Mangalore, Aug 2
Celebrating 100 years of a successful and meaningful existence is certainly a matter of great pride and satisfaction for any institution. St Francis Xavier Church of Bejai, Mangalore, has this privilege of celebrating one hundred years of powerful existence and the parish has planned year-long celebrations and events to mark this monumental achievement starting from August 7, 2011. Located at a distance of just 2 kms from the diocesan headquarters, in the heart of the city of Mangalore, it has emerged as one of the strongest and powerful parishes of the diocese. With 24 wards, 1250 families and about 6500 parishioners, the parish under the leadership of the present parish priest Fr Victor Machado, has been moving from strength to strength continuing the tradition of the good work of his predecessors. Centenary celebrations include a programme every month to benefit different sections of the parish pertaining to religious, social, educational and medical with the ultimate aim of benefitting all parishioners. In addition a number of programmes and events have been planned for the entire year encompassing all major areas of development of the parish.
Parish priest Rev Fr Victor Machado has set his priorities right in the centenary year. “We do not want to concentrate on putting up huge structures, though I do agree renovation of the church is required. My primary priority is to intensify and deepen the life of faith of the people and on this occasion I would like to revive our faith. St Francis Xavier came to our city with the faith and we cannot brush it aside with our ineptitude”, he explains. Apart from catering to the spiritual needs of the people, centenary celebrations include building houses for the poorer sections of the parish and introducing scholarship to the deserving students to enable them opt for higher education. Planting of trees is also anvil as part of the church’s concern towards safeguarding the environment we live in.
Fr Victor Machado, Parish Priest, Fr Anil Roshan Lobo, Asst. Parish Priest
To Start With
The area that encompasses the Bejai church now was originally under the Cathedral parish for more than 200 years. To minimize the inconvenience caused to people of this area as a result of the long distance people had to travel to the Cathedral, a chapel was built in Bejai in 1912 which proved to be the forerunner of the present day Bejai church. Fr Sebastian Noronha was appointed as the resident Chaplain by the then Bishop Paul Perini SJ, who was also responsible for opening the St Francis Xavier School for boys and Lourdes Girls School of the parish in 1915. His successor Fr Joseph Peter Fernandes built a portion of the presbytery. Fr A E Colaco who succeeded Fr Fernandes built the church in its present form in the year 1924. He was also responsible for completing the presbytery and paned the belfry. The work initiated by Fr Colaco was completed in 1937 by Fr Leo Saldanha and later Fr Robert L M Pinto carried out the renovation of the church. Due to the visionary efforts of parish priest Rev F J M Pinto, a girl’s high school was opened by the Ursuline Franciscan sisters in 1963.
It was under the stewardship of Fr Bernard L D Souza who took over as the parish priest in 1995 the church witnessed an enormous progress and development. He is a pantheon of today’s Bejai parish and was responsible for building the Bejai hall and the commercial complex which generates revenue for the parish. Credit goes to him for initiating the process of development of the parish in the recent years.
Swift Progress
Fr Bernard undertook a slew of activities aimed at the overall development of the church and the parishioners. However, his greatest achievement was the ambitious school project he undertook to introduce CBSE syllabus education to the students by starting the Lourdes Central School. His successor Fr Joseph Peter Tauro who replaced Fr Bernard in 2003 continued the good work initiated by him and today Lourdes Central School which is in the 11th year of its existence has emerged as one of the most prestigious schools of Mangalore city. The school which was established in 2003 has grown into an institution of great repute and high standing, to emerge as one of the leading institutions of learning. Another feather in the cap of this school is that for the last four years the school has recorded 100 per cent result in 10th and 100 percent result in plus two in the last two years. The school had started Senior Secondary school for science stream since 2008. As there is an increasing demand for commerce stream in the past one or two years, the school has applied for starting the commerce stream also from the next academic year. The school also mulls starting new courses from the next academic year.
There have been enormous improvements and development in the parish in all these 100 years and it has over the years emerged as the powerhouse parish of the diocese. New presbytery was built in 2005 and it now houses the new office of the parish priest and the church office. “These improvements have been carried out only due to the constant support of the parishioners who have been giving their wholehearted support to every project the parish has undertaken. Without the support of the parishioners we would not have been able to witness such outstanding pace of development” parish priest Victor Machado asserts.
The church has had the services of 14 parish priests and Fr Victor Machado who took over the charge as the Parish priest a year ago is the 15th parish priest of the church in the last 100 years of its existence. At present there are three more priests who assist the parish priest of the Bejai Church. Fr Anil Roshan Lobo, asst. parish priest, Principal-designate of Lourdes Central School Fr Ferdinand Gonsalves and Resident priest Fr Richard D Souza, who is also doing his masters in communication at St Aloysius College, are giving a helping hand to the parish priest in carrying out the multifarious activities of the parish. The church runs St Francis Xavier Higher Primary School (formed by merging Xavier school and Lourdes Girls School) and the Lourdes Central School. The parish also has a Kannada medium Lourdes High School managed by the Ursuline sisters.
Social Concern
The parishioners evince keen interest in all the activities undertaken by the parish. The church has a parish pastoral council, a body of 100 strong members which takes collective decisions regarding the various activities and developmental work of the parish. The church has established a Medical Relief Fund built from the donations received from the parishioners, to provide medical care to the needy people of the parish. There is also an education fund and another fund titled “poor girl’s marriage fund”, to help girls from the poorer families get married. “Money collected through donations during the first communion goes to the education fund and donation given by to-be married boys and girls goes to the poor girl marriage fund”, Fr Machado stated.
The church has been socially responsive to the sundry needs of the parishioners. The Church runs a marriage bureau free of cost. It also runs St Vincent De Paul society which is involved in serving the cause of the needy and the poor. It has a Catholic Sabha which works doggedly to create political consciousness and awareness among the people.
A few projects are in the offing which has become imperative due to the tremendous growth witnessed by the parish. A new portico for the church is in the offing to create more space. Plans are on the anvil to put interlocks to the entire premises of the church. The church is also in the need for a new generator, which is necessitated following the breakdown of the existing generator as it is unable to shoulder the additional load. Fr Victor Machado has also chalked out an ambitious plan of providing a roof over the head of the poorer families from the parish.
Centenary celebration is a befitting occasion for the Bejai parish to continue the rhythm of the progress and the good work it has undertaken. Not long ago Bejai was known for its jasmine cultivation and it was apt that its quarterly bulletin is titled “Izoicho Kolo”. No doubt, the name and fame Bejai parish has traversed far and wide just like the fragrance of the famous Mangalore jasmine that Bejai was known for.