St. Gonzalo Gracia, Martyr

Deanery Ballia Patron Saint St. Gonzalo Gracia, Martyr Year of Establishment 1947 Parish Priest Fr. Suleiman Bara, O.Praem Asst. Parish Priest Fr. Bipin Kiro, O.Praem Priests of the Parish Fr. Christopher Satish. O.Praem , Fr. Bartholomew Minj O.Praem No. of Catholics 591 Address St. Gonzalo Gracia Church Indara P.O., Mau Dt. U.P. 275102 0547-2272858, 2272087 Religious Frs 04; Brs 04, Srs 09 About In 1947, two brothers namely Bros. Basilus and Clastus, both Germans, came to Kopaganj and started staying in a rented house to start a mission station at Indara. With great difficulty, they could acquire seven acres of land at Indara in 1948. The land belonged to the Maharani of Jaunpur who at first refused to sell the land to Christians, because she felt "padries would make everyone Christian". But later on she agreed to sell the land to the Mission. In the same year initial mission station was started and brothers started to visit Indara and neighbouring villages. In the initial stage they started a small school and a dispensary. Bro. Otto came to Indara in 1956 and took charge of the station and started a boarding house to educate the village children. In 1951 a Primary School was started and also dispensary. In 1956 a boarding house was started by Brother Otto. In 1960 brothers started a substation at Mirpur. Fr. Benedict, OFM. Cap., a Canadian, came to Indara as the first parish priest in 1961. In 1963 the Church was constructed. Hospital construction started in 1965 and in 1966 a general and a leprosy hospital were started to serve the poor and the needy people of the area. General Hospital was closed down a couple of years back. Brother Otto had purchased about 35 acres of land adjoining the Indara mission in 1967 and given to 18 landless Catholic families and made a Catholic resettlement colony which is known as Ottopur. In 1967 the primary school was upgraded into junior high school. In 1967 Fr. Jacob Kavalam was appointed as parish priest. His name is gratefully remembered for the services he had done to bring up this mission amidst lot of struggle. The society of Christ Jesus sisters came to Indara in 1974. The new school was built in 1975 and the old school building was converted into priests' residence. In 1994 the Hindi medium school was upgraded to High School, and in 2005 raised to Intermediate level. The Norbertine fathers took over the mission station in 1977. In 1978 the girls' boarding was started. After some time the girls' boarding was closed down. Brother Innocent who worked as a doctor for 13 years at Indara passed away on February 26, 1981. Bros. Innocent and Otto were very popular around Indara mission. In 1982 Christ Jesus sisters left Indara and Queen of the Apostles Sisters came to Indara. In 1993 the Norbertine Fathers and Queen of the Apostles sisters built a new residence. In 1995 the high school's new wing was constructed. At present there are three religious communities in Indara, serving in the fields of medical, educational, social and catechetical. In 2004 Br. Mark reoccupied a piece of land that was almost forgotten just on the roadside of Mau-Rasra road in Alinagar. In the same year Brother Mark started St. Francis English medium school in Indara in a very small scale. Now the school has grown up to class X. In 2005 Brother Mark also started a primary school in Alinagar as a feeding school to the main school in Indara.

St. Gonzalo Gracia Church Indara P.O., Mau Dt. U.P. 275102