St. Joseph’s Church

Established : 1984 Patron : St. Joseph Address : St. Joseph’s Church, Rihandnagar, Sonebhadra Dt. – 231 223 Telephone : 05446 - 244909, 242090 Religious : Congregation of Jesus (CJ) A Brief History The NTPC had already a school run by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allahabad at Shaktinagar. After six years the NTPC invited RCD, Allahabad again to open a school for the second Power Project at Rihandnagar in July 1984.The first Priest in charge was Rev. Fr. Noel D’Souza who was assisted by Rev. Fr. Aveline Luis. Five sisters of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBMV) now known as CJ, Allahabad were asked to help out in the pastoral and educational ministries. There were already Catholic families from South India and Chhota Nagpur (Jharkhand) working in the NTPC project pant and living there. This project was built with British Collaboration. In the beginning the Church services were held in the school hall. Later on the diocese built a Church in 1994 which was blessed by Rt. Rev. Isidore Fernandes, Bishop of Allahabad on December 8, 1994. Fr. Noel D’Souza (1984-1986), Fr. Charles D’Almeida (1986-1989), Fr. Richard Fernandes (1989-1997), Fr. A. James Francis (1997-2003), Fr. Rajesh Simon Thakur (2003-2008), Fr. Santosh Kumar Everest (2008 - 2014) and Fr. Sunil Noronha (2014 – to date) served the people of God with utmost dedication.

St. Joseph?s Church, Rihandnagar, Sonebhadra Dt. ? 231 223