A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCALITY OF THE SACRED HEART COMMUNITY IN YERWADA
The Sacred Heart Parish Community is situated a little away from the banks of Mulla-Mutha River. It consists of a residential quarters for the Salesians. Besides parish activities, the Salesians also are involved in the mission of imparting education for school, Junior and Senior College going students of the locality. The students are mostly from the poor background. All the educational sectors in the parish premises are named after Saint John Bosco. The school is government-aided and co-educational, while the Junior College & Senior College is permanently unaided. There are a number of slums surrounding the institution; though not very close as many new IT centres have sprung up close-by recently.
The Parish is vast and has 37 zones. It caters to as much as 6000 parishioners living in Jai Prakash Nagar, Wadia Farm, Market Yard, Ashok Nagar, Ganesh Nagar, Yashwant Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Subhash Nagar, Kamraj Nagar, Laxmi Nagar, Janta Nagar, Mother Teresa Nagar, Nagpur Chawl, Tridal Nagar, Sanjay Park, MHB Colony, Vidya Nagar, Tingre Nagar, Prathik Nagar, Mohan Wadi, Phule Nagar, Ram Nagar, Indira Nagar, Jai Jawan Nagar, Kalyani Nagar, Hermes Heritage, Shanti Rakshak, Kumar Angan and Nagar Road. There is also a sub centre at Moze Nagar called, St. Anthony Chapel. It has six zones namely, Shanti Nagar, Bharat Nagar, Porwal Park, Hospital Qrts, Panchasheel Nagar and Moze Nagar.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PARISH: Yerwada is situated in the city of Pune. It has a historical significance. It has Aghakhan Palace where Mahatma Gandhi was kept under house arrest. The Yerwada Central Jail where renowned leaders like Tilak, Maulana Azad and many other Great Freedom fighters were imprisoned here. One of the oldest Mental Hospitals is also situated here. We also have the Remand Home for delinquent children. The internationally renowned Papal Seminary, with its nearly two dozen religious institutes, gives importance and periodic assistance in the apostolic activities of this Parish. One of the biggest slums of Pune is located in our Parish and we cater to their Spiritual and material needs.
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE: The first baptism took place in 1948 to a child in the parish (earliest record). In February, 1952 some of the Jesuits Fathers from the De` Nobili College, Ramwadi, Pune started the Fatima Tamil Primary School, to give Education to the Tamil speaking children of the slums of Yerwada. For the Spiritual and Material needs, the people generally went either to the City Church or the other churches situated at the great distance, to attend Sunday Services. Rev. Fr. Mascarenhas, sj was responsible for providing a seemingly permanent site for the School and Parish, near the Yerwada Market, in the form of three tiny Rooms. In the year 1970, the School was converted into an English Medium School, and was named Fatima English Medium High School. The Parish continued to be called “Our Lady of Sorrows” Church.
In June 1974, the Salesian Society of Don Bosco took over the School and the Parish from the Jesuits. Rev. Bro. Joe Mascarenhas, sdb was the first Principal of the School and Rev. Fr. Olivio Miranda sdb, was the first Salesian Parish Priest. Don Bosco Youth Centre, Koregaon Park, situated 2 kms away, was the base for all the Parish Activities. In 1975 Rev. Fr. P. D. Thomas sdb a zealous and pastoral man took over the Parish and together with Bro. Diego built up the Parish by introducing structure of the Oratory, Choirs, Altar Boys and many other groups. It was really very difficult and hard to conduct classes in the shed-like structure with just three classrooms; even Sunday services and daily Masses were held in the same dusty place. As the Parish and School were located on the banks of the Mula-Mutha River, we had to suffer a lot of inconvenience during the monsoons, due to the surging waters of the river. In 1977 Rev. Fr. Michael Mascarenhas, sdb took charge of the Parish and the School and after endless trouble, managed to acquire a spacious piece of land at an alternative site at a distance of about 1 km.
In the year 1979 the name of the School was changed from Fatima High School to Don Bosco High School. The School was housed in a temporary asbestos structure with ten small rooms. The Salesian Fathers observed that besides their spiritual needs; the people of this parish required a lot of material assistance. The people of the parish were mainly from the slums of Yerwada, and it was very difficult to bring them together. Initially children had to be forcibly brought into the School to secure the requisite strength (value education had yet to become part of their thinking and aspiration) and even provided uniforms and books to these children.
On 29th September 1979 Rev. Fr Egidius Vigano, the Rector Major of the Salesian Society blessed the foundation stone for the building of the Church. In 1981 Rev. Fr. John Samala, sdb takes over the responsibility as Parish Priest and Principal. In October 1982 the Parochial House was blessed by Rev. Fr. Paulo Natali, (Councillor for Formation). In 1983 Rev. Fr. Richard D`Souza, sdb was appointed as the Parish Priest. In 1983 the Church was blessed and consecrated by Pune Bishop Rt. Rev. Valerian D`Souza. It was dedicated to the Sacred Heart.
In 1987 Rev. Fr. Boniface D`Souza, sdb took charge of the Parish and was appointed as the first Rector of the community. In January 1988, the new School building was inaugurated and the school was shifted from the shed to its new and permanent site. In 1988 Rev. Fr. Edward D`Souza, sdb takes over as the Principal and sought to bring up the standard of the School. The Don Bosco High School caters mainly to the needs of the poorest of the poor of the locality.
To facilitate the smooth and steady functioning of the Parish, the far off places were separated from the Parish and eventually constituted into two separate Parishes in 1989. In spite of this we are still one of the largest Parishes in the diocese of Pune. It extends up to Maskevasti, covering Kalas, Vishrantwadi and Nagpur Chawl. In 1992 Rev. Fr. Diego Nunes, sdb took over as the Parish Priest & Rector. Coaching classes for the poor children were started in the evening. November 1992 The Pune Municipal Corporation gifted a sizeable piece of land for the New Cemetery for our Parish. In 1998 Rev. Fr. Ajoy Fernandes, sdb took over as the parish priest and Rector. In 2001 Rev. Fr. Manuel Murzello, sdb took over as the Parish Priest and Rector. During the time of Fr. Manuel one more parish was carved out from our parish called ‘Resurrection Parish Kalas.’ In 2007 Rev. Fr. Francis Kharjia, sdb took over as the Parish Priest and Rector. In 2011 Rev. Fr. Anton D’Souza, sdb took over as the Parish Priest and Rector. In 2017 Rev. Fr. Michael Bansode sdb took over as the Parish Priest and Rector.