About St Pius X Church, Mulund in St. Pius X Road, Nahur, Mulund (W), Mumbai

(A Short History by Charles Borromeo & Collette Sequeira
as published in the earliest Church Bulletin - COMMUNION)

Till late 1968, Mulund formed an outpost of the extensive parish of St. John the Baptist, Thane. The Catholic population was sparse and scattered on either side of the Central Railway line. Through the courtesy of the authorities of the Asbestos Cement Company (ACC) at Mulund, situated about a furlong from the Railway Station, Mass was celebrated by the priests of Thane at the Sports Centre of the Company. At that time there were a few Catholic families in the Company's residential quarters.

The place where the Church stands now, and the area around it, extending from the Railway tracks to Lal Bahadur Shastri Road was an entire jungle area and marshy land filled with mango groves. In the distance one could see the outline of the hills beyond which lies Powai.

In 1969, the enterprising and visionary parish priest of Thane, Fr. Valerian Godinho undertook the Herculean task of setting up an independent parish in Mulund. A fairly large plot of land was bought in the village of Nahur on the west side of the railway tracks. On this land Fr. Godinho planned to build a large housing colony, two schools, a church and a parish house. In 1970, a few other societies outside the proposed colony had already come up, and the few catholic families in the vicinity either made it to A.C.C. for Sunday mass or went all the way to St. Joseph's Church, Vikhroli.

By 1971, a building, which housed the Primary School and a number of residential buildings of the proposed colony, had been erected. The number of Catholics in the housing colony of St. Pius the Tenth, and neighboring colonies was large enough to satisfy a change. Mass was discontinued at the Sports Centre of the A, C. C. and was commenced on the premises of the Primary School of St. Pius the Tenth. The priests from Thane continued to serve the emerging parish community at Mulund.

Beginning with Fr. Godinho, we had a number of priests who served the Community, both in the capacity as school principal and in offering Mass in the school hall. They were Fr. Joseph Vincent, Fr. Bosco Remedios, Fr. Lawrence Monteiro, Fr. Leslie Ratus and Msgr. Vincent Gonsalves.

On the 7th of July, 1976 the new parish of Mulund under the patronage of St Pius the Tenth was created by separating it from the parish of St. John the Baptist, Thane. Fr. F. X. Lobo, who had been appointed as priest in charge in 1974 (June), became its first Parish Priest. By then the housing colony and two high schools in Fr, Godinho's original plan, had already come up. Archbishop Simon Pimenta laid the foundation stone of our new church and installed the time capsule on 20th April, 1981. In spite of all efforts nothing happened then.

In the meantime the school saw two more Principals, Fr. Lucian Fernandes and Fr. L. M. George. On the 27th of September 1983, Fr. F. X. Lobo passed away without witnessing any progress in the church building. On the 5th of October of the same year Fr. Trevor D'Souza, then Episcopal Vicar of S. E. & N. E. Salsette and Andheri took charge as the new Parish Priest. Fr. Godfrey Remedios came in as an extra Assistant Parish Priest in June, 1984 who was later substituted by Fr. Christopher Alvares in June, 1987. Fr. Richard Misquitta became the new school principal in June, 1985.

A new dynamism surged within the parishioners with Fr. Trevor at the helm of affairs and soon, what seemed a futile dream, began to take shape again. Committees were formed, responsibilities shared fund-raising programmes organised and on the 3rd of January 1987, Archbishop Simon Pimenta was here again for the memorable event 'the breaking of the sod'.

The vast open area that was being used as a playground was soon a scene of hectic activity. Work got underway and there was no looking back. While cement and steel meshed into concrete reality, the committee in charge of the cemetery, too worked and struggled to get a burial place for the thousands of Christians in Mulund.

The 8th of January, 1989, His Eminence, Cardinal Simon Pimenta inaugurated and consecrated the new Church Building - fulfillment of a much-felt need and a long-awaited dream, a wonderful feeling surged through, our veins and we felt deep down in our bones-A HOMECOMING. From the widow's mite to the king's ransom we had pooled in our resources, our efforts our sacrifices, our time, our ingenuity, our thoughts, our LOVE for the project. What you see standing before you is the culmination of everything we live and stand for and we want to share this feeling with you and the whole world, today and always.

This feeling we are sure was shared by Rev. Fr. Trevor, who had masterminded, worked extremely hard, day and night, planned, designed and negotiated for the very best that the available money could buy. We are extremely grateful to him, the Building Committee, the Architect, the Engineer, the Contractor, hundreds of workmen, parishioners, friends and benefactors.