Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (ANK)

Udupi, Feb 27: In a major initiative, St Antony Church, Kuntalnagar went digital on Sunday February 25 with the launch of its own mobile-based app in a ceremony held at Kunatalnagar church hall.

Fr Denis D'Sa, PRO of Udupi diocese and also parish priest of Kuntalnagar, Walter Nandalike, founder and managing director, Daijiworld Media, Melvyn Rodrigues, director (operations) Daijiworld Media, Karthikeyan, director, Daijiworld Technologies, Vincent D'Souza, vice-president of parish pastoral council, John Sequeira, secretary of PPC and Stany D'Souza, coordinator of the Commission for Social Communications were present on the dais.

"We are in the ICE age, where 'I' stand’s for information, 'C' for communication and 'E' for entertainment. This is the age of digital revolution and today we follow the slogan 'first and fast'," said Fr Denis D'Sa in his welcome speech.

"The church cannot lag behind and remain outdated in this age of information technology. The church too needs to be updated with time. Hence, today we are launching a unique project of mobile-based app. St Antony Church is going digital for better and faster communication. This trend needs to spread to the other churches so that we make use of the technology for effective communication among the parishioners, associations and the outside world," he said.

"We thank Daijiworld for selecting our parish for the pilot study. The elders cannot say anymore that we are not familiar with technology. The time has come to learn. The church cannot be static anymore, it should be dynamic, mobile. Information is available on your finger tips, anywhere you are,” he added.

Walter Nandalike said, "I am thankful to Fr Denis for giving us an opportunity to start a pilot project. There are several churches around the globe that have gone digital and use online service. The quick communication format will help to maintain better relation between the priests and the laity. The app will give an opportunity to sick and old people to listen to sermons or follow mass digitally."

Melvyn Rodrigues said, "We are living in a digital world, except for human touch any wish can be fulfilled through the press of a button on your mobile. Even to express happiness, sadness or anger we have different emoticons. Church should not lag behind and must make use of the various technical and digital platforms in its day to day functioning."

He thanked Fr Denis D'Sa for giving Daijiworld an opportunity to bring this concept to reality. He also thanked Rovil, Deryl and Joy of Kuntalnagar parish who were instrumental in coordinating and uploading all the parish data into the app.

Daijiworld Technologies director Karthikeyan trained the parishioners through a powerpoint presentation on how to download the app and register on it.

Alexis Castelino, managing director, Daijiworld Television, Praveen Tauro, marketing nanager of Daijiworld, vice-president of parish pastoral council Vincent D'Souza, secretary of PPC John Sequeira and coordinator of the Commission for Social Communications Stany D'Souza were among the dignitaries present on the dais.

About the App

Daijiworld Technologies has developed the Kuntalnagar church app which can be downloaded for free on Google Play Store.

The newly launched app consists of three main features:

1. Information about the church. This is available to anyone who downloads the app.

2. Communication: There is a provision to all the parishioners to get their mobile numbers registered. Once they do that, any information from the parish priest, parish council, ward gurkars, association heads can be sent to their mobile numbers through notifications at one go.

3. Church authorities can avail the facility of referring to various reports as per their requirement.

About Daijiworld Technologies

Daijiworld Technologies specializes in web-based ERP development, and mobile application projects. Based in Mangaluru, the team is operating in a challenging economy that creates a fertile environment for information technology and business outsourcing. The team has a solid and proven track record, delivering high quality and timely services.

Founded in 2016, Daijiworld Technologies is focused to deliver innovative solutions, adding business value through technology implementation at a professional level. Focusing its activities towards developing complex software products, Daijiworld Technologies provides consistent results in emerging fields such as mobile and web-based custom business applications, e-commerce, e-payment, e-security, and enterprise and resource planning, media industry.