ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH, THANE

Till recently the parish of St. John’s was the most extensive of all the parishes in the Archdiocese, with a catholic population that resided from Mulund in the west to Dombivli in the east, and from Bhiwandi in the north to Belapur in the south. (now individual functioning parishes in their own right).

 IMAGE COLLECTION

Times of India, 2011 (Timecontents)

Vijay Chhabria, 2009 (Flickr)

Dinesh Valke, 2007 (Flickr)

 

More pictures...

(Google Images)

 SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Even before the Portuguese missionaries brought the Christian faith to Thane around the middle of the 16th century, Thana had already acquired a place in the history of the church in India. For one march 9th 1321 four Franciscan friars suffered martyrdom in Thana (cf.milestones). More than two centuries later, the Franciscan were back. In the beginning of 1547, Fr. Antonio do Porto and his companions arrived in Bassein . That same year he sent two Friars to open a house in Thana; but this attempt was a failure. A second attempt was made, but much later in 1580 and this time they succeeded; in 1582 the Franciscans built the St. Anthony Friary near a tank. (...)The church of St. Anthony though, was allowed by the Marathas to function, but now under the secular clergy, were severely damaged and needed extensive repairs. Of that old Franciscan church only the wooden main altar, the two side altars, and the roof of the sanctuary did not suffer damage and exists till today. When the secular clergy took over St. Anthony’s, they changed the name to that, of the former parish church of Thane – St. John the Baptist. More...        

The Catholic Church is getting ready to start restoration work on two important churches in its diocese-—Gloria Church in Byculla and St John the Baptist Church in Thane. More...

Nearly 1,000 people spilled out of St. John the Baptist Church on the final day of my first mission in Thane, a city adjoining Bombay. My host this time was Bernadette Pimenta, a wonderful lady who did much to promote the program in the diocese, ensuring its success. More...

For 500 years, it has been the nodal spiritual refuge for Catholics of Thane city. To this day it remains a large parish with a flock of 10,000. Fr Allwyn D'silva took charge last June, and furthers spiritual activities as he did at Our Lady of Nazareth in Bhayander. That was a similarly large parish comprising 9,000 people. More...