Bono-dong Catholic Church

History & origins

Bono-dong Parish was established on January 25, 2000, with St. John the Baptist as its patron saint, and developed as an independent pastoral community for Catholics in eastern Ansan. According to diocesan records, the community for a time used a building purchased for general purposes as its church, so creating spaces more suited to liturgy and faith formation remained an important long-term need.

The Diocese of Suwon formally advanced a remodeling project for Bono-dong Catholic Church in 2021 and completed the contractor-selection process in July of that year. Work began in late July 2021 and continued for about twenty months. This was not simply an interior refurbishment: the existing building, with one basement level and seven floors above ground, was reorganized so that a range of parish and diocesan pastoral functions could be accommodated together.

After the work was completed, a Mass marking entry into the renewed church was celebrated on April 16, 2023, with the diocesan bishop presiding. The reorganized building included the main church and chapel, catechetical and meeting rooms, the Ansan Catholic Center, a diocesan life center, and space for the Ansan Emmaus community of the migrant-ministry commission. Youth catechetical space, a dining area, and the priests’ residence were also arranged within the same building. The renovation thus marked a transition from adapting a general-purpose building for worship to creating a coordinated center for liturgy, education, migrant ministry, and life ministry in the Ansan area.