Holy Spirit Parish Sangla Hill
The Holy Spirit Parish, Sangla Hill is situated in the Archdiocese of Lahore with the neighbouring parishes of Sheikupura and Mariamabad. It is 125 km away from Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province of Pakistan with the population of around 230,000 Muslim and 7000 Catholic faithful. This parish was established by the Belgian Capuchin Missionaries on 1 November 1911 offered their tireless services in brining Good News to lower classes and sustaining them in the Catholic faith.
Later it was taken care of by the diocesan clergy of the Archdiocese of Lahore. On 14 September 2009, the Holy Spirit Parish was handed over to the Missionary Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The oblate priests who have so far served in the parish include Fr. Eric Lakhman (First Oblate Parish Priest), Fr. Khaliq Saleem, Fr. Nadeem Daniel. Since August 2016 Fr. Amanat Chaman OMI, the Parish Priest and Fr. Gulshan Barkat OMI, the Assistant are catering to the spiritual needs of the faithful.
Holy Spirit Parish, Sangla Hill made headlines in the global press when in 2005 Islamic fundamentalists set on fire the Holy Spirit Catholic Church, The Presbyterian Church, St. Anthony High School for girls and the Parish house. Number of Christian families fled the area. Afterwards a peace accord was reached between Muslims and Christians of Sangla Hill in which promise was made on the part of Muslims never to repeat such atrocities against Christians. Since then the Muslims and Christians in Sangla Hill are living side by side in peace. During recent violent protests by religious extremists after the release of a Christian woman Asia Bibi, accused of Blasphemy against the Prophet of Islam in 2009 and was awarded death penalty, by the Supreme Court on 31 October 2018, Holy Spirit Parish was on high alert. Thank God there was no unpleasant incident in our parish.