Grand Inauguration and Blessing Ceremony of the new building of St. Mary’s English School, Udupi

Report by Dr. Eugene D’Souza, Moodubelle
Pictures by Anil Alva
Bellevision Media Network

Udupi, 30 May 2010: The grand inauguration and blessing ceremony of the new building of St. Mary’s English School at Udupi, a memorial of the Silver Jubilee event of the school and dedication by the Mother of Sorrows Church to the society, was held on Saturday, 29th May 2010 at 10 am at the sprawling campus at Kannarpady, Udupi.

Earlier, at around 9.55 am, ceremonial welcome was accorded to the Bishop of Mangalore and other dignitaries at the New School gate, with school band and children lined up with flowers to welcome the guests. Thereafter, all the dignitaries proceeded to the main entrance of the building where Mr. Jerry Vincent Dias, Mandavi Promoters and Developers and President, Builders’ Association, Udupi inaugurated the new school building. Different blocks of the new school building were inaugurated by other dignitaries.

The prayer service and blessing of the new school building was conducted by Most Rev. Dr. Aloysius Paul D’Souza, Bishop of Mangalore and President, Catholic Board of Education, Diocese of Mangalore.

The stage function began at 10.45 am with prayer by the group of school children followed by classical welcome dance. The Correspondent of St. Mary’s School and the brain behind the new school building, Rev. Fr. Mathew Vaz escorted the Bishop, who presided over the function and the Chief Guests and Guests of Honour to the dais. The Chief Guests were: Rev. Dr. Baptist Menezes-Episcopla Vicar, Udupi District, Rev. Fr. Wilson Vitus D’Souza-Secretary, Catholic Board of Education, Diocese of Mangalore, Mr. Oscar Fernandes-Rajya Sabha Member, Mr. Raghupati Bhat-MLA, Udupi and Mr. Jerry Vincent Dias-President, Builder’s Assocition, Udupi.

The Guests of Honour were: Mrs. Gladys Almeida-President, Zilla Panchayat, Udupi, Mr. Dinakar Shetty, President, Udupi town Municipality, Dr. G. Shankar-President, G. Shankar Family Trust, Udupi, Mr. Vinay Kumar Sorake-Ex-MP, Udupi, Mr. Mahidas-DDPI, Udupi, Mr. Manjunathaiah, BEO, Udupi and Mr. Ramanand Nayak, Executive Officer, Taluk Panchayat, Udupi.

After occupying the respective seats by the dignitaries on the dais, the Headmistress of St. Mary’s English School-Miss Myrtle L.F. Lewis welcomed the dignitaries and other guests by offering bouquets. The dignitaries then lighted the ceremonial lamp to the reciting of Sanskrit Shlokas. The donors who had given considerable amount of contribution to the institution such as Dr. G. Shankar and Mr. Jerry Vincent Dias were honoured by offering them shawls, garlands, fruit baskets and mementos. Even those donors who had contributed one lakh of rupees were also honoured by offering them flower bouquets. The architects, engineers and contractors were also felicitated by offering flowers.

Rev. Fr. Mathew Vaz, who conceived the idea of having a new school building that would meet the requirements of international standards, was also honored by the Bishop by offering shawl, garland and flower basket.

Earlier in his introductory note, Rev. Fr. Mathew Vaz narrated the circumstances that led to the new school building as a memorial of the Silver Jubilee event of the school. He said that the land, 10 acres in area was purchased form Mr. Jayaram Shetty from Mumbai for an amount of three crores of rupees. Mr. Jayaram also donated five lakhs of rupees towards the new school building. The land was purchased in April 2007 and the foundation stone was laid in April 2008 and the ground floor and the first floor of the building are neady which were inaugurated and blessed today. When the building will be completed, it will have ground plus three floors with all modern amenities and facilities that a world class school should have. Fr. Mathew Vaz thanked all donors and contributors and the parishioners of Mother of Sorrows Church for making sacrifices so that such an excellent school building could be constructed.

The new school campus is very vast and the location of the school, though a little away from the main city has very good physical environment with clean air and without noise pollution which will make the teaching and learning process more easy and pleasurable. The new school building will have facilities such as spacious class-rooms, huge library, computer lab that can accommodate fifty students at a time, audio-visual room, video conferencing and e-learning facilities, provision for indoor games, swimming pool, and huge playgrounds. The school will also provide counselling and career guidance for students.

Mr. Oscar Fernandes, Mr. Raghupati Bhat, Mr. Gerry Vincent Dias, Dr. G. Shankar, Rev. Dr. Baptist Menezes and Rev. Fr. Wilson Vitus D’Souza also spoke during this occasion. In his message, the Bishop said that history is being created by Fr. Mathew Vaz by bringing up such a huge school complex with beautiful building the benefit of which will be availed by the children in shaping their future. He appreciated the futuristic thinking of Fr. Mathew Vaz and complimented him for his great achievement.

The dignitaries and the entire gathering observed two minutes silence and paid homage to two of the brilliant students of St. Mary’s English School, Miss Veneshia and her brother Master Vishal of Shankerpura who along with their mother Flavia had lost their lives in the air tragedy on Saturday, 22 May 2010. It was mentioned that Miss Venetia, who had been a proficient singer was to be the main singer for the prayer song during the inaugural function.

The inaugural programme ended with the vote of thanks presented by Mrs. Rita D’Silva, Secretary of the Parish Pastoral Council of Mother of Sorrows Church, Udupi and lunch for all the guests, parents and children.