쑥고개 성당

History & origins

The community of Ssukgogae Parish began on September 24, 1996, when it was separated from Bongcheon-dong Parish and established as “Bongcheon 8-dong Parish.” Archdiocese of Seoul records state that the new parish initially used the sixth floor of a commercial building as its church and began with 2,304 Catholics in 792 households. Although an independent parish had been created, a separate period of preparation was needed before it could have a permanent church of its own.

A committee for church construction was organized in October 1997, and construction began in October 2000. The work continued for several years, with the building completed in August 2003. On June 19, 2005, the new church was dedicated in a ceremony presided over by Archbishop Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk. It was a process of roughly nine years from the community’s beginning in rented commercial space to the establishment of its own church.

After the community had become firmly established around the new church, the parish name was changed to reflect the locality more directly. On August 20, 2009, “Bongcheon 8-dong Parish” was renamed “Ssukgogae Parish,” the name it continues to use today. This history shows how a newly created parish named for an administrative district gradually became rooted in the older local place name.