18, patron St. Luke, religious congregation Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs, and Maeumteo (study room) and the Day Care Center as parish facilities.

Related Places and People

• Jangwi-dong Parish: the mother parish to which the Sanggye mission chapel belonged.
• Gongneung-dong Parish: established on December 3, 1981, receiving 246 faithful from Hagye-dong and Junggye-dong.
• Nowon Parish: elevated on February 4, 1989 from the Nowon mission chapel.
• Junggye-dong Parish: separated on August 22, 1990.
• Sanggye 2-dong Parish: separated on September 24, 1992.
• Missionary Society of St. Columban: dispatched the early pastors.

References and Sources

1. Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, “Sanggye-dong Parish”. Elevation on December 18, 1970 from a Catholic mission chapel under Jangwi-dong Parish to a parish, patron St. Luke, jurisdiction, Sanggye mission chapel (around 1967), church construction, the problem of displaced residents and social ministry, daughter parishes, parish statistics, successive pastors.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/3066
2. Online directory of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, “Sanggye-dong”. Affiliated diocese and district (Central Seoul Region No. 5 Nowon District), foundation date 1970.12.18, religious congregation (Sisters of the Blessed Korean Martyrs), patron St. Luke, Maeumteo (study room) and Day Care Center.
   https://directory.cbck.or.kr/OnlineAddress/Catholic/DetailInfo.aspx?cgubn=c&char=all&code=201000128&gubn=4&gubn2=all&gyogu=201000011