Dae-hwa Catholic Church

History & origins

Catholic life in the Pyeongchang area took root in the late nineteenth century as Catholic families settled there after fleeing persecution. By the 1890s, several mission stations, including Daehwa, had been organized under Pungsuwon Parish, and these communities later became the foundation for a parish. After Father Yun Ye-won arrived in the region in 1929, preparations for a separate parish advanced, and Daehwa Parish became independent in May 1931.

The early community first used a converted Korean house as its church, but it was lost to fire. In 1933 the parish adapted a former public-school residence for church use. The Korean War destroyed the church and scattered many Catholics, interrupting parish life for a time, but restoration began in 1954 and the community resumed its activities.

In 1965, changing pastoral circumstances led to the center of the parish being moved to Pyeongchang, and Daehwa once again became a mission station. After the Pyeongchang area came under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Wonju in 1969, the Daehwa community continued its Catholic life as a mission station, and in 1973 it acquired the present site and prepared a new building.

After a long period as a mission station, Daehwa was re-established as a parish in 1993. The sequence of the first parish foundation in 1931, wartime interruption, return to mission-station status, and eventual re-establishment shows that Daehwa was not created at a single moment but preserved and rebuilt its community through changes in population and pastoral organization. Nearly three decades separated the 1965 return to mission-station status from the parish’s re-establishment in 1993. The fact that the local Catholic community did not disappear but continued in the form of a mission station during those years is important: it shows that a local community of faith can endure even when its formal canonical status changes.