Udupi: Newly built Holy Cross Church of Pamboor blessed and dedicated by Bishop Gerald Lobo
By Dr. Eugene DSouza
Pics by Anil Alva
Bellevision Media Network
Udupi, 18 Dec 2017: The newly constructed Holy Cross Church, Pamboor was inaugurated, blessed and dedicated by Bishop of Udupi Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Gerald Isaac Lobo in the presence of a large number of priests, religious and parishioners of Pamboor and neighbouring parishes of Shirva, Moodubelle and Shankerpura on Monday, 18 December 2017 at 5 pm.
Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo was welcomed by Fr. Paul Rego, parish priest of Holy Cross Church, Pamboor along with Vice President and Secretary of Parish Pastoral Council Prakash Noronha and Mrs. Asuntha D’Souza respectively at 4.45 pm in front of the newly built church.
The grand ceremony of the inauguration and blessing of the church commenced at 5pm as the Bishop along with Fr. Paul Rego, priests in the presence of a large number of people came in procession in front of the church. Maurice Noronha(Malla Master), the elderly parishioner and one of the founding members of the Holy Cross Church, Pamboor had the honour of inaugurating the new building of the church by cutting the ribbon. Thereafter, the Bishop conducted a brief prayer service in front of the main door and formally opened the doors and entered the church along with the priests followed by the altar servers and the people.
The blessing and dedication of the new church commenced by the Bishop by blessing the water and sprinkling of the Holy Water on the people. This was followed by the celebration of the Holy Mass singing ‘Gloria…’ by the choir.
In his homily, the Bishop said that the dream of the Pamboor parishioners to have a new church building on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the foundation of the Parish in Pamboor has been realized. It is the symbol of hope, aspirations, hard work and sacrifice of many of the parishioners.
Bishop Gerald Lobo highlighted the meaning of the place of worship (temple or church) and traced the origin and development of places of worship since ancient times and pointed out that it was King David who thought of building a grand temple for God. However, he was not destined to complete the temple and it was his son Solomon who built a grand temple in honour Yaveh (God).
Continuing the homily, Bishop Gerald Lobo said that the church is the symbol of everlasting relationship between God and His people. It is a place of worship and prayer. The new church should mean not only a new place for worship and prayer but also a place where the parishioners should come together as one family united in Jesus Christ.
Soon after the homily, the ritual of blessing, consecration and dedication of the new church continued with the recitation of the ‘Litany of the Saints’. The Bishop anointed the sacrificial altar with Chrism Oil and anointed four points on the walls of the church, thus sanctifying the entire church.
The Bishop handed over the lighted candle to Fr. Paul Rego representing the Light of Christ.
After the Holy Communion, the Bishop blessed and concreted the Tabernacle and placed the ciborium consisting of the Blessed Eucharist inside the Tabernacle and after closing the doors of the Tabernacle handed over the keys to Fr. Paul Rego.
At the end of the Mass, Fr. Paul Rego expressed gratitude to Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo for blessing and dedicating the new church, Fr. Stany tauro-Dean of Shirva Deanery, Fr. Valerian Mendonca - Chancellor of Udupi Diocese and all the priests who had participated in the Holy Mass.
Fr. Stephen D’Souza, Director of Liturgical Commission of Udupi Diocese compeered the ritual of the blessing and dedication of the church.
The background of the main altar, painted by renowned artist Wilson Kayyar is very attractive and meaningful. The central pannel depicts the Crucifixion scene of Jesus on Mount Calvary. The left side pannel shows the birth of Jesus and the right side pannel represents the risen Christ. There are statues of Saints on walls on both sides of the church. There are 20 stained glass pannels on top of the walls starting from the scene of Annunciation till the Coronation of Mother Mary as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. The interior of the church is quite beautiful and aesthetic
Soon after the inauguration, blessing and dedication of the new church, felicitation function was held in the specially arranged pandal and stage. The programme was presided over by Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo. Other dignitaries on the dais included: Vinay Kumar Sorake-MLA of Kaup Constituency, Fr. Reginald Pinot-Director of Sampada, Diocese of Udupi, Fr. Harod Pereira-Director of Small Christian Community, Fr. Paul Rego-Parish Priest of Holy Cross Church, pamboor and Prakash Noronha and Mrs. Asuntha D’Souza, Vice President and Secretary of Parish Pastoral Council.
Following the welcome address by Fr. Paul Rego, all those persons who were associated with the construction of the new church were felicitated by Vinay Kumar Sorake.
In his message, Vinay Kumar Sorake complimented Fr. Paul rego and the Pamboorians for constructing and inaugurating such a beautiful church. He lauded the contribution of Christian in all fields of life. He said that though the Christians constitute barely 2 paercent of the Indian population, their contribution to the nation is more than 20 percent. He appreciated the contribution of Catholic Educational Institutions for the spread of education especially in coastal Karnataka.
On this occasion, collection of short stories written by Dr. Vincent Alva, presently Principal of Milagres College, Kallianpur was released by Fr. Reginald Pinto.
In his address, Fr. Reginald Pinto narrated briefly the origin and progress of the Holy Cross Parish, Pamboor.
Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo honoured past surviving Vice Presidents and Secretaries of the Parish pastoral Council. These included-Vice Presidents: Peter D’Almeida, Maurice Noronha, Cyril Quadras, Lucas D’Souza, Dr. Vincent Alva and Fredrick Menezes. Past Vice Presidents who have passed away included: Marcel Martis, Philip Monis, Xavier Martis and Basil Monis. The Secretaries who were honoured at this occasion were: Albert Noronha, John Martis, Ronald Sequeira and Mrs. Jacintha D’Souza.
Fr. Paul Rego along with Prakash Noronha and Mrs. Asuntha D’Souza honoured the Bishop as a mark of gratitude.
In his message, Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo congratulated Fr. Paul Rego and Pamboor parishioners for their great achievement in building a new church with great sacrifice and dedication. He said that for Christians church is like the door to heaven as all rituals right from the birth till death are performed in church.
On behalf of the Diocese of Udupi, Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo felicitated Fr. Paul Rego as a token of appreciation of his great work in Pamboor.
Mrs. Asuntha D’Souza proposed the vote of thanks and Mrs. Hilda Mathias compeered the stage programme. Dr. Vincent Alva supervised the entire programme.
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