prolog

1 Jeondong Cathedral
#1. Leaving for a 'promise'
#2.
Peace filled the martyrdom site
#3.
Unfinished homework

2 Nabawi Cathedral
#1.
First Encounter with Faith
#2.
Committing the sin of 'greed' on Nabawi
#3.
A piece of old truth

3 Pungsuwon Cathedral
#1.
Let go of the hand of faith
#2.
Late autumn, visiting Shinchon
#3.
God in Silence

4 Gongseri Cathedral
#1.
Signs of conflict
#2.
The long road to Gongse-ri
#3.
A dream where someone greets me
#4.
You stay here and stay awake with me.

5 Gamgok Cathedral
#1.
The priest's face
#2.
First encounter with Gamgok
#3.
A night of reverence, a night of praise and prayer
#4.
Third Encounter: Our Lady of the Passion
#5.
Flowers bloom on every border

6 Yakhyeon Cathedral
#1.
Memories of a misplaced love
#2.
Winter Cathedral
#3.
Christmas and loneliness
#4.
Yakhyeon Cathedral in the snow

7 Gasil Cathedral
#1.
Cardinal Kim's last appearance
#2.
Thank you, love each other
#3.
Memories of the Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
#4.
Religion and I: The Irreparable Distance
#5.
teardrop

8 Yangyang Cathedral
#1.
The Catholicism Hidden in My Life
#2.
Thursday morning mass
#3.
Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Matthias

9. Cathedral of the Mercury
#1.
City girl, harboring dreams
#2.
Receive a feast at the Mercury Cathedral
#3.
wavering heart

10 Yongsomak Cathedral
#1.
7 days of change and old memories
#2.
Wounded Hallelujah
#3.
I will never believe it
#4.
25 years, a story that's not over yet

11 Baron's Holy Land
#1.
I wish you peace
#2.
First Companion
#3.
Grace of the Holy Land
#4.
Mom and I
#5.
This is enough for today

12 Geumsari Cathedral
#1.
It's stress-related depression.
#2.
Time for intensive spiritual experience
#3.
What a cute cathedral
#4.
Hildegard's Prayer

13 Namhae Cathedral
#1.
Love from outside
#2.
Love and its backstory
#3.
get lost

14 Hapdeok Cathedral
#1.
Challenge your fears
#2.
Retreat and Confession
#3.
A community mass that comforts the soul

Epilogue

A journey in search of comfort and peace,
There was a beautiful cathedral along the way.

To me, who has lost the strength to endure the harsh and cold life and the boredom of everyday life,
The cathedral was silent and offered a peaceful moment.
I was baptized a long time ago, but now I am just a traveler who has left religion.
There, for the first time, I was arrogant and saw romance and beauty.
After that, the devotion of a priest who has completely given up his life
I saw a simple faith that murmured that all the faults were its own.
And… it was left unattended for so long that I didn’t even have time to realize it myself,
I met my sick and weak soul.
Now, I must begin the story.

From Jeonju Jeondong Cathedral to Hoengseong Pungsuwon Cathedral and Chungnam Hapdeok Cathedral…
A very special two-year journey to discover historic cathedrals!

St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Duomo in Milan, Westminster Cathedral in London, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain… … .
The image engraved in the word 'cathedral' is so splendid and magnificent.
And there is one more image that comes to mind.
A quiet beauty that somehow warms the heart.
Even if you're not a devout Catholic, how wonderful would it be to be able to leave the city and enjoy the quiet leisure and simple spiritual luxury of a church?

In search of comfort and peace…
This book, "My Beautiful Cathedral Journey," is the story of a city dweller who sets out in search of a special travel destination that will comfort our often difficult and sometimes harsh lives.
In 2009, author Eun-kang Jo created a gentle ripple among readers with her pilgrimage book, "Remember the End of the Way," which naturally incorporated deep reflections and wide-ranging emotions.
In his new book, he describes the process of facing and healing his wounded inner self over a two-year journey to cathedrals across the country, using his characteristically honest and soft prose.
Jo Eun-gang discovered 14 cathedrals that are deeply significant, both religiously and historically, and imbued with Catholic and modern Korean history.
These were places that possessed both external beauty and internal fulfillment.
Jeonju Jeondong Cathedral, the first martyrdom site facing the Hanok Village; Iksan Nabawi Cathedral, which will captivate your heart with its beautiful autumn foliage and cozy walking path; Hoengseong Pungsuwon Cathedral, built in Korea's first Catholic village; Chungbuk Gamgok Cathedral, where a large mountaintop cross shines beautifully at night; Baeron Holy Land, overflowing with fresh greenery and warm sunlight like a huge natural farm; and Namhae Cathedral, which possesses both the abundance of the southern region and the sophistication of the city...
With each visit to the cathedral, my stubborn cynicism and indifference toward religion gradually softened, and the joy and happiness in life I had long lost returned.
The personal and intimate stories he tells, along with the stories of the people who live around the cathedral, along with vivid photos the author took with his camera, convey the beauty of the cathedral directly to the reader's heart, not just their head.

Envying someone's prayers
He had been baptized a long time ago, but had been indifferent to religion for over twenty years. The reason he went to churches across the country was because of a small piece of belief that “there is power in place.”
He was motivated by the hope that this place, where countless people gathered their sincerity and prayers, would provide him with the strength to overcome his long wandering and suffering.
Memories from several years ago kept coming back to haunt him.
It was the first time I was involved in a lawsuit for work, and I was struggling to sustain my exhausted body and mind, so I ran away on a short trip to Osaka.
While wandering down a narrow alley in Osaka, he came across a shrine and saw a man in a suit praying quietly with his hands clasped.
I was so envious of his peace, which allowed him to pray alone, unconcerned with the noisy atmosphere outside, that I shed tears in the moonlight.
He too desperately needed that peace and comfort.
The emotion of the Camino de Santiago had already sunk deep into the depths of everyday life.
He could have gone anywhere, even if it was just a small buoy, to the man struggling in the unbearable indifference of life.

Travelers standing in front of the cathedral
The first place I chose was Jeonju Jeondong Cathedral.
The Jeondong Cathedral, which boasts an overwhelming majesty that blends in with the atmosphere of the Hanok Village, is the setting for the movie “Promise.”
In the courtyard of the cathedral, facing the stadium, he immersed himself in the magnificent curves and tranquility of the Jeondong Cathedral for a long time, contemplating what meaning this journey would have in his life.
Nabawi Cathedral, which he had to fight fiercely against his desire to move it entirely closer to his home, and Pungsuwon Cathedral, which perfectly matched his plan to find “the place with the best feeling and full of prayer and sincerity.”
There, he, who wanted to remain only a traveler intoxicated by the romance of the cathedral, had to suddenly encounter his weak and lonely self against his will.
As these unpleasant encounters became more frequent, the unidentifiable conflict grew uncontrollably.

Perhaps because my mind was complicated, the journey to Gongseri Cathedral was particularly difficult.
Although he felt an inexplicable sense of comfort in the sacristy, he was also confused.
It's an uncomfortable feeling, like you've taken over someone else's bedroom without permission.
He ran away from Gongseri Cathedral.

The thread is unraveling
The turning point of change was at Gamgok Cathedral.
Perhaps it was because it was a place of such powerful grace and healing that it produced countless priests and monks. Standing before the towering mountaintop cross and the statue of the Virgin Mary, with its famous anecdote, I felt a seed of faith hidden somewhere within me burst forth.
He finally made up his mind at the Yakhyeon Cathedral around Christmas time, which made him think about the meaning of 'love', and at the Gasil Cathedral, where the only cloisonné painting in Korea and the elaborate colored glass paintings stole his heart.
I decided to listen to the voice of my soul that I had been trying to ignore.
The journey should have begun with going to the church in time for mass.
Thursday morning mass at Yangyang Cathedral, with its charming Greek-style white walls, changed many things.
While drinking coffee with Aunt Elizabeth, with whom he had no connection, let alone a relationship, and listening to Missionary Matthias talk about Father Lee Gwang-jae, the third parish priest of Yangyang Parish, he recalled his long-dormant baptismal name, 'Hildegarda.'
Then, in the warmth of the Suryu Cathedral, which truly realized his long-held dream of a country church, and in the gentle atmosphere of the Yongsomak Cathedral, overflowing with the affection of the priest and believers, he was finally able to reconcile with the religion that had always seemed distant to him.
This was nothing less than a reconciliation with the 'self' that I had neglected to take care of because I was so focused on my external life.
After he settled his church records and returned to his life as a believer, the first place he visited was the Holy Land of Baron, which generously shared its warm happiness like a father welcoming the return of his prodigal son. All the churches, like a book, conveyed meaningful stories to him.
The cute black buildings of the Buyeo Geumsari Cathedral, the exotic southern scenery and sophisticated triangular roofs of the Namhae Cathedral, and the Chungnam Hapdeok Cathedral, where faith was tested but overcome…
After reading all the books titled Cathedral, the tangled mess in my heart that seemed impossible to untangle began to unravel on its own.

The journey never ends
In this book, "My Beautiful Cathedral Journey," author Eun-kang Jo tells the story of how she encountered her true inner self in the space of a cathedral and tried to bring the leisure and happiness she gained from that journey back into her daily life, in a calm and joyful voice.
He walked the Camino de Santiago for over a month, visiting cathedrals all over the country on his long journey, but his journey was not over.
But after wandering a long way, he finally sat down in the local church and realized something.
The fact that if we can only be sensitive to the mystery and beauty that life presents, our souls can be rekindled at any time, whether in a world-famous holy site, a rural cathedral a couple of hours away, or a local chapel.

All travelers weary of the tedious and endless journey called life will find a way to regain the joy and peace of everyday life just by reading his beautiful writing.