상리 성당

History & origins

Sangri Parish grew from Sinmang-ri Mission Station, a Catholic community in an area developed as a resettlement settlement after the Korean War. The official parish history records that the Sinmang-ri mission chapel, then under Dongducheon Parish, was completed in 1971 and blessed by Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan. The mission later passed through the jurisdiction of Jeongok and Yeoncheon parishes.

During the Yeoncheon Parish period, problems with the older mission property led to construction of a new chapel at the present location. On September 4, 2003, Sinmang-ri Mission Station was elevated to Sangri Parish, and Daegwang-ri Mission Station was transferred to its care. The first pastor, Fr. John the Baptist Kwon Hyeok-dong, arrived later that month. The core of Sangri's history is its development from a mission under several parent parishes into an independent parish in northern Gyeonggi.