Mumbai: Appeal for Kandivali (Kandivli) Church

An Appeal to buy a plot of land and raise a Church for the 352 families in Kandivali, East Mumbai

Purpose: Fund raising for a Church
Place: Kandivali East Mumbai - 400101
Name of Parish: Church of the Nativity of our Lord

A little about Kandivali (Kandivli)

Kandivali or Kandivli is the name of a railway station on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Western Railway railway line. It is a suburb of Mumbai. Artifacts found near Kandivali indicate that the region around Kandivali was inhabited since the Stone Age. The township was a semi-rural area up to the 1980s, with agricultural land, hutments and villages. With the real estate boom in the 1980s and 1990s, many residential projects started to shift northward. This saw a frenzied construction activity leading to large scale development. The area has also witnessed the highest appreciation in land value in Bombay. The area currently has swank malls, wide roads, tony apartments, multiplexes and numerous flyovers. It is also popular as it is centrally located and well connected via train and bus. The northern hub of Borivali lies just a few kilometres away, and the Sahar international airport lies to the south.

Kandivali was long dominated by Gujarati and Marwari communities, but in recent times, due to the burgeoning of its population has turned more cosmopolitan. Numerous hospitals and polyclinics in the region have made the township the centre of medical healthcare in the region.

The original inhabitants are koli (Fishermen, who reside in the village of charkop. Now it is mostly populated by North Indians and gujaratis. It is one of the densely populated suburbs in Mumbai.

Currently Kandivali consists of Kandivali West including Mahavir Nagar, Majithia Nagar, Poisar and Charkop and Kandivali East including Thakur Complex, Thakur Village,Evershine park and Lokhandwala Complex. [Wikipedia extract]

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The Problem

Kandivali east has approximately 352 Roman Catholic families as of now and this number is constantly growing as more and more families move into the newly constructed state of the art apartments .

Due to the large size of the Roman Catholic Population a Parish was formed called the Parish of the nativity of our Lord and a Priest was assigned to this Parish. He lives in a Apartment and travels by public transport or borrowed vehicles to say the 3 masses part of the Sunday obligations.

a) One on Saturday held at a gymnasium with all body building equipments- with very little place even for the congregation to stand comfortably

b) The second at 7:30 in the morning on Sundays at a local municipality school which has broken benches but good enough for people to stand – this belongs to people of other faiths who have less regard for our sacred objects

c) The third at a school compound with hired 300 plastic chairs (courtesy – contribution from Parishioners) belonging to a group of Born again Christians.

d) On Christmas and Easter we have service at an open ground surrounded by smelling Garbage bins, where it becomes difficult to concentrate on the service thus discouraging many from attending

As you could very well read from the above write up on Kandivali, the land prices are soaring . Also very little Land available, the Real estate developers who are always flushed with funds can always pay instantly and grab it and turn this into a very profitable venture for themselves.

We the Parishioners with great difficulty and grace of GOD have identified a plot of Land and offered it to the Archdiocese for consideration to build for us a prayer Hall. The Arch diocese has cleared this proposal but have requested us to raise our own funds.

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The Proposal

The cost of this Land is approximately Indian Rupees Rs. 2.5 crores or Rs. 25,000,000.00 which is equal to Approximately US$ 582,000. In addition to this there is the cost of registering this Land, the stamp duty, legal charges etc.

We the parishioners have accepted the challenge and have got onto the task of raising this amount. We thus would like to appeal to you. Kindly donate generously to our cause.

Cheques may be drawn in favour of "Church of the Nativity of our Lord" and couriered to the following address:
Attn: Fr. Clement D'Lima
Parish Priest
Nativity of Our Lord
1/A/1, Asha Nagar, Western Express Highway,
Kandivali East, Mumbai 400 101
Tel: +91-22-2862 4659.

Please note: Details may be verified from the Archbishop's Office

The Archdiocese of Bombay
Address: Archbishop's House,
21 Nathalal Parekh Marg,
Mumbai 400 001 INDIA

Phone: +91-22-2202-1093/1193/1293
Fax: +91-22-22853872
E-mail: bombaydiocese@vsnl.com

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Project High Lights

The total collected amount will go towards the following expenses:

1. Cost of Land

2. Cost Of Documentation

3. Cost of building Compound Wall

4. Cost of arranging all approvals through the various Government offices

5. Cost of construction for the Prayer Hall – Church of the nativity of Our Lord

6. Electricals and water

7. Legal Fees.

In case you cannot offer us any amount, kindly pray for us that we may be successful in our cause and will be in a position to shortly gather in prayer at a place that belongs to us without the restriction of Time and space.

Assuring you of our prayers and good wishes

We remain,

In Christ the committee members of the church of the nativity of our Lord.

Posted by Lily Mascarenhas Karjatkar

Tags: Nativity Lord Church Appeal Kandivali Kandivli Mumbai Bombay Roman Catholic Parish Catholics Archbishop Contribution