OUR LADY OF SNOWS SCHOOL
12December2011


Our Lady of the Snows School, Kullu

Diocese of Shimla-Chandigarh 1996

Historical Perspective

Our Lady of the Snows school, belonging to the Shimla-Chandigarh diocese, was handed over the Salesians in the year 1996. It is a co-educational English Medium school in the heart of Kullu town. With the increasing number of students, this school did not have sufficient number of class rooms and so work began for an additional floor in December 2001 adding seven new classrooms. It was blessed and inaugurated on 26th June 2002 by Bishop Gerald John Mathias.

The house was canonically erected on 4 June 2003. Together with the school apostolate, the Salesians also took up the pastoral care of the people in the valleys and hills of the Kullu region. With the help of the sisters of Don Bosco Secular Institute of Fr. Joe D’Souza, many Balwadis were started in the remote villages for the underprivileged tribal people of the area. The Christians who were scattered in different villages and who had no pastor so far, were contacted and their Christian faith renewed through our pastoral ministry. One Salesian was appointed full time for this important ministry. Fr. Joe Fernadez was the pioneer of this apostolate. He had broken new grounds, made new contacts and established social work centres such as Balwadis and tailoring for women etc. There is a centre for the physically handicapped, especially for the deaf and dumb at Dhalpur, Kullu. Fr. Liberatus Bara and his successor Fr. Edward Dang were carrying this mission forward with a team of sisters and the support of the school community.

Service

Primary & Secondary School, Pastoral Service to Migrants

Salesian Staff

Fr. Sujith Augustine                                 VPr, Pastoral Ministry
Fr. Thoombalan Babu Varghese             Rector & Principal (2007)

Contact

Our Lady of the Snows School
Kullu P.O.
HIMACHAL PRADESH 175 101

(01902) 222 747   -  School
098160 52345       -  Rector
(01902) 225 447   -  Residence & Fax

bvsdb@yahoo.com


Provincial Speaks

The Province of Good Shepherd, New Delhi, has completed just 11 years. Our strength is 14 regular houses and 10 presences with 160 confreres. The geographical area under our care is very vast : 12 states and one Union Territory, where the youth in significant numbers are illiterate and poor, and the total Catholic population is a mere 0.4% that is 2 million.

We are aware that, with our present limited human and material resources, we may not be able to reach out to big numbers, but, as mother Teresa would say, we believe that, though we are but a drop in the ocean, still, if that drop is not there, the ocean is not full. We do wish to make a difference where we are present by being ‘Salt and Light’. We interpret the location of the Provincial House in the capital of the nation as a God-given exposure demanding great vocational responsibility. We feel indeed like the biblical ‘city on the mountain tip’ called to bear witness to Don Bosco and his spirit in an authentic way.