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About this place
Uiwang Catholic Church is the church of Uiwang Parish in the Second Vicariate of the Diocese of Suwon and has long served as a center of Catholic life in the Bugok area of Uiwang. The present parish stands on a history that began with a small mission community and developed into a full parish. A recent official notice of the Diocese of Suwon also confirms Uiwang Parish as an active parish today. The church is not only a liturgical place for Mass and the sacraments but also a center for catechesis, parish meetings, and activities across generations. In a parish with this length of history, continuity of community is as important as the building itself, and Uiwang stands out for having preserved local Catholic life through several institutional changes.
Its significance lies not simply in its age. The community passed from mission station to quasi-parish and parish status, lost parish status for a time, and was later re-established as an independent parish, sustaining the faith life of local Catholics through those changes. It later became a mother parish by giving rise to another parish, so its story also reflects the formation and expansion of the Catholic community in the Uiwang area. At the fortieth anniversary, diocesan records also emphasized evangelization, education, youth ministry, and small Christian communities, showing that relationships within the neighborhood and formation in faith have remained important pastoral concerns.
History & origins
The roots of Uiwang Parish go back to March 1963, when a mission station under Buksu-dong Parish began. The first Mass was celebrated at that time; a kindergarten opened the following year, and a hall was built in 1965. As the community became established, it was raised to quasi-parish status in January 1969 and to a full parish in April 1970, when its first pastor was appointed. Records note that the mission began with only about four Catholic households and some twenty faithful, underscoring how much the community later grew. The early kindergarten and hall also show that formation and local community life developed alongside the celebration of the liturgy.
Its growth was not uninterrupted. The parish was suppressed in June 1973 and incorporated as a mission station under Seodun-dong, but in January 1977 it was restored as a parish and regained its status as an independent community. It then completed a church and rectory in 1978, a convent in 1980, and an education building in 1993, gradually building the facilities needed for parish life. The suppression and later restoration of the parish were not merely changes of name but real changes in jurisdiction and pastoral organization. The fact that the community subsequently re-established itself and expanded its facilities step by step marks a major transition in the history of Uiwang Parish.
Construction of a new church began in July 2000, and the new building was completed in June 2001. In 2010, the year of its fortieth anniversary, Uiwang Parish gave rise to the new Bugok-dong Parish and became a mother parish. From its mission-station beginnings through restoration, church construction, and parish division, this history shows how Uiwang Parish repeatedly reorganized itself amid local change and broadened the foundation of its Catholic community. After the new church was completed, the parish prepared for its fortieth anniversary with a walking pilgrimage, a family camp, and a large communal Rosary offering, linking external growth with spiritual renewal. The 2010 parish division shows that this growth eventually contributed to the formation of a new Catholic community in the surrounding area.
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Suwon Diocese (Diocese of Suwon)
Official website: http://www.casuwon.or.kr
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