Bundang Yatap-dong Church

History & origins

Bundang Yatap-dong Parish was established on February 8, 1995, with St. Mark the Evangelist as its patron saint. It was one of the parishes founded during the formation of Bundang New Town. At that time the Diocese of Suwon was developing Catholic pastoral infrastructure for the rapidly increasing population by establishing churches including Bundang St. John, Bundang St. Matthew, and the St. Mark community in the Yatap area. Under its first pastor, the new community became established as an independent parish serving the Yatap living area.

On March 10, 2011, the Diocese of Suwon approved changing the parish name then in use, “Yatap-dong St. Mark,” to “Bundang St. Mark.” The current official directory again uses the geographic form “Bundang Yatap-dong,” while continuing to list St. Mark the Evangelist as the patron saint. The publicly available sources do not establish the exact date when the present name was adopted, so that date is not inferred.

As its twenty-fifth anniversary approached, the parish expanded commemoration into pilgrimage and concrete practice of faith. From April 2018 to November 2019, parishioners completed a walking pilgrimage along Didimgil routes linking sixteen shrines and historic Catholic sites in the Diocese of Suwon, covering a cumulative distance of about 365.8 kilometers. Diocesan reporting notes broad participation over the extended period and plans to recognize those who completed the full route at the anniversary Mass. A Mass for the twenty-fifth anniversary was celebrated in February 2020. The parish’s path from a new-town foundation through the clarification of its name to a jubilee prepared through pilgrimage and martyr spirituality remains a distinctive part of its history.