About Our Parish
The story of Sacred Heart Church, Thennangudi — a Salesian mission born in the Jubilee Year 2000 and celebrating its Silver Jubilee in 2025–26.
Called to Form a Faith-Rooted Community
“We, the Salesians of Sacred Heart Church, Thennangudi, are called to help and guide the People of God to form them into a faith-rooted Christian community, through active Anbiams (Basic Christian Communities) committed to the values of Christ — especially love, justice and peace.”
“We focus our attention on the faith formation of all the parishioners, especially the children and youth, to make them leaven in the local Church and society.”
Twenty-Five Years of Grace
The Salesians accept the mission
At the request of the Bishop, and after an initial study by Salesians appointed by the Provincial and his council, the Salesians of Don Bosco decided to take up the mission of Thennangudi — 17 villages grouped under 14 sub-stations near the small town of Karaikal, in the Archdiocese of Pondicherry–Cuddalore. Except for Arulmozhidevan, all the sub-stations lie in the Karaikal district of Puducherry.
Thennangudi becomes a parish
Rt. Rev. Michael Augustine, then Bishop of Pondicherry–Cuddalore, declared Thennangudi a parish and appointed Fr. Job David SDB as its first parish priest. The old chapel of Thennangudi was in a dilapidated condition; a thatched-roof house was rented to serve as the presbytery.
Land for a new church
Land was bought a short distance from the old chapel and a new church building was planned. In the same period the Province acquired 25 acres at Thamanangudi, four kilometres away, for a proposed B.Ed. College and Teachers' Training Institute — so that the Salesian mission in Karaikal would form both the faith and the future of the young.
The new church is blessed
The present church, with its twin spires, was completed in November 2006 and blessed on 3 December 2006, and has served as the centre of parish liturgical life ever since.
The fathers move to Thennangudi
The parish priest began residing at the presbytery beside the church, bringing the Salesian community into the heart of the parish.
Building up the People of God
Regular house visits, weekly Mass in every sub-station, Sunday catechism, Anbiams, altar servers, youth programmes, and the help of the Theresian Carmelite Sisters and the Sisters of the Immaculate (Idayalaya, Dharmapuram) transformed the religious life of the sub-stations. Knowledge of the Bible and the sacraments — especially among the children — grew year by year.
Silver Jubilee celebrations
The parish marked 25 years with the hoisting of the jubilee flag and the blessing of a memorial on 7 August, and a solemn feast presided over by the Bishop on 16 August — with First Holy Communion and Confirmation for the children of the parish.
Serving the Sub-stations
When the Salesians arrived, most of the sub-stations had seen a priest only once a month. Our people are largely agricultural daily-wage labourers, dependent on seasonal work in the paddy fields; many families did not own the land on which their huts stood, and children's schooling was often interrupted.
The Salesians began by visiting every family in every sub-station in the evenings — the only time working families could be met. From that listening came the priorities that still shape the parish: regular Mass and the sacraments in every sub-station, catechesis for children, care for families, support for housing, and the formation of young leaders with a true Christian faith and social awareness.
Today most sub-stations have at least one Mass every week, attendance has grown, and children across the parish know and use the Bible. The work of faith formation and community building continues.
The Salesians of Don Bosco
The Salesians (SDB), founded by St. John Bosco in Turin in 1859, are the Church's largest religious congregation devoted to the young — especially the poor and abandoned. Their "preventive system" of reason, religion and loving-kindness animates everything in our parish: from catechism and altar servers to youth leadership and education.
We commemorate Mary Help of Christians on the 24th of every month with Holy Mass and car procession, and Don Bosco on the last day of every month with the kissing of his relic.
The Archdiocese of Pondicherry–Cuddalore
Our parish belongs to the Archdiocese of Pondicherry–Cuddalore, one of the oldest Catholic jurisdictions in South India, whose cathedral is the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Puducherry, and whose most famous shrine is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Pondicherry — a minor basilica also dedicated to the Heart of Jesus.
Thennangudi was carved out of the large parish of Karaikal, which once served more than 48 sub-stations.
The Parish Family
Fourteen sub-stations, seventeen villages and eleven chapels — some built by the missionaries of old, others rebuilt in recent years.
See the Mass schedule for the day and time of Mass in each sub-station.