Sacred Heart Church Santa Cruz

For many years there was no resident chaplain attached to the humble Chapel of the, Holy Cross –of which mention is not even made in most lists of the then existing religious institutions of Bombay The villagers of `Gauthan’ recount that a priest used to come to say mass only on Sundays. They even claim that the sacred vestment used to be kept at the house of the Carlos family in the village; and they were carried to and from the Chapel. Barring this weekly divine service then, the Chapel was not used for any other sacramental purpose. Weddings, baptisms and funerals of the residents of Santa Cruz used to be conducted at St. Andrew’s Church, Bandra. This is testified by the records of that Church, dating from 1853. But, on 18 February 1907, the Archbishop of Damaun, Dom Sebastiao Jose Pereira decreed that, for the advantage and convenience of the faithful residing at Santa Cruz, Juhu and Tara, these villages would be dismembered from the Church and Parish of St. Andrew , Bandra and instead be annexed to the Church and Parish of St. Francis Xavier of Parla Acid so, from that date, it was the priest of the Church of Vile Parle who celebrated the Sunday mass in the Chapel of Santa Cruz. The villagers of `Gauthan’ actually refer to their forbears’ fond memory of Rev Fr. J dos Santos, Vicar of St. Francis Xavier’s Church, Vile Parle, who used to frequent their Chapel and their homes.

However, the new arrangement of 1907 proved impracticable; and so, again on 13 April 1916, the Archbishop of Damaun issued a decree stating that, thought Santa Cruz and Juhu would continue to belong, for canonical purposes, to the parish and jurisdiction of the Vicar of Parla, those who formerly belonged to St. Andrew’s could freely choose the church and parish to which they desired to belong. Moreover, even after they had opted for St. Andrew’s they might again, switch to Parla, but not vice versa.

And so our little Chapel of Santa Cruz was like an orphaned child — occasionally tended by her two sponsors on either side, coming to her from Bandra and Parla.

Congregation of the Chapel It might be interesting to take a peep; so to say, at the congregation of the little Chapel in those early years. The late A. F. Barney who then lived at “Holmcroft”, has recorded: “I have been resident of Santa Cruz-since the year 1908.At the time, besides my family and the families of the late Mr. H. W Green, the late Mr. Charles Gonsalves and perhaps one or two families, there were very few Catholic residents in Santa Cruz.

We had no priest resident at the Chapel which was in a very dilapidated condition. A priest used to come to say mass every Sunday and he used to have breakfast with me.”