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Parish of Our Lady of Sorrows, Ara

Parish of Our Lady of Sorrows

Address

Catholic Church, Ara
P.O. – Ara
Dist. - Bhojpur
Bihar – 802 301, India

About Church

In 1934 Fr. Westropp started a boy’s school at Ara. On March 30th, 1937 in the tiled bungalow of Mr. Leslie Martin, in the compound of the Ara-Sasaram Light Railway quarters, Fr. Westropp, at the invitation of Major Peel, offered the First Holy Mass in Ara, the centre of Bhojpur District. Soon after a small house was rented and in two years Ara became the first permanent abode of the Lord in Bhojpur.

Exploratory trips during these two years had proved that the Spirit of the Lord was stirring in the villages along the narrow-gauge railway and many other villages in the interior. Another year passed and Fr. Westropp had travelled a third of Bhojpur district and had become a familiar figure to thousands of its inhabitants. Fr. Westropp made Ara his permanent headquarters, but kept more than 200 villages on his visiting list. In 1939 Bishop Sullivan planned and built the first chapel and residence at Ara. The chapel was named Our Lady of Sorrows. No sooner were these buildings completed than the zealous Fr. Westropp saw the need for a boarding school which he named Our Lady of Sorrows Mission School. Fr. Westropp gave his residence to the boys, while he made his quarters in the sacristy. The name Our Lady of Sorrows remained the same until 1954 until it got recognized by the government through the efforts of Fr. Richard Extross and the HM of the School. It has been called Ara Catholic High School since then.