Bundang St. John Catholic Church

Overview

Bundang St. John’s Church is a church belonging to the Bundang District of the 2 Vicariate of the Suwon Diocese, located at 498 Seohyeon-ro, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do. It was separated from Seongnam-dong Parish on January 7, 1993 in connection with the development of the Bundang New Town, and its patron is St. John the Apostle. The church building was dedicated on October 3, 2003, and Bundang Matthew, Mark and Paul Parishes were successively divided off from this parish.

History

〔New-town planning and preparation for the church building〕 The Korean Catholic Encyclopedia writes that when the plan to build a new town in the Bundang area in 1989 (population 39 ten thousand, 97,500 households) was announced, the diocese, expecting many faithful to move there, asked Father Choe Chung-yeol (Matthew) of the neighboring Seongnam-dong Parish and his successor Father Seo Myeong-seok (Andrew) to prepare the construction of a new church in Bundang. As a result, the Bundang Church Construction Committee was launched on October 11, 1992, and in the following year the establishment of Bundang John Parish was announced as of January 7.

〔Establishment〕 According to the encyclopedia, Bundang John Parish was separated and established from Seongnam Seongnam-dong Parish on January 7, 1993, its patron is St. John the Apostle, and its first pastor is Father Kim Yeong-bae (John the Apostle). At establishment the number of faithful was 4,440, and it is recorded as 12,718 in 1993, 19,365 in 1994, 14,787 in 1995, 16,535 in 1996, and 12,747 in 1997. Its jurisdiction is recorded as Seohyeon-dong, Bundang-dong, Sunae-dong, Pureun Village, the Dong-A, Lucky, Cheonggu, Hanil and Useong Apartments in Jeongja-dong, the D15 detached-housing area, and parts of Opo-myeon in Gwangju-gun and Mohyeon-myeon in Yongin-si. The parish overview on the parish website also gives the establishment date as January 7, 1993 (Thursday).

〔Church design and pastoral council〕 The encyclopedia writes that the church construction committee selected by competition and finalized a church design with a site of 1,210 pyeong and a total floor area of 6,142 pyeong, and that together with the first pastor Father Kim Yeong-bae it was working toward completing the church in 2000 (a plan as of the time of the encyclopedia’s writing). In view of future divisions of the parish, the parish operated the pastoral council divided into three groups named John, Matthew and Mark.

〔Division of new parishes〕 The encyclopedia writes that on December 8, 1995 it divided off Bundang Matthew Parish (No. 78, Jeongja-dong, Bundang-gu, 3,032 faithful) and Bundang Mark Parish (No. 390, Yatap-dong, Bundang-gu, 4,163 faithful), and then on February 14, 1997 it divided off Bundang Paul Parish (No. 106-5, Imae-dong, Bundang-gu, 5,200 faithful). The encyclopedia explains that at that point, with 12,747 parishioners but only 2–3 priests, pastoral care had many difficulties, but the parish divided the whole parish territory into 8 areas, 36 districts, 91 zones and 365 groups to vitalize the small-community movement and strove for spiritual growth and evangelization through 24 organizations.

〔Patron statue〕 The parish website introduces that a statue of St. John the Apostle, the patron, has been enshrined in the parish garden. This statue was made over 1 years and 6 months by Jang Se-il (Cecilia) with the help of her mother Gu Ok-ja (Anna) and donated, using 450 kg of bronze; it is a standing statue 2.4m high, placed on a granite base measuring 105 cm×70 cm (base height 1m). On Sunday, December 28, 1997, it was blessed after the 11 o’clock solemn Mass.

〔Introduction to the patron〕 The website’s introduction to the patron explains that Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon, interpreted the four living creatures in Revelation chapter 4, verse 7 as symbols of the four Evangelists, and that the Gospel of John is represented by an eagle because it discerns deep and lofty truth. It writes that an eagle is also depicted together with the statue of St. John the Apostle in the Roman Lateran Basilica (St. John’s Basilica) and in the mosaic of St. John the Apostle inside the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, and that for this reason the parish enshrined its patron statue in the garden in front of the church.

〔Parish logo〕 The website explains that the parish logo symbolizes the 4 Gospels through four shapes centered on the cross in the middle. Red stands for the lion (Mark), yellow for the ox (Luke), green for the human (Matthew) and the gray eagle for the Gospel of John, and the three colored shapes around the eagle symbolize the three bell towers of St. John’s Church, while yellow also means childhood, green adolescence and youth, red adulthood and gray elderly faithful.

〔Dedication and present state〕 The parish overview on the website gives the church dedication day as October 3, 2003, the address as 498 Seohyeon-ro, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, and the affiliation as the Bundang District of the 2 Vicariate. As of the end of 2024, there are 15,464 faithful, organized into 16 areas and 88 zones. The encyclopedia gives the address as 130 Jangan-dong, which differs in notation from the road-name address on the website.

Related places and people

• Bundang Matthew Parish and Bundang Mark Parish: parishes divided off from Bundang John Parish. The Bundang John entry in the encyclopedia gives the division of the two parishes as December 8, 1995, whereas the Bundang Matthew and Mark parish entries write that the two parishes were separated and established from Bundang Parish on January 20, 1995, thus differing from each other.
• Bundang Paul Parish (Imae-dong): a parish divided off on February 14, 1997 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Seongnam Seongnam-dong Parish: the mother parish from which Bundang John Parish was separated in 1993 (Korean Catholic Encyclopedia).
• Father Kim Yeong-bae (John the Apostle): the person recorded by the encyclopedia as the first pastor. The current pastor is Father Han Yeong-gi (Paul), who was ordained to the priesthood on January 19, 2001 and took office on June 17, 2025 (website clergy page).

References and sources

1. Website of Bundang St. John’s Church, parish introduction (parish overview, patron, parish logo). Establishment 1993.1.7, dedication 2003.10.3, affiliation and number of faithful, production and blessing ceremony of the St. John the Apostle patron statue (1997.12.28), meaning of the logo.
   https://www.stjohn.kr/about/
2. Website of Bundang St. John’s Church, parish clergy and religious. Current pastor Father Han Yeong-gi (Paul) and list of assistant priests.
   https://www.stjohn.kr/about/about03.php
3. Korean Catholic Encyclopedia, “Bundang John Parish”. Background of establishment in 1989–1993, church membership, jurisdiction, church design, division process in 1995 and 1997, pastoral situation.
   https://encyclopedia.catholic.or.kr/entry/2727