Udupi: Newly built Mount Rosary Church to be inaugurated and blessed on 6 January

By Elias DSouza & Alphonse Mendonsa
Bellevision Media Network

Udupi, 01 Jan 2015: “Tuesday, January 6, 2015 will be written in golden letters in the history of Mount Rosary Church”, said Rev. Fr. Philip Neri Aranha, parish priest of Mount Rosary Church, Santekatte, Kallinapur while addressing the press conference held on Thursday, 1 January 2015 at 3 pm at Mount Rosary Church. The inauguration and blessing of the new structure of the church will mark a new phase in the progress of Mount Rosary Parish.

 

Rev. Fr. Philip Neri Aranha said that Mount Rosary Church has a long history  of 178 years and has been considered as one of the oldest churches in Udupi ad Mangalore dioceses. For many years before the establishment of Mount Rosary Church, Christians belonging to Kallianpur and surrounding regions belonged to Milagres Church, Kallianpur, which in fact is the Mother Church of several churches in Udupi Diocese.

 

 

Mount Rosary Church has a long history since its establishment in 1837. The original church which was few yards away from the Milagres Church was with thatched roof. The location of the church was shifted to Nejar Hill where a tiled roof church was constructed. With the development of Santekatte during the last 130 years and increase in population in this area, this church was insufficient to accommodate the growing number of Christians. Moreover, the church building was in a dilapidated condition. This being the reason, the parishioners felt the need of a new spacious church for the ever growing requirement of the faithful. At this juncture, Rev. Fr. Philip Neri Aranha, the youngest ever in the history of Mount Rosary Church was appointed as the parish priest, who took up the bold task of constructing a new building for the church.

 

The gigantic task of construction of the new church building commenced with the laying of the  foundation stone by Most Rv. Dr. Aloysius P. D’Souza, Bishop of Mangalore on 3 March 2012.

 

Special Features of the New Church:

The church is spacious enough to comfortably accommodate 1200 faithful. It is a massive structure 115 feet in length, 76 feet in width and 60 feet in height. The altar is a work of art put together by renowned artists and architects from Korathi, Kerala. They have carved a beautiful altar with their manual dexterity. The church has an adoration chapel which is fully air-conditioned. The wooden cross on the high altar, the tinted glass windows which depict the vivid happenings from the Bible, the Way of the Cross in mosaic style, the statues of saints, the statue of Our Lady of Mount Rosary are the chief attractions of the church. The huge single fan imported from Canada with its cool breeze is sufficient to make the entire congregation in the church comfortable. This is the first of its kind in the entire Karnataka state. In addition, the new church has a presbytery by its side for the residence of priests, belfry, two attractive welcome arches-one from Kallianpur road and the other from Kemmannu road. The surrounding area of the church is paved with interlocks which add ambience to the church.

 

Schedule for the inaugural week:

Sunday, 4 January 2015-Confraternity Sunday: 4.00 pm Eucharistic Service, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Procession of the Blessed Sacrament to Santekatte. Sermon by Rev. Fr. Franklin D’Souza.

 

Monday, 5 January 2015-‘Hore Kanike’ and Inter-religious Get-together: The procession of ‘Hore Kanike’ will start from Ambagilu at 3.30 pm. Rev. Fr. Denis D’Sa, PRO, Udupi Diocese will inaugurate the procession in the presence of Mr. Ananth S. Bhat and Mr. Abubakkar. Mr. P. Yuvaraj, President of Udupi Municipality will flag off the ‘Hore Kanike’ procession which will be accompanied by several cultural teams and tableaus. The items presented in the ‘Hore Kanike’ will be distributed among the poor.

 

Inter-religious Get-together will be held at 6 pm. Most Rev. Dr. Gerald Isaac Lobo, Bishop of Udupi Diocese will preside. Dr. N.B. Ballal of Shri Janardhana and Mahakali Temple, Ambalpady and Maulavi Janab Usman Madani of Jamia Masjid, Nejar will be chief guests.

 

Tuesday, 6 January 2015-Inauguration and Blessing of the Church: 9.30 am Most Rev. Dr. Gerlad Isaac Lobo, Bishop of Udupi Diocese will bless the new church and dedicate it to the service of faithful.Mr. Jerry Vincent Dias, Vice President and mega donor and Mrs. Molly Dias will inaugurate the new church. Most Rev. Dr. Aloysius P. D’Souza, Bishop of Mangalore will ofer the first Eucharistic Service in the new church in the presence of hundreds of priests, nuns and thousands of people, Christians as well as non-Christians.

 

The following dignitaries are expected to attend the programme:

President-Most Rev. Dr. Gerald Isaac Lobo, Bishop of Udupi Diocese; Most Rev. Dr. Aloysius P. D’Souza, ishop of Mangaluru; Most Rev. Dr. Leo Cornelio, Archbishop of Bhopal; Most Rev. Dr. Gerald John Mathias, Bishop of Lucknow; Most Rev. Dr. Antony Fernandes, Emeritus Bishop of Bareli; Most Rev. Dr. Oswald Lewis, Bishop of Jaipur; Shri Shri Laxmivarathirtha Swamiji, Shiroor Mutt, Udupi; Janab Abdur Rasheed Nadvi, Maulavi, Jamia Masjid, Udupi; Rev. Fr. Stany B. Lobo, Dean Kallianpur Deanery; Rev. Sr. Laura Rodrigues, Superior, Goretti Convent, Kallianpur; Ms. Shobha Karandlaje, MP, Udupi-Chikmagaluru; Mr. Oscar Fernandes, Member, Rajya Sabha; Mr. Vinay Kumar Sorake, Minister for Urbhan Development and Minister in-charge of Udupi District; Mr. Pramod Madhwaraj, MLA, Udupi Constituency; Mr. Ivan D’Souza, MLC; Mr. Satish Nayak, President Kallianpur Panchayat; Mr. Jayaprakash Hegde, Former MP, Udupi-Chikmagaluru; Mr. Raghupati Bhat, Former MLA, Udupi; Mr. UR Sabhapathi, Former MLA, Udupi; Mr. Janardhan Thonse, Ex-Zilla Panchayat Member.

 

Wednesday, 7 January 2015- 7 pm-Vespers (Prayer Service o the Word of God)

 

Thursday, 8 January 2015-10 am Annual Parish Feast. 6.30 pm: Tulu Drama “Ellya Vishaya Malla  Malpodhi”

 

Besides Rev. Fr. Philip Neri Aranha, the press conference was attended by Br. Roysan Fernandes, Jerry Vincent Dias- Vice President, Parish Pastoral Council; Richard Dias-Secretary, Luke D’Souza-Convener of Publicity Committee; Mrs. Meena Pinto-President of the Welcome Committee; Joseph Rebello-Convener of Hore Kanike Committee; Sr. Lora Rodrigues-Superior of Goretti Convent; Sr. Joyce-Head of the Goretti Hospital and Sr. Edrian Serrao-Headmistress of Mount Rosary English Medium School.