Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Apr 17: St Francis Assisi Church at Tallur, which happens to be the centre of devotion for the Christians living in Tallur and nearby areas, has undergone thorough renovation and reconstruction. It has come off in a pleasing manner. The new church building modelled after a star for the first time in Karnataka, has been the cynosure of all eyes. Its unique design, giant-sized pinnacle, front portion having a new design and such other features have the capacity to force the passersby
to stop for a minute and throw admiring glances at this building.

Fr Sunil Veigas

This church building has been built at a cost of over Rs 3.5 crore. It has enough space to accommodate 600 devotees to offer prayers together. This renovated church will be dedicated to the world at a function being held on May 12 this year.

An idea took birth to construct this building, which has completed eight decades, towards developing this centre of faith in a modern way. Foundation stone for the proposed new building was laid on October 20, 2013. The project cost for the renovated church building including residence for the priests was around Rs 3.5 crore.

'Shilpi' architects based in Kerala designed the building. Sandeep Almeida from the town began to serve as engineer.

As soon as the works began on the new church building, it began to attract everyone's attention. People were curious to know what it would look like. As unique walls were built, huge metal bars rose to the sky, and new kind of shapes and designs began to take shape, people began to conceptualize the church building as per their own ideas. At the end, the building has been completed in a beautiful way.

From outside, this building looks like a star. The church has entrance from three sides through similar doors. The windows have been placed in such a way that they allow abundant light and air to enter into the building. The building is 140 feet wide and 113 feet high with a total area of 10,800 square feet.

A spacious altar has been erected. For anyone who comes near the church, it looks like a star that has been placed vertically. When we enter inside the building and look up, the concept of star is visualized. The concept of fixing a single fan is under consideration. Glass is used in 40 percent of the building. Modern monitor tiles have been used. Glass is being used for outer walls too to the extent of 40 percent. Flooring is provided through attractive granite slabs. For the outer area, interlock is being provided.

The statues of Mother Mary and St Francis Assisi would be installed on left and side of the altar. The statues have been made from Italian marble. In a nutshell, this church has been built with an architectural design that cannot be found anywhere in Karnataka.

Tallur, which is growing fast, has got an addition to its illustrious locales in the form of this attractive church. The church will be an attraction for tourists coming to the region. A large number of people have striven to make the dream of constructing this beautiful, meaningful, St Francis Assisi church, realize. With the blessings and guidance of the 19th priest of the church, Fr Sunil Veigas, and hard work put in by vice president of parish council, Arun Mendonca, secretary, Stany D'Silva, committee members and faithfuls, this church has come up majestically. This is an invaluable gift to the next generation of Christians, which is ideal for offering prayers and celebrating holy Eucharist.

St Francis Assisi church is backed by a long history. There was no prayer centre for Christians from Tallur region before 1929. They had to go to Holy Rosary church in the town to offer prayers. There was a plea from the devotees to set up separate church at Tallur. After this demand was approved in the parish level meeting, in 1934, the church got its first ever priest in the form of Fr Edward Lobo. Since then, Tallur church has grown into a prayer centre of Christians and also a centre of
miracles. Along with religious elevation, the church also set up educational revolution. St Philomena aided higher primary school here has lighted up lives of thousands of students so far. The school continues to command respect and importance by imparting good quality education.

Five villages fall under the jurisdiction of this church, ie Tallur, Uppinakudru, Hemmady, Devalkunda, and Hattinangadi. 896 members spread over 220 families in these villages are served by this church. This church, which has a history of 87 years, is located in the central part of Tallur, and is known as the centre of harmonious coexistence.

Catholic Sabha, St Vincent De Paul organization, Franciscan organization, Young Christian Students Association, Altar Boys Association,18 committees, eight Varado, and eight Gurkars serve the church within its jurisdiction.

As part of the inaugural of the renovated church, Bishop of Udupi diocese, Dr Jerald Issac Lobo, will inaugurate the building at 9 am and deliver benedictory address on May 12. Meeting programme is scheduled at 10.45 am, in which people's representatives and dignitaries representing different religions will take part. At 6.30 pm, 'Cha Parka' artistes will stage a comedy play, 'Heluvanthadalla' as part of cultural programmes.

As the shape of the building itself denotes, this is modelled after star. For the Christian community, star happens to be a sublime symbol of worship. Before the birth of Jesus Christ, wise men saw him descending in the form of a star. This church is shaped after the star. Anyone who enters this building and looks around, gets the feeling of standing inside a star. The building has been designed and shaped so artistically. The three-side doors to the building provide the experience of entering a
star. Fixing of a single fan will add to the unique grandeur of this church.