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Our Lady Of Forsaken Church, Ghansoli.
Status         - Church

Founded        - 1983

Completed      - 1992

Pioneer        - Late. Rev. Fr. Peter Bambacha.

First Secretary - Late. Mr. Wilson D'souza.

Dedication     - Our Lady Of Forsaken.

Location       - Ghansoli Village, Navi Mumbai.

District       - Thane.

State          - Maharashtra.

Country        - India.

Denomination   - Roman Catholic.

Dioceses       - Archdioceses of Bombay.

Introduction
Our Lady Of Forsaken Church is Located in Ghansoli Village, in Navi Mumbai, which is also known as very oldest church in Navi Mumbai, which was built by Late Rev. Fr. Peter Bambacha and Late Mr. Wilson D’souza along with old parishioners and the local villagers also had a great contribution to constructing the church, because at that time there was no availability of labors or workers so, it was built by parishioners and by Villagers with their bare hands.

List of the Founding Members of Our Lady Of Forsaken Church, Ghansoli
•	Late. Mrs. Philomena W Courcy and Family.

•	Late. Mrs. Audrey Pereira and Family.

•	Late. Mrs. Veara William and Family.

•	Late. Mr. Wilson D'souza and Family.

•	Late. Mr. Thomas Arsegesri and Family.

•	Late. Mr. Cyril Coutinho and Family.

•	Late. Mr. Brindlay G Patternott and Family.

•	Late. Mrs. Olga Pillai and Family.

•	Late. Mr. Oswald D’souza and Family.

•	Late. Mrs. Maria Almeida and Family.

•	Mrs. Barbara Dowling and Family.

•	Mr. Francisco D’costa and Family.

•	Mr. Benny Amanna and Family.

•	Mr. Richard Benham and Family

•	Mr. Paul Rodrigues and Family.

HOW THE CHURCH CAME UP IN GHANSOLI!
(in further image you can see the Blessing of the Chapel of Ghansoli Church, Mrs. Barbara Dowling on the left side of Late. Fr. Peter Bambacha and Late. Mrs. Monica Wilson Dsouza in front.)

In 1982, some incident had, that there was baby boy child expired, including two elderly people, so three deaths took place and there was no convenience in Ghansoli village to give the holy sacrament for the funeral, for the reason we had to approach the Gram Panchayat and take permission to bury the funeral, so they gave us the permission in their Burning Ghats to bury the body though we didn’t have any option. So, my mother Mrs. Philomena William Courcy took Mrs. Viera Williams and Mrs. Monica Wilson D’souza to St. John the Baptist Church, Thane, and then explained their problems. After that at same time they met Rev. Fr. Bombacha and Fr. Joe D Pereira with a heart-rending appeal with tears in Mrs. Philomena Courcy’s eyes, she begged Fr. Peter Bombacha to visit her place and bless the graves of her husband, daughter and grandson. So, Fr. Peter Bombacha and Fr. Joe D Pereira immediately set out for Ghansoli. There was news of a catholic having being cremated! Some had hardly heard a mass for years! Many had not received the basic sacraments, so, both priests were shocked to see the situation af Ghansoli. After the discussion between Fr. Bombacha and Mrs. Audrey Pereira the very first mass was celebrated at Mrs. Audrey Pereira’s residence in the month of October, on Saturdays every week. Then Mrs. Philomena Courcey, Mrs. Audrey Pereira and Mr. Benny Amanna had visited the other Christians to convince them to come for mass at the residence of Mrs. Audrey Pereira. Since they have visited the houses in Ghansoli villages, they had even visited Nocil, Talavali, Rabale, Airoli, Digha and Koparkhairane. Then people started coming for mass in 1983. On 24th December 1983 at night around 12:00 Am, over 300 Catholics consisting of villagers from Ghansoli to Airoli and Vashi and other surrounding villages who had been deprived of religious services, spiritual guidance and sacraments for long time, congregated under a mango tree, awaiting longingly for the arrival of our child Jesus, which was celebrated with mass and a get together. This was the first Christmas spirituality celebrated with the religious services at Ghansoli.

HOW WAS THE CHAPEL NAMED
when the question of deciding a name for the chapel came up, people felt that though they had been neglected and forsaken for so many years. Our Lady had seen their plight and had come over to guide them to our Lord. Hence, they felt that ‘Our Lady of the Forsaken’ chapel would be appropriate. This was on the eve of Christmas in 1983.

HOW DID THE CHURCH GET A LAND
(In above image you can seee the board which means St. John the baptist had brought this land and in second image ther is cutting of the hill which was done by parishioners and by local villagers by themselves)

When Mrs. Audrey Pereira shifted her house to Thane, then Fr. Peter Bombacha and other people thought about the mass that where to be held since Mrs. Pereira left Ghansoli house. And then came Mr. Wilson D’souza who had a close relation between Fr. Bombacha, besides that Mr. Wilson had a great relation with the local villagers one of them named Mr. Rajaram Patil, then Mr. Wilson requested to Mr. Patil for their compound say mass and he happily allowed us to use their compound for mass and everything went well. At the same time Fr. Bombacha convinced Mr. Patil for a plot for the church and he showed the land of Mr. Halya Madhvi. Then Fr. Peter Bombacha, Mr. Wilson D’souza and Mr. Rajaram Patil went to Ghansoli Gram Panchayat office for the land of the church. The Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat Mr. Dagadu Patil, Mr. Nivruti Jagtap and Mr. Dwarkanath Bhoir immediately they took an action to grant permission to acquire the land and to provide whatever necessary help.

On 3rd Dec 1984. When the plot was acquired for the Ghansoli chapel. The chapel was blessed by Fr. Peter Bombacha in the presence of local residents. The Ghansoli project commenced with the whole-hearted co-operation of the local residents. The local people and our old parishioners themself started crushing the hills with their bare hands and took the necessary equipment to make a flat land, because at that time there was no availability of labor or workers. With the help of Fr. Joe D Pereira, Fr. Bombacha managed to secure a plot of land. A temporary church structure of bamboo and sack-cloth was constructed where the holy mass was celebrated, confessions were heard and sacraments administered. After constructing the Pendal and the very first marriage took place and the Christmas mass was celebrated and all other activities were taken place. When the topic came up for looking after the sacrament at that time, we the youth named Peter, Benny, Hobart and Jeffery took an initiative to look after the sacrament where there were lot of risk between the isolated areas, there were to be found different types of snakes, scorpions and etc. and their families are at present. And even at that time there was no source of security, the priest couldn’t imagine, at that time we the youths had so much of spirit to face the problems during spending each night though there was cowshed placed underneath.

HOW THE ACTUAL FONDATION CAME UP
(Late. Mrs. Monica Wilson Dsouza and other parishioners maintaining the construction of the Ghansoli church)

On the month of May 1985, the day was to come for the foundation of the chapel the people, Fr. Bombacha and Br. Eugene Pereira had presented the occasion of the day of foundation, during the day the problem arise that the mason had not come, at that time there was a person named Mr. Shyamrao Deshmukh, actually he was present for the occasion but he saw the problem and took an initiative to prepare the rest and he made it successfully with the help of our parishioner. In the end of August, the chapel of13x14 was completed, the mass used to be held inside the chapel. The chapel was blessed on 26th Jan 1986 by the Bishop Bosco Penha. Then the mass, marriages and all other church activities were started and continued with great events.

WHY DID IT TOOK A LONG TIME TO CONSTRUCT A CHURCH
After a few years at the end of November 1986, an incident took place, Fr. Peter Bombacha met with an accident which he had a serious hamerage on his head and legs. And that was the first incident taken place, though there was another shocking incident came up the secretary of the church Mr. Wilson D’souza expired within a week, then the whole Parishioners and Local Villagers of Ghansoli were shocked by this, and they didn’t know what is next to be done, because the community lost their strong man.

Completed Structure View of Ghansoli Chruch in 1992

When Late Fr. Peter J Bombacha transferred to Dahisar Parish, at that time from St. John the Baptist Parish Fr. Nelson Machardo, Fr. John Lopez and Fr. Tony Pereira had to come for mass in our parish of Ghansoli. On November. 1991, a new Priest Fr. Joe D Gama used to come for mass in our church, that was the great day for our church, when Fr. Peter Bombacha had left our church the work which was pending, as Fr. Joe D Gama had completed the construction work successfully and the church was up to mark in 26th Jan 1992. Our Lady of Forsaken church blessed by Archbishop Simon Pimenta and even the feast mass was celebrated along with Rev. Fr. Simon Borges the Parish Priest of St. John the Baptist, Thane.