Yeonhui-dong Catholic Church

History & origins

Yeonhui-dong Parish began to take shape in the late 1960s as urban development around Yeonhui-dong increased the population and the number of Catholics. The area was then under Ahyeon-dong Parish, and plans for a new parish were advanced as a donor secured land for a church. On August 1, 1967, the Archdiocese of Seoul separated Yeonhui-dong from Ahyeon-dong Parish and appointed Father Im Se-bin, Joseph, as the first pastor.

At first the community rented space in a building in Donggyo-dong as a temporary church. With parishioner fundraising and the securing of land, a church was then built at the present Yeonhui-dong site; the parish’s 50th-anniversary record states that a church was constructed there in 1969. In later years, education and pastoral facilities were expanded and parish organizations were strengthened.

During the 1990s the parish’s role within the Seodaemun-Mapo area expanded, and in 2000 Hong-eun 3-dong Parish was separated from it. The parish published a 25-year history in 1992 and, in 2003, produced a catalogue documenting the stained glass, altar, statues, tabernacle and other sacred art in the church.

When the parish celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017, it gathered photographs and historical materials to revisit half a century of community life. The work included collecting privately held photographs and digitally restoring damaged records, preserving the memory of the temporary church, construction, educational facilities, parish divisions and sacred art. The history of Yeonhui-dong Parish thus follows the transformation of a small community created by urban expansion into an established territorial parish, while also showing an unusual commitment to preserving the artistic and documentary heritage of its church.