St Joseph’s Mission Kaying, an MSFS initiative, has the distinction of being the first Catholic Mission in West Siang district by the MSFS and second in Arunachal Pradesh, after Pasighat, to have the residential priest(s). In March 1998, Fr Job Karikkampally availed himself to be the first residing priest and establish a parish under the Diocese of Tezpur. There were over 50 catholic families in Kaying by 1998.

As an antecedent, in November 1997, Most Rev. Robert Kerketta, Bishop of Tezpur along with Frs George Parampukattil, the Provincial of the MSFS, Job Karikkampally, the Parish Priest of Silapathar, Frs Thomas Kollathuvayalil and Jose Karipadathu from Pasighat mission, visited Kaying for a religious function. During the public meeting after the religious function, the people of Kaying submitted a written memorandum to the Bishop asking for the establishment of a Catholic Mission and School at Kaying. This initiative of the people inspired and encouraged the authorities to choose Kaying as the location for the first catholic venture in the district. Equally important was the factor that there was a large number of practising Catholics at Kaying. The Bishop then turned to the MSFS to open the mission and entrusted them with it. Since then the MSFS has spared no efforts in bringing up the mission to the admiration of all.

The parish has a very spacious and beautiful church built (120’x 40’) and blessed on September 14, 2009: the Feast of The Holy Cross. The church is the result of contributions from the people and the diocese. The people contributed by their labour and materials. The engineers of the church were Mr Philip and Mathew from Kerala. The Sunday services are attended by a large number of people and made lively by their active participation. Over the years, the number of new Catholics increased with many new baptisms. The parish has a parish hall built-in 2014.

Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod (SCC)

The sisters of the Holy Cross of Chavanod joined the MSFS from November 1998 with Srs Dorothy Hajory and Sheela V. Rani being the pioneer sisters and continue collaborating by running St Mary’s Girl’s Hostel and assisting in the school and parish. Two sisters work in the school and one sister looks after a dispensary. They associate in the ministry of education, evangelisation, medical care and social work. They also engage in the developmental field and promote Self Help Groups (SHGs) under Women Development Centre (WDC), the development agency of the Congregation and empower and conscientize the local populace of their rights and duties.