St. Anthony's Church Vakola

For almost three centuries, Vakola formed part of the Kalina Parish which was founded in 1606. It was only in 1914 that through the initiative of Fr C A Abreo who was then an Assistant Parish Priest at Kalina Church, contemplated building a chapel at Vakola. After requesting the people for gifting land for this purpose, Mr John Rodrigues donated the land and it took 7 years for the chapel building to come as WW1 had broken out at that time and building material was scarcely available. The Chapel dedicated to St Anthony was finally completed and Blessed on 1st January 1921 but was kept affiliated to Our Lady of Egypt Church, Kalina. During the seven long years from 1914 to 1921, Mass was offered in a small hut in the village for the benefit of the predominantly farmer population who owned vast fields to the north of the village.

With the increase in population of Catholics Fr Mendes was appointed as the resident Priest-in-charge in 1937. With the increase in the spiritual needs of the people a larger church building was built and blessed on 1st July 1945 as a separate and an autonomous Parish of St Anthony's, Vakola. Fr Cyril Dsouza was then appointed as the first Parish Priest by which time the Parish had around 400 Catholic families. There was a small pond right in front of the Church, which was filled up in 1958 by Fr Ayres Fernandes and this helped the extension and renovation of the church in 1960. It was only after 1963 when the two storied Presbytery was built by Fr Alfred Augiar, that the priests of this Parish got a proper residence as previously they resided in what are now classrooms. As Santacruz East started growing rapidly a further extension that doubled the size of the Church was carried out in 1967 by Fr Alfred Augiar.

The Church was remodelled in 1977 to suit the changed liturgical norms to promote an atmosphere of greater prayer and worship. St Anthony’s is one of the largest Parish in the Archdiocese in terms of catholic population, which is approx 18,000 parishioners. 2 chapels are affiliated to St Anthony’s Church, one at Prabhat Colony near Santacruz Railway Station and another at Yogiraj Ashram in Kalina near the University Campus.

In 1994-1995, keeping in view the Golden Jubilee celebrations, the Church building underwent certain structural and interior changes as what is seen in the current day. On entering the Church, on the wall behind the altar, one can see the exultant Risen Christ, arms outstretched in joy. In recent years, the Church interiors have undergone more changes with all ceiling mounted fans being replaced with 2 large HVLS fans, Projectors, LED Screen and a beautifully redesigned grotto outside.

The parish will be celebrating the 75th Anniversary with a proposed year-long celebration from 1st July 2020 to 13th June 2021 with a mix of spiritual, cultural, community, sports, social programmes…