Gwangmyeong Catholic Church

History & origins

The direct roots of the Catholic community in Gwangmyeong can be traced to 1946, when thirty-three Catholics from five households gathered for the first Mass in a believer’s home in Gwangmyeong-ri. The community was dispersed during the Korean War but was reestablished in 1963 as a mission station under Guro Parish and later came under Oryu-dong Parish. With large-scale housing development in the early 1970s, both the population and the number of Catholics increased, and the Diocese of Suwon took responsibility for pastoral care in the area.

The mission station was elevated to quasi-parish status in 1973 and became Gwangmyeong-ri Parish on April 12, 1975. A community of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus had been established shortly before the parish was created. The faithful secured land for a church and began construction in the summer of 1975, completing the building the following summer.

As population growth continued, the parish gave rise to new communities. Cheolsan Parish was separated in 1982, and after Gwangmyeong-ri became part of the newly created Gwangmyeong City, the parish name settled into the present form, Gwangmyeong Parish. To respond to a rising Catholic population and repeated flooding, the church and education facilities were expanded in 1988, and facilities for the Noonsa-dong mission station were prepared in 1992.

Further growth led to the separation of Gwangbuk Parish in 1998 and Gwangmun Parish in 2008. In 2025, Gwangmyeong celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its parish establishment. Its development from a household Mass and mission station into a parish that later gave birth to several other parishes provides a concise picture of the expansion of Catholic life in the Gwangmyeong area.