St. Francis de Sales Church stands on the land which was purchased by Rev. Fr. Francis Moget, msfs in 1965. Until 1988 the Catholic Faithful of this area were served by the Sacred Heart Parish, Yerwada. Shannwadi receives its name from the village of Shaan in Liechtenstein, Switzerland. Thanks to the support and help of the people there, SFS School and Church has become a reality.
In 1989 Fr. Perry Da Silva msfs was given charge by the Bishop of Pune to start a new Parish in the 5 Acres plot at Shaanwadi, Pune. He was appointed as the first Parish Priest of the St. Francis De Sales Church. Fr. Perry Da Silva along with four assistants namely, Fr. Francis Dias, Fr. Louis Chriackel, Fr. Archiebald Fernandes, and Fr. Mathew Ubale, initiated the process of marking the boundaries and recording the number of Parishioners who were affiliated to SFS Church.
The ground floor of the MSFS Fathers’ residence and later the school Hall was used for the celebration of the Eucharist and religious Functions. From 1991, Fr. Terrie Pinto took charge and helped to consolidate the faith of the Parishioners. Fr. Terrie Pinto was instrumental in building the new SFS Church and the Priest’s residence. Through the years the Parish grew in number and fervor. Fr. Baptist who succeeded Fr. Terrie worked towards the faith development of the Parish by forming Small Christian Communities.
The Parish of St. Francis De Sales was growing in number. Fr. Denis Lemos, took the reins from Fr. Baptist and consolidated the already existing small Christians Communities, and organized the Parish into smaller cells for effective lay participation and ministries. The Parish council and eight different cells were formed during his tenure which made the community a vibrant one. Seeing the numerical growth of the Parish, the Bishop of Pune was spurred to divide St. Francis De Sales Parish. Fr. Dennis Lemos was given the Charge by the Bishop to work on the division of the Parish. With the help of the diocesan authorities the Parish was divided into two more new parishes in the year 2005, namely, Divine Mercy Church, Wadgaon Sheri, and Christ the King Church, Sainkwadi. Thus, the mother parish of St. Francis De Sales gave birth to twins in the year 2005.
Fr. Jerry then took over the baton from Fr. Dennis in the year 2006 and consolidated the Parish further. Fr. Jerson took over from Fr. Jerry in the year 2009 and maintained the tempo of the Parish which was continued by Fr. Jayaseelan from 2012. He consolidated the faith through regular retreats and gave a face lift to the Sanctuary of the Church. Fr. Santosh Salve took reins in 2014 and strengthened the people’s faith though the Marian devotion and pilgrimage to various places which included the Holy Land, Goagargoan. Fr. Roxy Fernandes took charge in 2018 and strengthened the parish through the BCC’s, different cells, retreats and online services during the Pandemic. The Silver Jubilee of the Church Building was also celebrated in a great manner. Fr. Matthew Rodrigues took over as a Parish Priest 2023 and helped the church grow spiritually through Retreats, Powerful First Friday services and vibrant Sunday school programs for catechism children. Fr Mario D’souza, Serving Parish Priest took reins in June 2026 and already pioneering renovations of Church Quadrangle and church Building and consolidating BECs into 5 clusters to bring efficiency in SFS Parish. He has taken intiatives to kickstart church weibsite (www.sfschurchshaanwadi.com) and YouTube Channel (@sfschurchshaanwadi) for effective communication with parishioners.