Brief History of Gandhi Nagar Parish

“Football Crazy People” sometimes it can be said so about the entire Cantonment. The Gandhinagar football team of the early 70’s was on a tour to Goa, where they saw a number of wayside Crosses (Curusadis) along the streets where people gathered every evening to recite the Rosary. Fr. Aloysius Benny, the then Parish Priest of Holy Family Church; Trimulgherry extended his whole hearted encouragement when these young sportsmen narrated their religious experiences. He laid the foundation stone for first Curusadi at Gandhinagar in 1974. The Curusadi was blessed and inaugurated in 1976. It was dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua. The Statue of St. Anthony was a gift from Mr. Arokiaswamy, the Catechist of Holy Family Church. The outstanding feature of this entire venture was the tremendous interest and devotion shown by the Tamil non-Catholics of Gandhinagar. The office bearers of the Curusadi Committee were James Jakras, A Narayanan, J. Edwards and G. Perumal. Devotion at the Curusadi grew as a few miracles were also reported and recorded.

As the number of people began to increase, a Chapel was commissioned. Archbishop Samineni Arulappa blessed the Chapel on 17th January, 1981. The Feast of St. Anthony was celebrated for the first time in the Chapel on 9th May, 1981 and subsequently every year on the second Saturday in the month of May. Gandhinagar was placed under the pastoral care of Trimulgherry and Holy Mass was celebrated once a month in the Chapel. While Fr. Yeddanapalli M. Joseph was the Parish Priest, a compound wall was built around the Chapel, for which the people contributed generously, especially Mr. Aruldas. The Grotto beside the Chapel was blessed by Fr. Paneer Selvam. A Bhajan Society was also formed in 1976 under the guidance of Mr. Michael Louis.

Mention must be made of Ms. Lourdumary, popularly called as Messi Ayah, who belonged to the Third Order of the Franciscans called Sagodaries. She was a spiritual stalwart at Gandhinagar gathering children and women to pray the Rosary everyday at the Chapel. For many years she nurtured the community at Gandhinagar, but the Lord called her on 22nd August, 1996 about a year after the foundation stone for the present Church was laid on 15th August, 1995 by Archbishop Samineni Arulappa. Frugal planning of Mr. J. Frank and the generous contributions of the people, sometimes up to a month’s salary, saw through the construction of the Church (costing about 11 lakhs of which Rs. 6,50,000/- was the contribution of the Archdiocese), which was blessed by Archbishop Samineni Arulappa on 27th April, 1997. On the same day Gandhinagar was erected as an independent Parish with Fr. Michael Thaigaraj as its first Parish Priest. During the inauguration Archbishop Samineni Arulappa remarked, “I gave money for the construction of a small Church, not a Cathedral.” The remark though sarcastic was an appreciation of the people’s sacrifices to make their dream come true.

The Church land falling in Sy. No. 194/1 was occupied in 1974, but providentially the landlord Mr. D. Prabhakar Rao s/o Yogiraj Deshpande officially gifted it to the Archdiocese on 2nd February, 1999. The initiatives of Mr. J. Anthony led to the realization of this gift deed. Presbytery was still lacking and the Parish Priest still resided at Holy Family Church. Fr. Selva Kumar Aloysius was appointed Parish Priest on 11th May, 2003 and Archbishop Marampudi Joji, recognizing the interest and enthusiasm of the people commissioned the construction of the Presbytery, Youth Centre, Stage and Grotto on 03rd August, 2003. These structures were designed by Mr. Henry Paul and completed in a record time. Archbishop Marampudi Joji inaugurated them on 13th December, 2003 (about one third of the cost was people’s contribution). Over the years Gandhinagar developed into a vibrant community, very active and lively. The Parish Choir initially trained by Mr. Alfred Kingsly and later sustained by Ms. Christina won laurels in every competition on the Diocesan and interdenominational levels between 2004 and 2006.

When St. Anthony’s Parish was carved out of Trimulgherry & Garrison Parishes, the areas on the other side of the road-over- bridge to ECIL i.e. R.K. Puram & Devi Nagar were attached to it. Catholic faith has existed in R.K. Puram, since the time of the PIME Missionaries. In 1956 a deadly plague struck in R.K. Puram and many people lost their lives. Fr. Luigi Pozzoli PIME, the Parish Priest of Garrison Church dedicated the Village to St. Sebastian (invoked against plagues in Italy) and built a Curusadi in his honour on 15th July, 1955. Being an old Village numerous land disputes exist even to this day, but the Curusadi has survived the test of time. It was modified and rededicated on 20th January, 1963 by Fr. Pancras Fernando. In 1994, a tree fell on it and it had to be rebuilt, during the tenure of Fr. Susai Anthony, the Parish Priest of Garrison Church. It was blessed on 26th January, 1995. In the Golden Jubilee Year of the Curusadi, it was renovated and blessed on 15th July, 2005. The attractive art work of the Church was done by Mr. Henry Paul. Mr. Deva Sebastian has been the care-taker of the Church since 1956 until his death in November 2007.

Fr. Samala Michael Marianna who took charge of the Parish on 12th May, 2007 took the Parish to higher levels of ecclesial communion with the introduction of BCCs, liturgical innovations and developmental measures through which the community will be able to witness for the greater glory of God. Fr. Anthony Susai as Parish Priest, renovated Parish Church at Gandhi Nagar and on 02nd December, 2014 Archbishop Thumma Bala blessed & inaugurated it. Fr. Anthony Susai also built new Adoration Chapel and he blessed & inaugurated it on 4th December, 2016 and then he renovated Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto and blessed it on 13th May, 2017.

Men & Women Religious Congregations

Sisters of Charity Of Saints Bartolomea Capitanio And Vincenza GEROSA (SCCG) :Sisters established Asha Kiran - ‘Children’s Home’ at Lallapet. It had a very humble beginning in 2008 and it functioned as an off-shoot of St. Francis Convent-Secunderabad, catering to the needs and all round development of the prisoners’ children. Seeing its steady growth, in 2012, this house was erected into a community. As the number of children kept considerably increasing year after year, in the course of time it has become inconvenient for the growing children because of the lack of space and other discomforts. In order to provide them a better home with better facilities Asha Kiran Children’s Home was shifted to new residence on 28th April, 2019 at Shakti Nagar which belongs to Gandhi Nagar with St. Anthony’s Church in its vicinity, while the present Asha Kiran at Lalapet will continue with another service - Asha Kiran ‘Counseling Centre’. The main Mission and Charism is to show the merciful love of Jesus the Redeemer through the works of mercy. They do it through their educational institutions, medical services, social work, pastoral work, boarding homes, hostels, HIV/AID’s centre, palliative care, Home for the Aged, etc. Asha Kiran community will cater to the needs of the prisoners children at Gandhi Nagar while at Lalapet will be a counselling centre.