Rev. Fr. I. George ROsario- The Parish Priest, St. Jude's (R.C) Church, N.G.G.O's Colony, Coimbatore- 641 022.

HISTORY

In a way, this coiony can be termed as the “Mother of all housing colonies of Coimbatore”, beacausc far back in 195 Os, when one Mr. Lourduswamy Gounder, who was the “Sreshdar” in the Coimbatore District Sessions Court, conceived the idea of a Housing Colony for the N.G.G.Os (Non-Gazetted Government Officers). He took the initiative to form a society of like-minded N.G.G.O’s and registered it as a society. Through it, he got the Government to sanction a huge plot of land, north of Thudialur and he was its President for many years, and thus this huge Housing Colony came up through his efforts. Bishop Savarimuthu acquired the present site, on the northern end of the colony, in 1958. As the number of Catholics increased, from 1965 onwards, Sunday Mass was celebrated in a private house, till the church was completed in 1967 and was dedicated to St. Jude Thaddeus, the Apostle and patron of the “Impossible cases”! It was first attached to the Cathedral Parish as a sub-station. It was erected as a parish in 1970 with Fr. Oubagara Maria Xavier as the first Parish Priest, with Jothipuram and Goundampalayam as sub-stations. Ofcourse as usual, he had to use the sacristy as his presbytery, with a temporary building to serve as Kitchen etc. He started the Novena of St. Jude on the 7th November 1970 and the Novena Book-let in Tamil was published by him, A new bel-fry was constructed by him and the first Sunday Devotion to St. Jude was started in February 1971. The Presentation Convent opened their house in 1973 in the campus, and started Bishop Francis Fnghsh School, a dispensary, and a Tailoring Institute. A new presbytery was constructed by Fr. Maria Joseph Dhanaraj in 1989, Fr.F.M. Antnimuthu constructed the new church and Bishop Ambrose blessed it on 01-03-1993. F.M. Antonimuthu while he was the Parish Priest at Kattoor, had started a Housing coiony project, to elp Catholics to buy their own plot of land for house at a Eeasonably cheap rate. But by that time, all the lands in and around Coimbatore, had sky-rocketed to such an extent, that he could 4et a land at cheaper price only at Ganeshpuram and that two situated in the interior from the main road and it was named as St. Antony’s Nagar. It was blessed on 9-2-1993 by Bishop Ambrose. He set up a Convent of the Capitanio Sisters there in 1996, who started a Nursery School there. After his transfer from Kattoor, he was managing the affairs of this scheme from N.G.G.O. Colony. After his demise, Ganeshpuram was attached to Ganapathy and in 2004, when Visuvasapuram was detached from Ganapathy and made a separate parish, it has become its sub-station, The Sisters have started St. Antony’s Matriculation School By naming the Colony in his Patron St. Antony’s name, Fr. F.M. Antonimuthu has immortalized his name.

The parish of Jothipuram was separated from N. G. G. 0 colony in 1987. And Goundampalayam, also became a separate parish in 1997. The Congregation of St. Ann’s Madras, have started St. Ann’s Home for the “Children of Jail-birds” exclusively and it was blessed on 3 1-3-2001 by Bishop Ambrose. A new grotto was blessed by Bishop Thomas Aquinas on 1-5-2004, constructed by Fr. Maria Mudiappan.

Main Station

Distance from the Cathedral Church : 13 K.Ms.

Total No. of Catholic Families : 220

No. of Catholics in the Main station : 1000

Mass Timings

Weekdays Mon & Wed 6.30 a.m

OtherDays 6.15 p.m

Sundays 8.00 a.m & First Sunday : 8.30 am

Regous Houses :

1. Presentation Convent 0422 - 2643903

2. St. Anne’s Convent, Chennai 0422 - 2533622

Religious Institutions :

1. Bishop Francis Mat.High School 0422 - 2643903

2. Saranalaya 0422 - 2533622

Lay Association :

1. Legion of Mary

2. Vincent De Paul Society

3. Altar Boys Association

Patronal Feast : St. Jude Thaddeus First Sunday of January