TANGLA (1951) C-1970
St. Stephen Patron
Tezpur Diocese
(Attached presence : Tezpur)
Catholic Church
Tangla – 784 521, Assam
(03711) 255727
94351 92957 Fr. Francis Basumatary
94353 46518 Fr. K.O. Chacko
franbasu@rediffmail.com Fr. Francis Basumatary
Members
Fr. Basumatary Francis Rector & PP
Fr. Kuthur Vellattukara Chacko
Convent :
FMA – Auxilium Convent
(03711) 255726
History
Situated in the Darrang district of Assam, Tangla is 104 kms. away from Guwahati and falls under the jurisdiction of Tezpur diocese. The parish has a Catholic population of about 15,000 in 2,215 families spread over 46 Catholic villages. The parish has been entrusted to the Salesians permanently by Bishop Joseph Mittathany from 1970. A formal agreement was signed between the bishop of Tezpur and Salesian provincial on 15-12-1976.
The earliest missionaries associated with this centre are Frs. Devale and Bonomi, who were known to have visited these areas from Barpeta parish since 1936. The first resident priests were Frs. G. Colussi and Marino Peditto, who were put in charge of the newly formed district of Darrang in August 1951. While Fr. Peditto was directly seeing to the pastoral care of the flock, Fr. Guido Colussi was busy getting the land necessary for setting up the mission centre. Fears of proselytization delayed the purchase of the land. On 22 January 1952, land was bought and foundation laid for the building. In May 1952, when Bishop Stephen Ferrando visited the mission, he was accommodated in the new residence. The Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians also visited the mission to help in the marriage preparation course and other parish activities.
In February 1953, the new church was ready and the Sobha was celebrated at the parish, presided over by Bishop Stephen Ferrando. The school at the centre offered education only at the primary and middle English levels. Fr. Santosh Minj, parish priest from 1992 took the initiatives in the phasing out of the Assamese medium school. In 2000, an English Medium High School was also started.