Weekly Mass Schedule
Korean
Select a Mass time to view sources or report a change.
About this place
Wongok Parish is a Catholic parish in the Ansan District of the Second Vicariate of the Diocese of Suwon. Its patron is St. Joseph the Worker. Formed in Wongok-dong as the Banwol industrial complex and surrounding residential areas grew together, the parish has become a pastoral center where Catholics of varied occupations and backgrounds form a community around Mass and the sacraments.
An important part of Wongok Parish’s identity is its tradition of accompanying workers and migrants in an industrial city. This tradition developed not as something separate from parish faith, but as a way of connecting faith with daily life while remembering the example of its patron, St. Joseph the Worker. The present church carries this communal memory while continuing to serve as the central place for liturgy, faith formation, and parish life.
Wongok-dong in Ansan has developed into an area where an industrial workforce and residents from many migrant backgrounds meet, and the parish grew in relationship with that local society. For this reason, Wongok Church is best understood not only through its architecture, but also through its pastoral tradition of receiving into the faith community people facing difficulties at work and at home and seeking to live alongside them.
History & origins
The Catholic community in Wongok began to take shape as a mission-station community around 1980, during the development of the Banwol New Industrial City. Because the urban plan provided no easy way to secure a religious site, the mother parish, Wadong Our Lady of Unity Parish, established Seongmo Kindergarten in 1983 and used it as a pastoral base for Catholics in Wongok. Wongok Parish was then established as an independent parish on June 25, 1984.
Because many parishioners were industrial workers, the parish gave particular attention to labor ministry from its earliest years. In 1984 it organized a parish team of the Young Christian Workers and began a night school for workers. In 1986 it opened a labor counseling center that supported workers with rights and everyday problems. As migrant workers later increased in the area, the parish broadened its ministry to assist with language and practical needs, leaving a distinctive legacy in the history of the community.
The first parish church was dedicated on May 4, 1986, but urban redevelopment eventually made it impossible to remain in the old building. The community celebrated its final Mass there in April 2018 and then used temporary facilities. A groundbreaking Mass for the new church was held on May 25, 2019, followed by an entrance Mass on November 21, 2020. After the construction debt was settled, Bishop Mathias Lee Yong-hoon presided over the dedication of the new church on April 29, 2023.
During this long process, parishioners offered three million decades of the Rosary and sustained the community through prolonged construction difficulties and conflicts. The history of Wongok Parish is thus one of continuing labor and migrant ministry amid industrialization and urban redevelopment, while repeatedly rebuilding the physical and communal place of the parish.
Korean Catholic Places Encyclopedia
Start the first record for Wongok Catholic Church
No public encyclopedia article is available for this place yet. Help document its Catholic history and stories with verifiable sources.
Encyclopedia articles are currently available in Korean.
Would you like to record this place in your pilgrimage passport?
Sign in to keep this record with you.
Building information
- Passenger elevators: 1
- 5 above-ground floors · 1 below-ground floors
- Approved for use in 2022
- Total floor area: 3,250㎡
Building-register record · · Source
Accessibility information
Accessibility information is not available yet. Please check with the location before visiting.
Sources and updates
- Information Status
- Official
- Source
- Diocese source
- Data freshness
- Fresh
- Last updated
- Source
- Francisco Diary
Diocese
Suwon Diocese (Diocese of Suwon)
Official website: http://www.casuwon.or.kr
Help verify information
Did the Mass schedule or church information change?
Let us know if you confirmed the displayed information or noticed something different.
Information Status: Official source
Visited here? Share details about toilets, parking or ramps.
Sign in to leave a visitor check.
Sign in to confirm the schedule or report a change.
Reports are saved for review. Mass times are changed after evidence such as official sources is checked, not automatically based on visitor confirmations.