St. Joseph’s Church, Dahod

Vision

To form integrated and responsible digillent person committed to peace and justice and ambitious for outstanding achievements.

Mission

We, the community of St. Joseph the Worker Parish reaffirm our continuing belief in the everlasting and eternal love of Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ. God’s love for us is manifested in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, wherein the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ is truly present, giving us life and healing. We continually rely on the power of His Holy Spirit to instill in us the courage and strength to live our daily lives in faith, hope and charity. We are confident that by the grace of God and our willingness to live the gospel message, the light of Christ shining in each of us will empower us to transform the small portions of the world on which we walk, in which we work, in which we live and move. Therefore, we dedicate ourselves to all who form our parish community, whether active or inactive, that together we may continue to grow in the discipleship of Christ Jesus.

 How it all started:

Dahod is one of the five districts of Panchmahals. It is at the Northern end of the old Bombay Presidency, surround­ed by the Baroda, Alirajpur, Ratlam and Baria. It appears that Dahod was a cantonment station. It was already known at the time of the Moghuls, It contains some historical monuments: a fort and a mosque. It is said that Aurangzeb was brought to this mosque after his birth in the fort.

The Authorities of the B. B. & C. 1. Railway thought of this place as a suitable station for locating a workshop in view of its being almost a centre of the B. B. & C. I. Railway main line, thus facilitating its working. Before the appearance of the Railway with a huge project of the locomotive workshop, Dahod was a very small town of little importance. The population comprises chiefly Bhoras and Gujarati Hindus and in the villages Bhils.

The construction of the Railway workshop commenced in 1925, and a Railway Colony named Freelandgunj was simultaneously built. The first batch of workmen from the Parel Locomotive Workshop came in December 1931, and gradually the Parel Workshop was transferred to this place. Among others, Catholics also came to this place to work in the railway workshop. It may be mentioned that the Missions of the Salvation Army and other Protestant Sects existed in the place before the railway Workshop. There also existed a Christian Cemetery in the town maintained by the Govt. Before the railway had a Cemetery of its own for the Christians of the railway Colony, some of the Roman Catholics were buried in the Cemetery of the town.

 With the transfer there were about 220 Roman Catholics among the Staff. For some time the Catholics were lost in the wilderness of Dahod with no priest to attend to their spiritual needs. As this great need was deeply felt by the Catholics, they came together and appro­ached the Archbishop of Bombay, Most Rev. Dr. Joaquim da Lima, .S. J., who immediately heard the cries and made arrangements that the Vicar of Baroda District, then Rev. Fr. P. A. Fernandez should come here once a week to say Mass, and attend to the spiritual needs of the faithful. He could not, however, come on Sun­days, but only on week days, and public holidays. As these arrangements could not satisfy the Catholics of Dahod, since the Catholic population was gradually increasing, a deputation was drawn up and the whole matter was placed before the Archbishop, who at once made arrange­ments for the appointment of a permanent priest at Dahod. A priest in the person of Rev. E. F. Monteiro, of St. Xavier’s Church Dabul, was sent on the 1st of April 1932. From this day a new era dawned for the Catholics of Dahod, then numbering about 600 men, women and children of whom 230 were employed in the Loco and Electric Shops. The Rev. Chaplain was housed in one of the small quarters of the Colony, at Lady Jackson Avenue, where an Oratory was in one of the rooms. The place was dedicated to St. Joseph. On week-days the Mass was said at the Oratory and on Sundays in the European Institute Hall where a temporary altar was erected for the purpose. The Rev. Chaplain, notwithstanding the innumerable difficulties with which he was confronted in this virgin forest, set himself to work zealously to meet with the needs of the Catholics. Funds were brought up soon and different activities were developing at the small residence of the Father. Feasts were celebrated in the most solemn way due to the enthu­siasm and interest displayed by the Catholic community. Monthly subscriptions towards the Church Fund were made at the rate of 1 % of the pay. Since most of the employees were daily wage earners, the average wage per head being of Rs 1 a day, we can easily imagine the difficulties of the Chaplain who laboured unceasingly to collect funds from outside to build the Church. A Building fund was maintained in the Archbishop’s House. The donations received were from time to time published in the Examiner and in the Anglo-Lusitano. Now as the Catholics were increasing gradually and there was no education facility for the children. So, it was on June 6, 1932 Rev. Fr. E. F. Montero, opened the school primarily for the Catholic children’s and for the some aimless youths. 

            The classes were conducted in small residence and in one of the quarter of the Western Railway Workshop on temporary basis.  The school staff during this time was one master and two lady teachers with 50 students.  The school was catering to the educational needs of the children of the parents with transferable jobs in the Railway workshop and its vicinity.  As there were families from various parts of the country and spoke different languages, it was found necessary to give them education in the English medium.  The majority of the people was poor and was not able to pay the fees; still the worst condition was of the girls who were deprived in life due to social inhibitions, misplaced fears and discrimination.  It was in this condition the school was started. Because of the ever growing demand for the English education, lack of space and for the all-round development of the students, after  a few years the church and the school was shifted from the Railway colony to the place where it stands now on the outskirts of the Municipal town of Dahod.

On 13th Jan 1935, the Archbishop of Bombay, the Most Rev. Dr. Joaquim da Lima S.J. paid a visit to this place for the first time to see his children in the wilderness of the Panchmahals. He was received in the European Institute where the services were conducted. On that day the children received First Communion and Confirmation. It was a day of great joy. The Archbishop being aware of the urgent and crying need of a Church for the large crowd of over 600 people surveyed the place to find a suitable plot for the construction of the Church. He refused to accept the plot which the Railway authorities offered for the purpose in the Colony in order to avoid various complications of supervision, maintenance, etc. Finally after long negotiations a plot was acquired be­tween the Godhra Road and the Freelandgunj Colony.   It was on 20th march 1938 amidst scenes of joys and jubilation the foundation stone of the church building was laid by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Roberts, archbishop of Bombay. On 4^th February 1939, the primary section of St. Stephen’s school was recognized. In June 1945, the Society of Jesus took charge of this place and Rev. Fr. Marquis was posted as the parish priest and the Principal.  A man of letters he did not rest with the primary school.  He strived hard and his untiring efforts were fruitful.  The Parish was throbbing with life and the school was grow­ing in numbers, quality and prestige. On March, 19th 1949 the higher secondary section was recognized and the first batch of students was sent for the SSC Examination in March 1950. 

Fr. Pascal D’Souza succeeded Fr. Marquis.  He put into operation the plans prepared by his predecessor.  Under his personal Supervision St. Stephen’s High School building was built in 1957.  During the time of Rev. Fr. Campos, the poor sisters of Our Lady, a congregation of Bombay diocese, were invited to take charge of the school.  They worked here till 1964.                  The parish and the school belong to the Diocese of Baroda. It was started by the Diocesan Priests and later the Jesuits worked for its development and extended till 1973.  On 10th May 1973, the SVD Society took over the administration of the parish and the school from Fr. G. P. Lobo, a Jesuit priest.  Accordingly, Rev.  Fr. Joseph Lopez SVD became the first S.V.D parish priest and the principal of the school, the school had only red building and a few other buildings were made of mud and cow dung plaster walls and tiled roofs with classes from K. G. section till 10th standard.  Gradually, as years passed St Stephen’s was at the top in the developments and achievements.  Later a survey revealed that most of our students never liked to continue their studies out of Dahod.  Therefore, the higher secondary section for the general stream was built. All the aspects of starting a new section were well considered and planned by Fr. Lopez and he executed it by appointing a teacher for the higher secondary school.

Rev, Fr. Leo Cornelio SVD took care of the school as the acting principal and in 1980 the first batch of the general stream (H .S. C.) appeared for the board exams.  Soon the other arts subjects were also started.  It was indeed a Herculean task for Rev. Fr Ignatius Thottappilly SVD who took over as the principal in 1984, to stabilize the school.  He appointed a regular qualified teacher for the commerce stream, and also started the science stream and introduced computers as a part of the school studies. It was this time in 1986 the science stream was started in the school with regular qualified teachers.  This improved in the result of the school and in the discipline. The progress further succeeded by the guidance of the Fr. Thomas Aquinas. In the year 2000 for the further developments of the school the old red building was demolished and new building was built. Later on the new high tech library, A. V. Room and the new Computer lab was built under the Manager Rev. Fr. John De Britto SVD. Rev. Fr. Charles S.V.D had put great efforts and got the partnership with St. Francis Xavier Primary School and St. Hubert’s Catholic primary School, (U.K).  Presently, Rev. Fr. C. Rayappan SVD is serving as a principal in the institution, Rev. Fr. Sleeviah Bandanadam SVD is the manger and parish priest and Rev. Paulraj SVD is the Vice Principal.

 St Joseph’s church Trust undertakes the complete responsibility of the administration of the school.  There are three SVD Fathers and two Holy Spirit Sisters who are at the service to give the best for the Parish and the school.  There are 55 teaching and the non-teaching staff belonging to different castes and religions working in the school.  Our full fledged school provides co-education irrespective of the caste and the religion.  The strength of the school is more than 1850 from K.G to STD XII.  Every class has two divisions and has more than 60 students. The higher secondary section of the school consists of science, Commerce and Arts streams.  The school has successfully completed 79 years and still continues to educate many students of Dahod. For the last 79 years this school has been serving the people of Dahod District and has educated many, irrespective of caste and religion.  From its humble beginning to its full fledged state it has been keeping high standards in matters of education and discipline. In spite of the difficulties the school has achieved its highest esteem in around Dahod.  And the Sacrifices and hard work of fathers, Sisters and all the committed teaching and non-Teaching staff have paved the way to make this school the most sought after in Dahod district.     In the parish there is active parish pastoral council who are actively involved in the activities of the parish like spiritual and social. There is Dahod catholic association and Gujarati Catholic Samaj, Youth group and Choir group.

Miles Stones:

On 26^th July2002         The Parents Day was celebrated in a good manner. The children of this Parish arranged a wonderful liturgy that had an Indian touch. The children offered prayers and gifts during the Mass through which they showed their great love and affections to their parents. Fr. Justin D’Souza SVD explained that the joy of the family depends greatly on the children. And to get the best of the parents the children must love and respect them as it is clearly mentioned in the Ten Commandments. More over the parents must cope up with the present challenging demands of the children so that the child is not left in isolation. At the end of the Mass the fabulous gifts that have been sponsored by one of the parishioners were given to eight catholic students who passed in their St. X and XII Board Exams.

On 28^th July 2002        The Youth Day was celebrated in our Parish under the animation of Sr. Manju SSpS and Fr. Charles SVD during which elections for the new officer bearers were held. There were more than 45 youths who participated in this celebration. The Sunday Third Mass was organized by the youth and the whole day was spent in organizing various games, singing competitions, delicious lunch and concluded with a video show.  Fr. Justin D’Souza SVD in his talk to the youth emphasized our friendship with Jesus. Jesus during his youthful days had a number of friends and through his friendship he made the best of his life. In short our friendship with Jesus will only be enhanced our friendship with others and vice versa. For better animation St. Joseph’s Youth Club has been divided into four groups.

On 31^st July                 The feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola was celebrated by the Gujarati Catholic Smaaj Dahod. The dolmen Mass was followed by the Gujarati Family fathering in our school hall. Fr. John De Britto SVD explained of the need of the hour is unity. We can see how St. Ignatius of Loyola in union with his friends founded the biggest religious congregation in the world. Various games and fancy dress competitions were conducted for which gifts and prizes were given, followed by refreshments at the end.

On 4^th August,             The Dahod Catholic Association celebrated the Laity Sunday in our Parish followed by the elections of the new office bearers. The new office bearers expressed their earnest desire to give financial help for the education of deserving catholic children and also sponsoring the prizes for the Bible Quiz announced on the Laity Sunday in the church. On 8^th September the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated at the parish level. Nine days of Novena were conducted with the intercessory prayers and flower offerings at the end of the Mass. The church was full to its capacity on the feast day. The deep interest of the Parish Council Dahod Catholic association, St. Joseph’s Youth Club members the altar boys and girls, the various readers and Parish choir joined hands in celebrating the birthday of Mary this year with pomp and gaiety. At the offertory, various gifts were offered; the birthday cake and sweets were sponsored by some generous parishioners. The sermon preached by Fr. Justin D’Souza SVD the parish priest focused on the theme ‘Mother knows the best’ has to a great extent touched the sentiments of the congregations encouraging them to persevere in their faith in Mother Mary which shall never go in vain. The gorgeous church decoration, the melodious singing of the parish choir and the whole congregation joining to it made this year’s celebrations spell bound. At the end of the mass, prizes sponsored by DCA were given to the three winners of the Bible Quiz held on the Laity Sunday. In short his year Mother Mary’s birthday was a great memorable even celebrated in our parish as a family.

July 1982                    Fr. Cyril Cutinho SVD, the Director of the Technical Unit of the St. Stephen’s coming towards me grinning with delight as if to say Mai be kissi se kam nahi hai (I am not less than anybody). His tailoring Diploma course students secured one hundred per cent results with most of them graduating in first class. Fr. Cyril is busy running various job-oriented and self-employment schemes such as typing tailoring, radio mechanism and shorthand courses. With the last results to boost his morale he is launching a new unit; Madonna Ready Made Garment Centre which would employ local women and train them to make sweaters by machine.

The history of Dahod community began with the arrival of batches of workers from the Locomotive workshop at Parel, Bombay in 1925-30. As the Parel workshop was fully transferred to Dahod, more catholic workers arrived. After being accustomed to city life they were lost in the wilderness of Dahod. Fr. Fernandes from Baroda visited the Catholic Community once a fortnight, and then numbering around 600 in 1932 Fr. Montero was appointed as resident chaplain. He resided at the Railway quarters. An English Medium School was opened on the veranda of Fr. Montero’s residence. His untiring efforts were finally awarded with the laying of the cornerstone of St. Joseph’s Church in 1938 and the new premises of St. Stephen’s school was opened in 1939. After establishing the catholic community on firm ground Fr. Montero died on 10^th and June 1943. From then on the Dohad parish began to grow rapidly. St. Stephen’s primary school was raised to a high school and the first batch of students completed SSC in 1950 with a cent per cent results. In 1952 the poor Sisters of Our Lady were called in to assist in the school and parish in 1966 the new diocese of Baroda was erected.

In the year 1973          The Bishop of Baroda entrusted the Panchmahal District to the SVDs. Frs. Joseph Lopez SVD and Leo Cornelio SVD were appointed to take over the parish and school SMA Sister arrived in 1975. Fr. Joseph Mangalath SVD was appointed for social development and evangelical work in the villages around Dahod. The increasing number of students necessitated a new school building and in 1978 St. Stephan’s became a Higher Secondary school. Today the school boats of the distinction of being the only English Medium School in the whole district. The latest development are a Technical Education Centre, run by Fr. Cyril Cutinho SVD which conducts courses in typing, shorthand, tailoring and radio mechanism; a sweater Knitting Unit; and a Readymade Garment Centre. A housing Society consisting of 35 houses for the Catholics is underway, the cornerstone was laid on 20^th February and a new KG building is nearing completion.

Confreres who worked so far