Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,• His love endures forever.
Ps 107:1
St. Louis Church started as a small chapel, a sub-centre of one of the oldest churches in the Archdiocese of Mumbai – Our Lady of lmmaculate Conception Church, Borivali West. The plot of land on which the majestic edifice stands today was donated Marceline Misquitta and the parishioners of St Louis Church stands forever indebted to their generous philanthropic gesture. A nursery level school was started in 1983. The centre was looked after by the Carmelite Fathers from 1984 to 1988. It was in 1994 this small prayer centre got a prayer hall and various associations were started in the center.
This continued to be a sub-centre of Immaculate Conception Church, Borivili until 2003 when the Holy Cross Fathers, who already had their house in the neighbourhood, took over responsibility for the pastoral care of the people. The Nursery level of St Louis School started in 1983 and the history of both St Louis School and St Louis Church is indelibly intertwined.
The project for building a Church and a , school was soon initiated. The primary school was started in the year 2004 and through the tireless efforts of Fr. Herve Morissette, Fr. Lawrence D’Almeida, Fr. Gordon Didier’Serre, Fr. David Adaikalam, Fr. Leo D’Souza, Fr. Johnny Thekemaly , Fr. Ronald Fernandes , Fr Lancy D’silva, Fr Martin Soosai , Fr Bijumon Thomas and their team of priests, teachers and Staff nurtured the original seed that was sown to grow into a mighty tree with a strength of almost 1,500 students
Through various fund raising activities and donations, the parish team was able to raise funds for the project. On April 6, 2008 the first phase of the project was blessed by His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias and which included, the consecration of a beautiful Church dedicated to our patron St. Louis.
St Louis Church is now a 1000 family strong and vibrant parish that is alive to the needs of the community as well as society through its many outreach programs
Having obtained full recognition in 2013, the first batch of SSC students passed out with flying colors in March 2014. The School whìch has been built phase-wise has stuck to its motto, Lead kindly Light. It is this light that inspires and challenges the Staff and students to dispel the darkness of corruption so very rampant in our society and become children of God’s light of justice, peace and good-will.
ST LOUIS CHURCH HISTORY TIMELINES :
1972 – First Mass celebrated on 15/8/1972 with the blessings of Fr Frank Noronha , Parish Priest , IC Church
1972 – Mrs. Marceline Misquita donates land in honour of St Louis so that a church and school building could be built on this land . Fr Milton Miranda of IC Church starts work on the necessary permissions
1978 – 1980 Fr Peter D’mello takes charge of Dahisar Mass Centre and NOC received to build a small chapel
1981 – Fr Elias D’cunha , Asst Parish Priest , IC Church gets personally involved and begins to reside at Dahisar and worked on beautifying the plot and raising funds for the Centre .
1983 – Fr Elias D’cunha initiates setting up of Nursery classes
1984 – 1988 – Dahisar Mass Centre entrusted to Carmelite Fathers – Fr. Bernard Nunes, Fr. Peter D’Sa & Fr. Gregory Menezes were part of the parish team and worked with a lot of zeal and commitment .The Blessed Sacrament was installed and daily Eucharist was celebrated. English Mass was held on Saturdays in order to cater to the spiritual needs of the English speaking faithful.
Fr. Anthony D’Souza purchased two flats in Panki CHS , Dahisar East in 1988 and started mass on Sundays and first Fridays. He served at Panki Mass Centre for three years. In the same year , IC Church celebrated its centenary with with Fr. Ralph Fernandez at the helm of the parish . Fr. Victor Menezes from IC Church took care of the day to day needs of Dahisar Mass Centre.
1989 – Fr. Peter Bombacha takes charge of the Centre. In addition to taking care of the spiritual needs of the parishioners he also had a special gift of healing and many sick people in and around Dahisar flocked to him to be blessed and healed. Later on Fr. Thomas Pereira, CSC from Holy Cross Congregation served at the Center with Fr. Wilson D’Mello.
1994 – 1998 – Fr. Malcom D’Souza appointed as priest in charge and during his tenure, the small prayer room metamorphosed into a beautiful Church. Altar Servers Association, Legion of Mary, S.V.P. and Ladies Sodality comes into being . The Mass Centre celebrates its Silver Jubilee . FSMA sisters engaged in helping with spiritual development of the children of the centre
1998 – Fr. Dom Alves takes charge of the Centre
2003 – Responsibility of the Centre handed over to Holy Cross Fathers. The Holy Cross Fathers residing at Kalpana Bunglow were always a pillar of support to the Priest -In -Charge at the Centre . Fr Herve Morissette, CSC and Fr Lawrence D’ Almedia, CSC , Parish Priest and Asst Parish Priest take charge . Fr Lawrence shepherds the newly started Primary Section as its Principal . School and Church project conceived and various fund raising activities such as Raffle , Johnny Lever Show , Souvenir publication , Church to Church collection etc carried out under the guidance of Fr Hugh Fonseca , Parish Priest IC church , co-ordinated by Project Committee , under the able leadership and vision of Fr Lawrence with wholehearted support of the community and the unstinted commitment of Helpers of Mary Sisters and MSA Sisters
2006 – St Louis School and Building project takes shape with the appointment of Architect , Structural Consultant and Builder . Foundation stone of St Louis Church and School blessed by His Excellency , Perceival Fernandes , Auxiliary Bishop of Mumbai on 6th March 2006 in the presence of Fr Thampi Kayala , CSC , Provincial of Holy Cross Congregation . Fr Herve Morissette gets transferred to Bangalore and Fr Leo D’souza ,CSC takes charge as Parish Priest
2007 – St Louis Church becomes a Quasi Parish
2008 – First phase of School Project completed and His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias consecrates St. Louis Church
2013 – St Louis School gets recognition under SFS Act, Final phase of St. Louis School gets completed
2014 – First batch of students from St. Louis High School appears for their SSC board exam with 100% results
2018 – Decennial celebrations held to mark ten years of consecration of the new Church
2022 – St. Louis School is recognized as a Minority Institution by Govt of Maharashtra
15th August 2022 – Golden Jubilee of St. Louis Church – Jubilee Mass celebrated by His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias