수색 성당

History & origins

The roots of Susaek Catholic Church lie in a mission station of Yakhyeon Parish and Catholic missionary activity in the northwestern area of the Han River. Church sources state that in May 1909 this community was elevated as Hangju Parish. The current Catholic directory gives May 26 as the foundation date, while the Catholic Encyclopedia gives May 21, so the safest wording is that the parish began in May 1909. Its center at that time was not the location of today's church, and its character was strongly that of a missionary base serving Catholics around Hangju.

Near the end of the Japanese colonial period, restrictions on foreign missionaries greatly weakened parish ministry, and by around 1942 the community had effectively been reduced to the status of a mission station. A priest returned in 1948, restoring regular parish life. In 1957 the parish center moved to Susaek-dong and the name was changed to Susaek Parish. Rapid population growth in northwestern Seoul then reshaped its territory: Eungam Parish was separated in 1968 and Gajwa Parish in 1971.

The present site in Jeungsan-dong was acquired in 1970, and a new church was built and completed and dedicated in August 1971. From this base, Susaek continued its liturgical, educational, and local pastoral work. The journey from a 1909 mission centered in Hangju, through social upheaval and relocation to Susaek, and then to the creation of daughter parishes mirrors the urban development of northwestern Seoul and the expansion of Catholic communities there. Although the exact day of foundation differs between sources, the continuity from the early twentieth-century mission to today's Susaek Parish is clear. The move from Hangju to Susaek also illustrates how the Church relocated a pastoral center in response to changes in where Catholics lived.