St Francis de Sales Parish, Galsi
Started in 1999, St Francis de Sales Parish, Galsi, bifurcated from the Sacred Heart Parish Burdwan is a mission centre entrusted to the MSFS permanently by the diocese of Asansol. It is located on five acres of plain land by the side of the state high way between Asansol and Kolkata. It is 18 km away from the district town Burdwan, 100 km away from the Bishop’s House, Asansol, and 127 km from Kolkata. The geographical area of the parish is between Galsi police station in Burdwan district and Patrasayer and Indus police station areas of Bankura district. Fr Athnas Kerketta msfs was the first Priest incharge of the Parish.
As of 2016, SFS Parish, Galsi consists of 1050 catholics, from 270 catholic families, spread out in 54 tribal villages in the area. Channa, with around 120 families, Uro and Jellybagan are the villages with considerable catholic population. Majority of the Catholics are Santals who migrated from the neighbouring states of Bihar and Jharkhand in search of livelihood. They are basically labourers and earn very minimum wages as a result of which they are often marginalized by the upper classes living around them. The literacy rate in the villages under the Parish is only 22.8 percent. In spite of all these socio-economic deprivations, they are very peace loving, caring and simple.
The Parish has associations such as Youth Group, Mahila Samiti and Majhiharam Samiti (village heads). Besides the regular activities of faith formation, the parish promotes vibrant Small Christian Communities (SCC). The faith of the people is nurtured through the services of two full time catechists and a volunteer. The Mission organizes various programmes such as promotion of education, - formal and non formal, adult literacy, back to school programmes for the drop outs, medical aid and faith formation. The parish, on its own, undertakes various social activities: Through the 15 group tuition centres in the villages many poor children are assisted in their studies. Asansol Welfare Society, formation and promotion of Self Help Groups (SHGs) are the other initiatives of the Parish.
St Francis de Sales Hostel
In 2010, a hostel was built with the primary purpose of providing accommodation for the Catholic children from the far away villages. The hostel, that accommodates only the tribal children, with a capacity for 50, is always full. In the hostel their spiritual and intellectual needs are taken care of. The poorest among them are given concessions.
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SL. NO |
PARISH PRIEST |
YEAR |
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Athnas Kerketta |
2000-2003 |
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Thomas Kunnappallil |
2004-2007 |
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Varghese Vanisseril |
2007- 2016 |
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Alois Borogaon |
2011 - 2016 |
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Varghese Prakuzhy (Priest in charge) |
2016 - 2018 |
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Nicholas Bara |
2018 - |
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SL. NO |
ASST. PARISH PRIEST |
YEAR |
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Thomas Kunnappallil |
2002-2003 |
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Sudhir Kullu |
2003-2004 |
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Varghese Vanisseril |
2005-2007 |
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Francis Peethuruthel |
2011-2013 |
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Joe Varghese Nellissery Chethalan |
2013-2017 |
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