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About this place
Toechon Catholic Church is the church of Toechon Parish in the Gwangju District of the Second Vicariate of the Diocese of Suwon. Its patron is Saint John the Baptist. It is the center of Catholic life for the faithful of Toechon-myeon, Gwangju, where Mass, the sacraments, faith formation, and parish community life are carried out. The parish currently has pastoral responsibility for Gangha Mission Station, linking the parish church with a smaller Catholic community in the surrounding area.
Although Toechon Parish began with a close historical connection to Chonjinam Shrine, it now functions as an independent parish, separate from the shrine, responsible for the ordinary Catholic life of the Toechon area. The present church provides space for liturgy, formation, and fellowship and also preserves communal religious memory through features such as the large image of the Risen Christ on its exterior. The parish therefore connects the region's early Catholic memory with the continuing life of a contemporary local church community.
History & origins
After the persecutions, a clearly organized Catholic community did not continue in the Toechon area for a long period. From the late 1970s, however, renewed evangelization centered on Sinjang Parish helped a local community take shape. In this context, Chonjinam Parish was established on February 5, 1985, after separating from Sinjang Parish, and for about twenty years parish life was centered within the grounds of Chonjinam Shrine.
In 2006 the roles of the shrine and the parish were separated. The parish community moved to the Gwangdong-ri area of Toechon-myeon and changed its name to Toechon Parish. After a period in temporary facilities, a groundbreaking Mass for the present church was celebrated in March 2009. The new church was completed in 2011 and later formally dedicated in 2017.
In 2015, the parish's thirtieth-anniversary year, the community installed and blessed a large image of the Risen Christ on the exterior of the church. The most distinctive feature of Toechon's history is its transformation from a parish based at Chonjinam Shrine into a separate parish serving the everyday Catholic life of the Toechon area. This development allowed the memory of early Korean Catholicism and the pastoral needs of a contemporary local community to continue in distinct but connected forms.
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Building information
- Passenger elevators: 1
- 3 above-ground floors · 1 below-ground floors
- Approved for use in 2011
- Total floor area: 787㎡
Building-register record · · Source
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Sources and updates
- Information Status
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- Source
- Diocese source
- Data freshness
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- Last updated
- Source
- Francisco Diary
Diocese
Suwon Diocese (Diocese of Suwon)
Official website: http://www.casuwon.or.kr
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