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About this place
Jidong Catholic Church belongs to the Paldal-Jangan District of the First Vicariate of the Diocese of Suwon and has St. Francis Choe Gyeong-hwan as its patron. One of the long-established parishes of eastern Suwon, it is a community that sustains the faith of local Catholics through Mass, the sacraments, catechesis, and devotional life. It has also maintained a deep historical relationship with nearby St. Vincent’s Hospital and the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and a tradition of service to neighbors and local evangelization has helped shape the character of the parish.
Jidong Parish is particularly known for its tradition of vocations. Diocesan and Catholic press sources repeatedly record that numerous priests and bishops have come from this parish. This gives the place a meaning beyond that of an old church building: it is a setting in which faith has been handed on to the next generation through families and parish life. The presence of a relic of the parish patron, St. Francis Choe Gyeong-hwan, in the altar gives concrete expression to that identity. The close relationship formed among the local hospital, religious community, and parish also helps explain a parish culture in which liturgy and service have not been separated from one another.
History & origins
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Jidong area lay away from central Suwon and was home to farmers as well as people displaced from their hometowns after the Korean War. When St. Vincent’s Hospital opened in 1967, the need for evangelization in eastern Suwon became more pressing. Bishop Victorinus Youn Kong-hi, then ordinary of the diocese, asked Fr. Konrad Fischer, a priest sent from the Diocese of Regensburg in Germany, to prepare for the establishment of a parish. Fr. Fischer acquired land and built a hall in 1968, and in June 1970 the diocese appointed him the first pastor and established Jidong Parish.
After the parish was founded, the population rose rapidly as new urban districts and transport links developed in eastern Suwon. The Catholic population, about 670 at the time of foundation, grew to 1,300 by 1980 and 2,944 by the end of 1983. At the same time, a city road plan required the existing church to be demolished, so the community built a new church. A relic of St. Francis Choe Gyeong-hwan was placed in the altar, and stained glass by the artist Luke Lee Nam-gyu was installed, linking the parish’s faith and artistic memory.
During a renovation in 2008, the original arrangement of the stained glass changed, but the works themselves were preserved. Alongside numerical growth, the parish devoted effort to adult faith formation and devotional associations and engaged in service at the nearby hospital and correctional facilities. In this environment many vocations emerged, and diocesan materials and recent reporting continue to note the priests and bishops who have come from Jidong Parish.
In 2020, the parish marked its fiftieth anniversary with a commemorative Mass and looked back on half a century of Catholic life. At the time, the diocese emphasized the journey from a small community to a parish engaged in care for neighbors in need and in local evangelization. The history of Jidong Parish therefore shows both the way a Catholic community expanded with the growth of the city and the way liturgy, vocations, and service became intertwined in its life.
Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia
Jidong Catholic Church: history and architecture
Read about the place's history, architecture, people, and events in the Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia articles are currently available in Korean.
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Building information
- Passenger elevators: 1
- 3 above-ground floors · 1 below-ground floors
- Approved for use in 1985
- Total floor area: 1,855㎡
Building-register record · · Source
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Sources and updates
- Information Status
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- Source
- Diocese source
- Data freshness
- Fresh
- Last updated
- Source
- Francisco Diary
Diocese
Suwon Diocese (Diocese of Suwon)
Official website: http://www.casuwon.or.kr
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