The newly built St. Mary’s Catholic Church is now available for church service after its formal inauguration here on Wednesday. The 168-year-old Catholic church, the oldest in the State, had been razed to ground in the 2001 killer earthquake.
The new church building, built with quake-proof design, was inaugurated by Bishop Gregory of Rajkot diocese. Fathers, sisters and Catholic believers from Kutch and Saurashtra were present in large numbers.
Though the Catholic community spent over Rs 800 core on relief to the quake-hit and on rebuilding their houses in rural Kutch, it had kept rebuilding the church as its last priority. About 400 Catholic Christians staying in the district headquarters town had been running their services under a tin-shed for almost four years.
‘‘We are the only religious organisation to spend such a big amount on quake relief and rehabilitation operations, but our priority was serving the suffering humanity first,’’ said Father George Kunnath, the first resident priest of the church in the ’80s. He is also the founder-director of Kutch Vikas Trust, a service organisation which undertakes various welfare programmes, especially for the blind.
Father Kunnath said it was for the second time that the church was destroyed in 2001 in its 168-year history. It was built in 1836 for Catholic members of the British Army posted here.
It was gutted in a fire in 1846 and rebuilt in 1851. The church again met with its misfortune when it was badly hit by the 1979 cyclone.
‘‘It was then closed for service till 1982 and was handed over to me for its renovation,’’ Father Kunnath said.
The responsibility for rebuilding of the church after it was destroyed in 2001 was with Father Paul Meladan, principal of St. Xavier’s High School. Father Meladan happened to be the church’s Parish priest.