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About this place
Godeok Catholic Church is a parish in the Songtan district of the First Vicariate of the Diocese of Suwon, serving Catholics in Pyeongtaek’s Godeok International New Town. Its patron saint is St. Lazarus. In a newly developed city, the parish provides a center where incoming residents build Catholic community through Mass, the sacraments, catechesis, and parish activities.
Because Godeok International New Town developed rapidly as a large residential area, diocesan reports have described the parish as having many young adults and newly relocated families. In this setting, the church is distinctive not for inheriting an old village community but for helping Catholics who were previously strangers to one another form relationships and build a new parish community in a new neighborhood.
The present church is now established as an independent parish facility with spaces for liturgy, catechesis, and community gatherings. Godeok offers a clear example of how a Catholic community can take root alongside the development of a new urban living area, becoming both the center of faith life and a place where local Catholics form new bonds with their neighbors.
History & origins
Godeok Parish was established on December 15, 2020, as residential development and occupancy accelerated in Pyeongtaek’s Godeok International New Town. Rather than being separated from a particular mother parish, it was established directly by the Diocese of Suwon. Soon after its foundation, the COVID-19 pandemic repeatedly interrupted Masses and gatherings, making even the basic work of bringing the new community together and forming parish structures difficult.
Without an independent church, the parish initially used the basement hall of Seojeong-dong Church as a temporary worship space. Beginning on April 2, 2022, it renovated the Joseph mission station within the parish territory and used it as a temporary church while preparing for construction. As more residents moved into the new town and the Catholic population grew, the need for a permanent parish church became increasingly urgent.
On July 2, 2022, Bishop Matthias Lee Yong-hoon of Suwon presided over the groundbreaking Mass for the new church. Construction proceeded on a building planned with one basement level and three above-ground floors, while the parish community gradually stabilized its liturgical and pastoral structures. St. Lazarus, chosen as patron from the beginning, became a spiritual symbol of the new community.
About ten months after the groundbreaking, an entrance Mass was celebrated on May 13, 2023, presided over by Bishop Linus Lee Seong-hyo, Vicar of the First Vicariate, and regular parish life began in the new church. The early history of Godeok is marked by the convergence of the pandemic, temporary worship spaces, rapid population growth in a new town, and construction of a permanent church within a very short period. It is a distinctive example of a parish community taking shape almost simultaneously with a newly built city.
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Suwon Diocese (Diocese of Suwon)
Official website: http://www.casuwon.or.kr
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