Mangalore: Holy Cross Church, Kulshekar to Celebrate Centenary on Feb 18

Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Feb 16: Holy Cross Church, Cordel, Kulshekar here will celebrate its centenary year of consecration on Saturday February 18, informed parish priest of the Church Fr Valerian Pinto on Thursday February 16.

Addressing a press conference at the church, he informed that the Church was consecrated on January 30 in 1912, under the leadership of the then bishop of Mangalore diocese Monsignor Paul Perini. The Church has been served by 13 chief priests and 45 assistant priests in its history of 100 years, he said, and added that the Church as a religious centre for the Catholics of the region has also extended charitable assistance to many.

"The Church is the gift of its founder Fr Alexandar Dubois, a native of France, who realized the need for a religious centre in Kulshekar. Prior to that, the people of this area were connected with Milagres Church and were unable to travel a long distance to meet their religious needs," he explained.

"Dr Alexandar started the religious centre with a minimum infrastructure in 1873. Fr Alexandar came to be popularly known as 'Frad Saib' among the parishioners. The dream of constructing a spacious church building in Kulshekara was continued by Fr Ladislas Deloz who took the charge as parish priest after the death of Frad Saib in 1887. The Church has now grown to 1,540 Catholic families, from 250 families then," he said. 

The celebration launched in January 29, 2011 comprised many religious programmes, retreats, cultural and sports activities. A stage and a ground as part of centenary celebrations will also be inaugurated.

The centenary celebrations will be held in the presence of bishop of Mangalore Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza and Bishop of Shimoga, Fr Gerald Issac Lobo, Karnataka high court judge Justice B V Pinto, deputy speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly N Yogish Bhat, and inspector general of police (western range) Pratap Reddy as chief guests, said Fr Valerian Pinto. A book detailing the history of the Church by Fr Devadatta Kamath and a telephone directory will also be released during the programme.

Centenary celebrations committee vice-president Praveen Patrao, secretary George D'Souza convener Sushil Noronha and others were present.