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Location : 

Parapady is a remote area of Nitte Village, situated 10kms away from Karkala and 14 kms far from Moodbidri. This place has its own uniqueness because of the existence of an old church dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. The church, the clergy who served here, and the faithful have put a strong impact on the place as well as on the people of other faiths. This church has been a pilgrim center since 1968. All those who visited Attur also used to visit this church and a lot of favors have been bestowed on the believers as well as people of other faiths. Even today it has kept its sanctity and holiness and is now flourishing in faith .

Origin :

Initially there were two wards – Sanur and Kemman which were considered to be the farthest wards of Attur parish. Fr Salvadore D’Souza, the then parish priest of Attur built a chapel at Herady in the land of Joseph Mathias. Mass was offered on Sundays. Mr Joseph Mathias then agreed to give 3 acres of land to the church. He was very hospitable to priests. Fr Salvadore used to come by bullock cart on Sundays and used to stay in Joseph’s house. But later his son did not follow the footsteps of his father. During his tenure, he ruined the whole property and a part of land dedicated to the church was acquired by a Hindu man. Only 20 cents land was reserved for the church. The chapel was dedicated to Perpetual Succour. After six months, Fr Salvadore fell sick and later he died.

He was succeeded by Fr Aloysius D’Silva. People requested him about the chapel but a few people raised the issue that the chapel is still far away for the people. So a new site was proposed at Murathagudde, behind the school and the present place. Fr Aloysius could not fulfill the dream due to his premature transfer. He was succeeded by Fr William Louis. During his tenure Bishop Peris visited Attur. During his visit, Mr Joseph Mathias proposed the plan of establishing a new parish. Fr Louis took initiative to his request with the consent of the bishop, the present land was measured, prepared the boundaries and applied to the government for approval. Meantime a thatched shed was constructed and first mass was offered on 27th June, 1958. Every Sunday the Holy Eucharist was celebrated.

When Fr Louis was promoted for the post of Vicar General, Fr Stanley R Pereira, the assistant priest of Attur was celebrating at Parapady. As the years passed, the roof began to ruin. The priest Fr Valerian didn’t show any interest towards Parapady, so the faithful took initiative to repair the chapel under the leadership of Mr Marcel Castelino of Baranga. They changed the roof into a tiled roof. From then assistants priests from Attur were coming on Sundays to offer mass. Some of them were Frs. William Gonsalves, Antony D'Souza, Albert Nazareth, Andrew Rodrigues and J P Tauro. Later due to shortage of priests at Attur, mass was offered once in 15 days by the assistant. When the bishop was informed, he expressed his concern for Parapady and made it an independent parish and ordered the building of a house. Fr Colaco constructed two rooms without much interest. Msgr William made arrangements of water by digging a new well. At the same time 3 acre of land was measured in the name of Fr Stanley R Pereira and its denotification was done and the payments were made.

Parapady as a Parish

It was Sunday May 12, 1968 Fr Stany Pereira the assistant parish priest of Attur was asked to take up the charge of Parapady by the late Bishop Basil S D'Souza. When he took up the charge there wasn’t anything except a small house which was ruined. He shares his first day experience like this “I came here empty handed and I saw here everything empty; no bench to sit, no mat to sleep, no vessel to cook and no vestment to offer mass; I spend the night under a tree on a stone as my mat and next day I went Mangalore to buy one vestment” his dedicated and committed life changed the entire picture of Parapady and he took initiative to bring a overall renewal of Parapady.

On 8th December, 1968, Bishop Basil and Msgr William Lewis laid the foundation stone for the new parish. When Msgr William Louis was the Parish Priest of Attur, he had named Parapady as "Nirmalapadav" and it has been continued to today. The new parish work was begun with the contribution of one rupee per day from every family and devotees for three years. The appeal for the new church was published in “Paynari” and “Mithr”. On 12th May, 1979 the new church was blessed by Bishop Basil S D’Souza. 45 priests con-celebrated the inaugural mass and food was served for 4500 people. When the church was inaugurated there were thousands of devotees and Fr Pereira named this parish as The Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. The whole structure of the church was designed by Fr Pereira. Most of the work was done by him along with the people. People worked day and night for its completion. Most of the work was done through the “food for work” project.

Nirmalapadav, a place of innovations

Fr Pereira had a long vision of establishing a self-sufficient parish. He extended the boundaries of the land and today there are 13 acres of land. The whole land is covered by the compound wall built by the black stones. He gave labour to the people and there used to be 500 workers every day. He cultivated paddy, sugarcane, rice, jaggery cell, jasmine, reshme, piggery, cows and goats. He dug seven wells. Some were dried up, but a few have very good water sources. Numberless tanks for preserving the water and cow dung were also established.

Cemetery

Burial place was kept aside from the beginning of the inception as a chapel. But there was objection from non Christians. Tashildar ordered the burials to stop and a new place was given.

Concern for the poor

Fr Pereira wanted his flock to be near the church. So irrespective of caste and creed he took care of the poor and needy. He made arrangements for the poor on the land near the church campus and assisted in constructing 9 houses, wells and compounds. He started a hostel for boys in the old church building.

Nitte - Chilimbi Road

There wasn't road access to the church. But a narrow road was there till Baranga. Fr Pereira, with the help of people, constructed a new road till the church. Fr Periera went to Bangalore and requested Mr Veerappa Moilly for the bridge. The bridge was sanctioned by Mr Veerappa Moily in 1982. Nitte Panchayath gave its support to this work. There was another road till Barady. Fr Pereira went to Sanoor Panchayath requesting for a road but some people didn’t agree to leave their land for the road. He went to Kanthavara Panchayath and requested and they with the help of Fr Pereira went to meet Mrs Girija Ballal and she agreed on conditions. Some 300 people worked on the road and road access was provided. Mr Belliappa, the Tashildar sent a notice to Fr Pereira questioning how the road was constructed without their permission. Fr went to the collector and explained the situation of Parapady and DC transferred Tashildar from his office. Christian people maintained these roads by repairing every year because panchayath never took initiative.

Electricity

Parapady was a dark village without electricity. Fr Periera worked hard with government officials and in 1983 he succeeded to get the connection to the church. He had spent more than a lakh.

Parish Priests : 

Fr Stany Pereira the founder of Nirmalapadav spent 15 years working for the spread of God’s kingdom, finally fulfilling his dream of converting it into a beautiful village. He was transferred to Gurpur on 28th June, 1983. He died on January 7, 1997.

Fr Stany was succeeded by Fr Rosario Fernandes (1983-1987) who continued his work. Fr Rosario Fernandes divided the two wards into four wards for a smooth running of the spiritual needs of the devotees.

Fr Rosario was succeeded by Fr George D'Souza (1987 - 1994) who gave more importance to the development of agriculture. Fr George D'Souza was responsible for the establishment of Catholic Sabha in the church in 1994. He helped a number of poor children to get education. With the help of the people, he repaired the Nitte - Parapady road.

Fr Assissi Rebello (1994-2001) continued the good work of the previous parish priests and gave importance to promoting agriculture. He had great affection for young children. Fr Assissi Rebello renovated the flooring and altar of the church. In addition he formed the ICYM for youth in 1998. He further divided the four wards into five.

Fr Peter Nazareth (2001-2003), an elderly priest succeeded Fr Assisi and served his best. As he neared retirement age, he served the parish for just two years before retiring from active ministry.

In 2003, Fr Pascal Menezes (2003-2007) was appointed as the sixth parish priest of the church. He was a musician and trained many youngsters to sing devotional songs in the choir. He also installed the statue of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour on the road in front of the church. He built a new parochial house as well.

Fr Vijay Lobo (2007-2008) served for six months in the church and motivated the people toward spiritual growth.

Fr Alex Aranha (2008-2013) served for five years in the parish. In spite of his ill health, he instilled the importance of spiritual life in the people. He voluntarily retired in 2013.

Fr Vincent Lobo (2013- 2019 ) took charge of the parish on June 5, 2013. He was a deep thinker with foresight. He changed the entire face of the church. In addition to being a good musician, he was kind hearted and a philanthropist who loved people. He has trained the young children of the church to play the keyboard. His discourses on the Holy Bible were embedded in the minds of the parishioners.

Due to the hard work of Fr Vincent, groups like ICYM, YCS, Stree Sanghatan, St Vincent De Paul Society, Catholic Sabha, Secular Franciscan Order, Holy Childhood Society offer excellent service to the parish. The Pastoral Plan 2025 was implemented successfully in the church. Besides spiritual and social ministry, he was a lover of agriculture and farming.

In June 2017, the front compound wall of the church and the grotto of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour collapsed due to heavy rain and storm. It was rebuilt with the help of generous people and the grotto was rebuilt with the help of James D'Silva's family and inaugurated on September 8, 2017. The building of the church and its roof which were in bad condition needed renovation which began on January 1. A grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes was also built with the help of a donor.

Inauguration of newly renovated Church and golden jubilee celebration

The inauguration of the newly renovated church and golden jubilee celebrations of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Church were held on May 9, 2018.

The new grotto of Our Lady of Succour was inaugurated by Stany Dian Pinto, Neerude and blessed by Fr Joswey Fernandes, dean, Karkala deanery. The newly built belfry tower was inaugurated by Jerome D’Silva and family and blessed by Dr Gerald Issac, Lobo, bishop, diocese of Udupi.

Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo presided over the Holy Eucharistic celebrations and blessed the renovated church. Fr Vincent Lobo, parish priest, Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Church Parapady, Fr Joswey Fernandes, dean, Karkala deanery, Fr George D'Souza, Fr Assisi Rebello, Fr Pascal Menezes, Fr Vijay Lobo, Fr Alex Aranha, Fr Denis Lobo, Pilar Fathers, Goa, and Fr John Stany D’Silva, diocese of Bareilly were the co-celebrants. Bishop delivered a meaningful homily.

Bishop Dr Gerald Issac Lobo felicitated Fr Joswey Fernandes, dean, Karkala deanery, the former priest of the church Fr Rosario Fernandes, Fr Denis Lobo, Pilar Fathers, Goa, Fr John Stany D’Silva, diocese of Bareilly and second priest from the parish, and the nuns from the parish.

Contractor Jerald D’Silva, engineer Shashidhar Pai, past vice-presidents, secretaries, donors and sponsors were honored on this occasion.

Parish Priests who have served the Parish since its inception :  

1. Fr Stany Pereira (12-05-1968 to 28-06-1983)
2. Fr Rosario Fernandes (28-06-1983 to 02-06-1987)
3. Fr George D'Souza (02-06-1987 to 22-05-1994)
4. Fr Assisi Rebello (22-05-1994 to 15-04-2001)
5. Fr Peter Nazreth (15-04-2001 to 22-05-2003)
6. Fr Pascal Menezes (22-05-2003 to 15-06-2006)
7. Fr Vijay Lobo (15-06-2006 to 21-05-2008)
8. Fr Alex Aranha (21-05-2008 to 05-06-2013)
9. Fr Vincent Lobo (05-06-2013 to 01-06-2019)
10. Fr Jerald Sandeep D'Mello ( from 01-06-2019 ...)
11. Fr Denis D'Souza (present parish priest)

(Years for last 2 entires will be updated soon)

Compiled by Catholic Time Staff with inputs from nirmalpadavchurch.org
Last updated in Dec 2021.

Related links : 

• About Our lady of Perpetual Succour Church , Nirmalpadav 
• History of St Lawrence Minor Basilica, Attur - Karkala
• 11-05-2018 - Renovated Nirmalpadav Church, Parapady inaugurated with the celebration of golden jubilee
• 10-05-2018 - Newly renovated Perpetual Succour Church Parapady - golden jubilee celebrated
• 07-05-2018 - Golden Jubilee Celebration & Inauguration of the renovated Nirmalapadav Church to he held on May 9