St Francis de Sales Parish: Sindukpathar
In response to the invitation of Most Rev. Lumen Monteiro csc, Bishop of Agartala, to open an MSFS mission in Tripura, in 2006, the then Provincial of MSFS, North East India Province, Fr Abraham Mullenkuzhy, together with Frs Mathew Vazheparambil and Emmanuel Mappilaparambil went to Agartala Diocese looking for an opportunity to open a mission in the diocese. The Bishop assigned the southernmost, unexplored area of Tripura, the present Subroom sub-division in south Tripura district for the work of evangelization. Ethnically the people of the area are mainly composed of Bengali, Tripuri (tribe) and Mog (Buddhists).
Frs Mathew Vazheparambil and Roy Muthadathu were sent to Agartala to study the language and to locate a suitable plot for beginning a mission. On April 30, 2006, they reached Ambasa parish of the Society of Divine Word (SVD). Fr Maxim Rodriges, the Parish Priest initiated them to Bengali culture and tradition. After a couple of months Fr Mathew moved to Kumarghat Parish run by the Holy Cross fathers for further exposure. Fr Roy went to an interior parish at Kamaranga managed by SVD fathers. On August 7, 2006, both fathers reached Kalachera under Subroom sub-division in south Tripura to identify suitable land for the mission. Mr Urdhav Tripura, SDO, forest Department, was kind enough to accommodate both fathers in his own house at Kalachera. First MSFS mission could not get rooted at Kalachera due to the strong opposition from Tripura Baptist Church who fraudulently coerced the land owners not to part with their land to catholics.
Then came a good Samaritan in the person of Mr Jitendra Chowdhury, Minister of Rural Development and Forest, Commerce & Industry, Government of Tripura who offered to the MSFS fathers 23 acres of land at Maira near Sindukpathar, 10 km away from Kalachera. On March 8, 2007, Frs Mathew and Roy reached Sindukpathar and began the construction of the presbytery. They had their residence in a simple hut in Sindhukpathar village before moving into the present presbytery which was inaugurated by Mr Jitendra Chowdhury in 2008. Initially fathers were busy in learning the local language and familiarizing with the local people. At the same time, they were also catering to the spiritual needs of a small catholic community at Sakbari village 8 km away from Sindukpathar. The local MLA, Mr Chandi Charan MDC, and Mr Jogender Tripura were so instrumental in providing logistics for the initial days of the mission. Fr Thomas Pereira csc, the Diocesan administrator, Fr Robert Mathias csc, Director of ‘JUST’,46 at Agartala spent a lot of time and energy in nurturing this young, tiny MSFS mission.
In September 2008 Most Rev. Lumen Monteiro csc, Bishop of Agarthala, elevated this mission to the status of a parish and appointed Fr Mathew Vazheparambil as the first Parish Priest. In 2009, when the school was opened, Fr Tomy Thekkel took over the charge of the mission and was appointed as Parish Priest and first Headmaster of the SFS School and Fr Pratap Kerketta as assistant.
The Parish has a well built presbytery. The priests take care of the pastoral, spiritual and educational activities of the Parish. There are five villages with catholic population: Maira, Parthumunipara, Wagrupara, Sakbari and Sindukpathar with a total of 180 members from 40 families. The mission continued to receive help from the Government of Tripura-Department of Tribal Welfare for levelling the play ground, facilitating drinking water for the school children, for making a fish pond, for the gas plant and a transformer in the school campus. Around 400 meters of tarred road to the school was given by the Government which has also agreed to lend partial assistance in building up the boundary wall, fencing and rubber plantation.
Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC)
The sisters of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, Ernakulam Province, established a new community at Sindukpathar on July 16, 2014. They help the mission in education and pastoral ministries. The pioneers were Srs Lysa (superior), Anna Grace and Jisa John.
|
SL. NO |
PARISH PRIEST |
YEAR |
|
|
Mathew Vazheparambil |
2008-2009 |
|
|
Tomy Thekkel |
2009-2013 |
|
|
Pratap Kerketta |
2013-2014 |
|
|
Joy Kaniyammattel |
2014 - 2017 |
|
|
Varghese Chackalamuriyil |
2017 - |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SL. NO |
ASST. PARISH PRIEST |
YEAR |
|
1 |
Roy Muthadathu |
2007-2008 |
|
2 |
Pratap Kerketta |
2010- 2014 |
|
3 |
Joy Kaniyammattel |
2012-2013 |
|
4 |
James Pezhathummoottil |
2014 - 2015 |
|
5 |
Nicholas Maiong |
2015 - |
|
6 |
|
|
