St. Paul’s Vinayalaya, Aherwada, P.O. Bandeli, Tal – Keolari, Dist. – M.P. – 480994 - 07694-263010

Established	1996
Sub-Station	Keolari, Tala Ugli
Patron	St. Paul
Feast	25th Jan
Families	96
Parish Priest	Fr: AmardasBaghel, O. Praem, 9425938204, framar@rediffmail.com
Asst. Priest	Fr. Dharm Kishore, O. Praem, 8461963712, dkdkishore501@gmail.com
Religious House (Men)	Norbertine Fathers
Religious House (Women)	Maids of the Poor

Aherwada mission was a visiting mission of Balpur mission of Jabalpur Diocese since 1978. Aherwada is a small interior village situated 10 kms away from Keolari Tahsil. This mission is 196 kms away from Nagpur city and comes under Seoni distirict of Madhya Pradesh.

In the year 1980, Maids of the Poor, a secular institution from Lucknow staying in Balpur began to visit Aherwada and later made their permanent residence at Aherwada which was by then under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Nagpur. Catechumens of the village used to regularly take part in the sunday masses in Nainpur and Fr. Cyril from Seoni was appointed to take care of their spiritual needs. Fr. Albert D' Souza was the first priest in charge of Aherwada mission. In the year 1991 Fr. Louis Bhosle and Fr. Yesu Raj built the residence and a hall for the church purposes. Fr. John Vianney succeeded Fr. Louis Bhosle and Late Fr. Kurien became the mission in charge after Fr. John Vianney.

On December 17, 1998 a contract was signed between the Archdiocese of Nagpur and the then St. Norbert Priory, Jamtara, Jabalpur. Since then this Mission station is given to the care of the Norbertines. On December 22nd, 1998 Fr. Eliazar Soemerim O.Praem was appointed as the first Norbertine priest in charge of the mission. He worked for 11 years for the development of the mission. At present Fr. Briddhichand Nonwer, O.Praem is the priest in charge of this mission.

When the mission was taken up by the Norbetines the catholic population was just 44 including the fathers and sisters. Formerly the mission consisted of two visiting stations namely Keolari (10km) and Tala (14km). Today a new visiting station namely Ugli which is 26 km away is part Aherwada mission and the number of Catholics belonging to this mission at present is 96. The Parish feast is celebrated on 25th of January.

Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Barkhui Hospital P.O. – Chandameta Dist. – Chhindwara, M.P. – 480447 - 07161-263613

Parish Priest: Fr. Biju CMI

St. Francis Xavier Church Near Police Lines, Chhindwara - 480001. M. P. - 0716-2242693

Sub-Station	Saunser
Patron	St. Francis Xavier
Feast	3rd Dec.
Families	125
Parish Priest	Fr. John Ollukaran CMI, 09425637362
Asst. Priest	Fr. NavneetKujur, +918806628280
Religious Men	CMI fathers
Religious Women	Sisters of Charity

There were some English speaking catholics who lived in the Chhindwara region during the reign of the British Empire. In 1863 the deputy collector of Chhindwara region gave more than 20 acres of Nazul land to Fr. Theveneth. There was no resident priest but served from Kamptee Church. Sometimes later, a small Chapel was built. The present dining room was the chapel and the first room facing the road was for the Priest to stay. There was no permanent Priest in chhindwara till the arrival of the SMMI sisters who were brought to the mission by the MSFS Fathers. Once the sisters settled down in chhindwara a chaplain was appointed for their spiritual needs. In the beginning all the priests & sisters were French speaking and a few Indian sisters joined them who were called Baginees. During the Second World War, Fr. Vincent Luccaz was posted as the parish priest and a chaplain to the Catholic soldiers who were brought to train in mountaineering warfare.

In 1944, with the help of the soldiers, Fr. Vincent Luccaz put up a small Church which is still standing. After the Second World War, many people left the place except a few catholics and railway employees who remained and settled down in the area. In 1958 Fr. Edwin Alvares began a small school in the cowshed. The humble initiative of imparting knowledge to the little ones was carried on by the successors such as Fr. Arnold, Fr. Earnest Oliver, Fr. Reddy, etc. Fr. Reddy began the middle school in 1977. After Fr. Reddy, Fr. Francis Fernandes, Fr. Jerome Pinto and Fr. Tony D'Mello served the parish. As the number of faithful increased the space of the Church was not sufficient. The old Church was used till 1996. The present Church was built by Fr. Tony D'Mello during the time of the Archbishop Leobard D'Souza. It was Fr. Tony who raised the middle school to high school. After Fr. Tony, Fr. Brycie Coutinho took over as the Parish Priest and Manager of the school and Fr. Brycie raised the school to the Higher Secondary School. Since proper education was provided and due to the good climate, many Catholic families remained in Chhindwara.

Sandesh Sadan, Catholic Church, Bungalow No. 157, Keoti Ward, Seoni – 48066 Ph: 07692221740

Established	1970
Sub-Station	Gopalganj, Suktara Kurai, Barghat
Patron	Annunciation
Feast	25th March
Families	27
Parish Priest	Fr. Jojo Vincent, +919921709627
Asst. Priest	Fr. Sameer Nagrare, +919753675543
Religious House (Women)	Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate (ASMI)

Seoni is one of the district of Madhya Pradesh. It's geographic and natural situations are very different. It is located between Nagpur and Jabalpur. During British rule only two Scottish mission churches existed in Seoni District. It was built around in 18th century. Earlier there were no catholic churches in Seoni , fathers would come from Chhindwada to celebrate mass for the catholic families namely Joseph family and Doyle family. Later students from Kerala came there to do their course in nursing. Many were Catholics. Seeing the increasing catholic population the visiting priest felt the need for a church.

Fr. Edwin Alvares used to celebrate Mass in the Octroi shed and also stayed there . Father started looking for a place to build church, during that time he expressed his desire to then bishop Leobard D'souza. Bishop agreed.

There was a Bungalow which belonged to Rajendra Gupta, an advocate who had given it to State Bank of India for rent. As it was God's will, the bank got its own new building, so Fr. Edwin Alvares purchased the land from them and named it Sandesh Sadan because he acquired the land on 25th March, the day of Annunciation. The place was not sufficient for the church, so he looked for some more land close to the bungalow. In 1973, he managed to purchase some land and construct the present church.

Rev. Fr. Edwin Alvares, the first Parish Priest.

In 2001 Most Rev. Archbishop Abraham Viruthakulangara had a plan to build a school in Seoni. So a small piece of land was purchased and St. Francis of Assisi Pre-Primary School came into existence. Today by the grace of God the school is growing day by day and reached 10th standard. Bishop swami invited ASMI Sisters to work in the school .

Joshua -1:5 “The Lord says, “No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life, I will be with you..”

Priests at Sandesh Sadan (1973 to 2012)

1. Rev. Fr. Edwin Alvares
2. Rev. Fr. Cyril Lobo
3. Rev. Fr. Edwin Alvares
4. Rev. Fr. Louis Bhosle
5. Rev. Fr. Augustine Kadam
6. Rev. Fr. Aaron Reddy
7. Rev. Fr. Stephen Moniz
8. Rev. Fr. Jeya Prakash & Rev. Fr. Joseph Kannanaikal SDV

P.O., Surlakhapa – 480222, Tah – Harrai, Dt. – Chhindwara, M.P. Ph: 07167287343

Established	1978
Patron	St. John the Baptist
Families	4
Parish Priest	Fr. Thomas Therattil CMI, 7024178833
Religious House (Men)	CMI Fathers

Surlakhapa is about 185 kms distant from Nagpur and 56 kms from Chhindwara parish in Chhindwara district head-quarters. It is a remotest area of the Archdiocese of Nagpur. It is a tribal belt in the Satpura Ranges, surrounded by hills and mountains. The people are mostly Hindus. There are only 5 Catholic families for whom the church is catering to their spiritual needs through Sunday Liturgy, family visits and administering holy sacraments. The prime objective of the Institution in the area is to look after welfare of all the people without looking at their caste and creed.

Rev. Fr.Stephen Moniz and Bro. Bernard Furtado took residence at Agragami in Surlakhapa in 1976. The pioneers, struggled to initiate the mission in Surlakhapa staying in a rented house. They successfully created rapport with the people and established the center by purchasing land property and constructing an ordinary building attuned with the local style . This took about two years. On 24th June 1978, Archbishop of Nagpur, Dr. Leobard D'Souza blessed the Agragami mission station. The center was named after St. John the Baptist, Agragami i.e. Precursor, fitting the name to the nature of the mission of St. John who announced the coming of the Kingdom of God, being in the wilderness.

Objectives of the Mission:

a. Build up communities which will be aware, responsible, involved and committed to the welfare of all.
b. to create a society of equality and freedom.
c. To establish a witnessing community at the center,
d. Help the people to help themselves
e. Work towards wholeness of man, society and cosmos
f. To guide the people to realize their power and their potential

Methodology :

a. Individual and family based contacts and rapport creation
b. Participation in socio-cultural and religious events.
c. Need based approach to solve the problems of the people.
d. Finally ending up the pursuits in building up people's organizations.
e. Emphasis on Ecological development and community health.

Following the formulation of new vision and strategy, the communities of sisters began to have intensive contact in villages and involved in social action together with the youth and elders.

Activities Realized :

a. Organized .Nirman samiti, Yova Mandal, bal mandals and women's SHGs
b. Organic cultivation was promoted in the center to motivate the people through replication.
c. Plantation of trees in villages.
d. Several Income Generation Activities like knitting, tailoring etc. were started in the centers.
e. Drinking water facilities were created in villages especially in Surli and Khapa where there was adverse problem of scarcity of water.
f. Collective action towards electrification of many villages.
g. A check dam was constructed at Surli village
h. Health programs were initiated in Surli and Basuriya sub-centers where the two communities of sister resided.
i. Non-formal education was started in two sub-centers
j. The neighboring villages were contacted by the sisters.
k. Tuition center was made available in the Agragami when the OMIs came to Surlakhapa.

Bottle-necks and Obstacles :

A report is available at the Center; it is mentioned that there were several problems due to the circumstances, the lack of familiarity with people and rumors triggered by the trouble-shooters. The ELC church members had initiated several missionary attempts through direct preaching and created a bad image of Church, by forced conversion and coercion to accept the Christian faith without having proper rapport with the people and their consent. It took more than two years to create sufficient contact with the people and families residing in the remote villages.

The Agragami Center was entrusted to the CMI St. Paul Bhopal Province on June 24th 2006 on the basis of the contract signed between both the Diocese and the CMI Province.