Yeoksam-dong Church

History & origins

Yeoksam-dong Parish was established on August 1, 1984, by dividing parts of the territories of Daechi-dong and Yangjae-dong parishes in response to rapid development and Catholic population growth in Gangnam. Catholics transferred from the two parishes formed the new community, and Father Kim Gu-hui, John the Baptist, became its first pastor. Saint Francis Choe Kyong-hwan was chosen as patron.

In its early years, Mass was celebrated in a priest’s residence and temporary church while the community established its parish structure. Preparations for a permanent church continued, and construction began on December 25, 1992, on a new site donated by a parishioner. The large-scale project continued for about five years.

The new church was dedicated on September 21, 1997, with Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan presiding. The multi-level complex included the church, clergy and convent spaces, classrooms, fellowship areas and facilities for young people. Contemporary Catholic reporting explained that the design sought to reinterpret traditional ecclesial architecture in a modern way and to provide spiritual calm within a dense metropolitan setting.

The dedication marked a major turning point thirteen years after the parish was established. The temporary churches had served a rapidly growing community during a transitional period, while the 1997 complex greatly expanded the parish’s capacity for liturgy, education and youth ministry. For this reason, the establishment in 1984 and the dedication in 1997 remain the two principal milestones of its early history. The parish’s path from a community created amid the rapid growth of Gangnam to the completion of a substantial church complex illustrates how urban expansion and the enlargement of the Archdiocese of Seoul’s parish network developed together during the late twentieth century.