The parish of St. Francis Xavier's Catholic Church belongs to the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, a territorial jurisdiciton of the Latin Rite in the countries of United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen. The parish is one among the four parishes in the Sultanate of Oman - the other three being Sts. Peter and Paul, Ruwi, Muscat, Holy Spirit Church, Ghala, Muscat and St. Anthony of Padua Church, Sohar.
A short history
In the late 1970s Fr. Antonino Fortuna of Ruwi-Muscat came to Salalah once a month.
Fr. Augustine Antao SJ, the first parish priest, built St. Francis Xavier Church on land graciously donated by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said. The Church was blessed on 1st May 1984 and three years later the parish hall.
With the increase of the faithful the parish hall was refurbished and became the main church. The Catechism Centre, in 1998 built with one storey, had a second storey added in 2012.
Parish Priests
Fr. Augustine Antao SJ 1984 - 1991
Fr. Germanus Rayen 1991 - 1998
Fr. Augustine Antao SJ 1999 - 2001
Fr. Savarimuthu 2002 - 2006
Fr. Kuriakose Joseph 2006 - 2007
Fr. Raphy Vallachirakaran 2007 - 2011
Fr. Ashok Gonsalves 2012 - 2015
Fr. Anthony Puthankpurackal 2015- 2021
Fr. Johnson K 2021 - present