St John the Apostle Church – Tondiarpet
Address:
St John the Apostle ChurchTondiarpet
New No. 110 Old No. 12,
Seni Amman Koil Street,
Chennai – 600 081.
Brief History:
Tondiarpet once belonged to Kasimode Parish. With
the financial help of Most Rev Dr Louis Mathias SDB and the hard work of Rev
Msgr John Kottaram, the Parish of Tondiarpet came into existence in 1965. On
3rd December 1965 the presbytery in this Church was blessed by Most Rev Dr
Francis Carvalho.On the same day, this presbytery was given to Rev Mother
Teresa which became their first convent in South India. The first Parish Priest
was Rev Fr CJ Mani.In 1984 Rev Fr James Panaparampil built a grotto of the Holy
Family in memory of the Silver Jubilee of his ordination. In December 1990, the
Silver Jubilee of the Parish was celebrated and the then Parish Priest, Rev Fr
Thomas Simon started a Nursery School and a Primary English Medium school and a
Tailoring School and remodelled the extended Altar which was blessed by the
then Archbishop, Most Rev Dr Casimir Gnanadickam S J. A dispensary was started
and medicines were freely distributed by Drs Adaikkalanathan, Sekhar and Mary Innocent.For
16 years, this parish stands first in paying the largest amount towards Mission
Sunday collections. In 1999 Fr LC Rayanna constructed the new Dispensary
building and extended the school building and the then Archbishop Most Rev Dr
Arul Das James blessed them. In 2004, the front portion of the church was
renovated with granite stones and a grotto in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes was
built by Rev Fr V Henry Louis which was blessed by the Auxiliary Bishop, Rt Rev
Dr Lawrence Pius Dorairaj on 14th May 2005.
