Parish Priest and Faithful Seek Support to Build New Church in Chitradurga
Parish Priest and Faithful Seek Support to Build New Church “Our Lady of Velankanni Arogya Mathe”-Kamanabavi, Chitradurga
Mangaluru: An appeal has been made by the Parish Priest to extend your support to build the house of the Lord, in a remote place, Kamanabavi in Chitradurga, where the faithful belonging to the church are low-income workers, some very poor- but very religious and trying all their efforts to build a new Church, “Our Lady of Velankanni Arogya Mathe”, since the existing Church is dilapidated. Even though these faithful are economically backward, they have shared part of their wealth by contributing nearly Rs 4 lakhs to the new Church project.
And since the cost to build the new church is around Rs 40 lakhs, the Parish Priest and a bunch of faithful had traveled all the way from Chitradurga to Mangaluru to raise funds, and on Sunday, 13 May they all had gathered at Milagres Church- Mangaluru requesting Church goers to contribute to their New Church building funds- and it was nice to see that many people extended their support by donating money after the Sunday morning masses. During the end of Sunday morning English mass at Milagres Church, the Parish Priest of ‘Holy Family Church”-Chitradurga, Fr Lancy D’souza, originally hailing from Moodbidri, made the following appeal requesting the faithful to help them financially in their new church project. In his appeal, Fr D’souza said,
“Dear Brothers / Sisters in Jesus Christ, Chitradurga is one of the underdeveloped districts in Karnataka with no irrigation facilities and scarcity of drinking water. Being very drought-hit area; most of the people are daily wage workers. Majority of them are poor and marginalized. The Christian presence in the district is recorded in the middle of 17th century. To cater to the spiritual and socio-economic needs of the Catholics of the district, a small church with mud walls was constructed in the year 1994 at Kamanabavi. The present building structure at the Kamanabavi which is used for the spiritual services is too small for the growing Catholic population and it is in a dilapidated condition.”
“The parish has 187 families with a population of 581. Many people of other faith also attended the church services. Considering the present and future need, the faithful of the parish along with the diocesan development committee, has planned for the construction of a new church dedicated to Our Lady of Velankanni Arogya Mathe. The proposed estimation to build the new church is Rs.40 Lakhs. Though, the majority of the local Christians being economically backward, yet they have come forward to contribute their mite of Rs.5 lakhs.”
“The church dedicated to Our Lady of Velankanni Arogya Mathe would soon become a reality by the Divine assistance and through the generous support of the donors. The foundation stone for this project was laid by Most Rev Dr Francis Serrao Sj, the Bishop of Shivamogga in March 2018. On behalf of the church construction committee, we humbly request you to contribute generously towards this noble cause. May the spirit of God inspire you to become a partner in building this house of God. God bless you through Our Lady of Velankanni Arogya Mathe.” added Fr Lancy.
A recommendation has also been made by Bishop of Shivamogga, Rev Dr Francis Serrao Sj, where he states, ” I wholeheartedly endorse the appeal of Fr Lancy D’souza, the parish priest of Holy Family Church-Chitradurga, for the construction of the new church which undoubtedly will help the faithful to come closer to God and is absolutely required for community worship. I pray to God to bless all those who help to complete the new Church”.
So, the readers of Mangalorean.com who would like to contribute to this New Church project can do so, by remitting money to following Bank Account details :
Name of the SB Account:
Parish Priest, Holy Family Church, Church Extention, Chitradurga, Karnataka, India – 577501
SB A/c No.: 15 94 01 00 03 87 51
IFSC Code: FDRL0001594
Address of the bank:
THE FEDERAL BANK LTD, OPP VASAVI MAHAL BASAVESHWARA TALKIES ROAD, CHITRADURGA DISTRICT, KARNATAKA, INDIA.
For more details, you can also contact: Rev Fr Lancy D’souza, Parish Priest Holy Family Church – Chitradurga at 9481968456;
Email: lancy757@gmail.com