Holy Family Catholic Church (Srinagar)


Holy Family Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic church located at Maulana Azad Road, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. It was established in 1896 by Msgr. Winkley MHM. Before the Curia moved to Jammu on 23 December 1986, the parish served as a cathedral when the Curia was in Srinagar. Holy Family Catholic Church and All Saints Protestant Church are the two main churches for the minority Christian community in the city.

Arson and reconstruction

The church was set on fire on 7 June 1967 by protestors demonstrating against the Arab-Israeli war. During the arson, the belfry was destroyed. The church was rebuilt, and in 2017 a new church bell, which was donated by a Kashmiri Indian Christian family and made in the Indian city of Moradabad, was installed at Holy Family Catholic Church. This occurred in an interfaith service, in which Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh clergymen assembled “to jointly ring the new bell for the first time in the past 50 years”.