Gahoe-dong Catholic Church

About this place

The Bukchon area where Gahoe-dong Catholic Church stands is the region where the first missionary, Father Zhou Wenmo (周文謨, James), secretly entered Joseon and celebrated the 'first Mass' on Joseon soil at the house of Choe In-gil (崔仁吉, Matthias) on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1795. The parish's jurisdiction is the area where Father Zhou Wenmo carried out his pastoral ministry while hiding in the house of Kang Wan-suk (姜完淑, Columba), and it holds great significance in the history of the Korean Church. It formally became a parish in 1949, after which the church building was completed in 1954. However, as the building grew old, the old church was demolished from 2011 and the present new church was built. It was completed on November 21, 2013, and three days later, on the 24th (the Solemnity of Christ the King), the congregation moved in and offered the dedication Mass. The present new church, in which Eastern and Western architectural styles are harmoniously combined, was consecrated on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014, by Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung, Archbishop of Seoul, in an effort to revive its past history. (Source: Gahoe-dong Catholic Church website)