Lourdes’ Church

Established : 1964 Patron : Our Lady of Lourdes Address : Lourdes’ Church, Renukoot, Sonebhadra District – 231 217 Telephone : 05446 - 252939 Religious : Ursuline Mary Immaculate (UMI) A Brief History: This mission is just 100 yards from Renukoot Railway Station and in the neighborhood ofRehand Dam (Asia’s biggest water reservoir), and in the township of HindalcoAluminium Factory. The land for the Church and the School was leased to the Diocese by Kanoria Chemicals Ltd. (Now it’s called Aditya Birla Chemical India Ltd – ABCIL) in 1964. Due to the untiring efforts of Rev. Fr. Stephen Rodrigues the first building for the Church and the school came into existence. Rev. Fr. Eric Pinto, Fr. William D’souza, Fr. Richard Fernandes, Fr. Aveline Lewis, Fr. Victor Rodrigues and many others were the Parish priests and the Asst. Parish priests. The present church was constructed during the tenure of Fr. Ambrose D’Souza and was blessed on November 15, 1996 by Rt. Rev. Isidore Fenandes. After Rev. Fr. Ambrose D’Souza, Fr. J.B. Fernandes was the parish priest and in his tenure the priest house was built and blessed on 15th Nov. 2011. He was followed by Fr. Oswald D’Souza. Due to his sudden untimely death in Jan 2008 Fr. Melwin Wilson D’Souza was sent in his place as a care taker till June 2009. From July 2009 to 2015 Rev. Fr. Raymond served as the Parish Priest. Rev. Fr. George Madathikudiyil was appointed the new parish priest. He met with a major accident near Pratapgarh on August 22, 2015. Subsequently, Bishop RaphyManjaly requested Fr. James Francis to be the care-taker parish priest.Fr. James Francis willingly accepted and moved to the parish in October 2015. Later in 2017, he was appointed the Parish priest. The faithful are mostly from Kerala, Jharkand and Chattisgarh. Most of them are working in the factories, hospital, schools and in railways. Today there are 54 families in the parish.

Lourdes? Church, Renukoot, Sonebhadra District ? 231 217