The beginning :
Bishop Thomas De Castro of the Diocesan clergy was the first Vicar Apostolic of the Diocese of Mangalore. He shepherded the Mangalore Diocese from 1674 - 1684. From 1845 - 1873, Carmelite Bishops administered the Diocese as Vicars Apostolic. When Rt. Rev Mary Ephrem of the Sacred Heart of Jesus OCD was the Vicar Apostolic of the Diocese, the then Parish Priest of Milagres Church Mangalore, Rev. Fr. Alexander Dubois, a French Priest of the Diocesan clergy, who was later known as Frad Saib laid foundation stone on 14th September 1873 for a new Church building at Cordel dedicated to Holy Cross to look after the spiritual welfare of the faithful in and around Kulshekar. His dream of constructing the church building was not realized as he fell ill and died on 11th December 1877, Because of spiritual leadership and priestly austerity he has been hailed and venerated as the founder of Holy Cross Church. His tomb is located just behind the present Cordel Church.
Formation of Cordel Parish :
In 1878 the administration of the Diocese fell to the lot of Jesuits and a new chapter was opened in the history of the Diocese, Jesuit Bishops took the pending works of newly started churches in the diocese. The work of Cordel Church building was entrusted to Rev Fr. Lunaji S.J. Meanwhile Bishop Rt. Rev Abundias Cavadini S.J. issued a decree on 31-8-1904 declaring Cordel church as an independent Parish and appointed Rev Fr. M.P. Colaco the first Parish Priest. After the successful completion of the work of Church building, the Church was blessed on 30-01-1912, and Rev Fr. Salvadore Vas was appointed as Parish Priest. Then the parish had 280 catholic families.
Formation of Shakthinagar Parish :
From then the Cordel Parish began to grow in catholic population and by 2000 A.D, it had about 1700 catholic families. Because of the initiative of Fr. Elias D’souza the Parish Priest of Cordel, a chapel was built in Shakthinagar to facilitate the catholics in and around Shakthinagar to attend Sunday Mass and have Catechism for children. In the year 2000, when Fr. Gregory W. Vas was the Parish Priest of Cordel with the co-operation of Parish Pastoral council took steps to establish a Parish at Shakthinagar. The existing Chapel was renovated and extended with a face lift; a Presbytery was built after buying adjacent 70 cents land. The total extent of land for the Church secured was 1 acre and 31 Cents. Bishop Aloysius Paul D’souza blessed the church dedicated to Mother Mary and the Presbytery on 1-1-2003 and appointed Fr. Harold Pereira as the first Parish Priest on 1-5-2003.
Formation of Paldane Parish :
At this juncture the Cordel Parish Priest after consulting the finance committee and Gurkars and representatives and people of five Wards of in and around Paldane, placed a proposal before the Parish Pastoral council of Cordel to establish a new Church at Paldane to cater the spiritual needs of these catholic families. The Parish Priest, after obtaining the approval of the Bishop with the assistance of the financial committee, took steps to find a suitable land for this purpose. With help of the Parishioners and donors, about One and a half acres of land was purchased at Paldane. After completing the required formalities the land was registered on 19th March 2004 and on the same day foundation stone was laid by Bishop Aloysius Paul D’souza. As per wish of the people it was decided to dedicate the Church to Blessed Teresa of Kolkata who was declared Blessed on 19-10-2003. The construction work was entrusted to Roy construction and Electrical works to Mr. William Fernandes Royal Electrical. These works were completed with the co-operation of Cordel Church and Parishioners and other donors.
Inauguration of the Church and Presbytery :
Inauguration of the new Church and Presbytery building at Paldane took place on 24/04/06. Prior to this event, preparations were made to have a grand celebration. A big pendol was put up by the people to accommodate about 4000 people. Committees such as invitation committee, reception committee, liturgical committee, souvenir committee were formed to make the required preparation. All the committees did their best to have an orderly disciplined function. On 22.04.06 a motorcade procession forwarded to Paldane was arranged to bring the stock of foodstuff for next day lunch. About 1000 people participated in this.
After the arrival of the dignitaries on 24.04.06 in the morning at 9.45 the Presbytery was inaugurated by Very Rev. Fr. G.W. Vas and then the Bishop of Mangalore Most. Rev.Aloysius Paul D’souza inaugurated the Church building and blessed it and offered the thanksgiving mass along with a number of Priests - Diocesan as well as Religious.
After the mass there was a stage function, during which the contractors Mr. Roy Castelinho and William Fernandes were honoured. The Parish Priest of Cordel Very Rev. Fr. G. W. Vas gave a brief history of the project, and thanked the Cordel Parishioners and other donors for their goodwill and support. After the stage function a non-vegetarian food prepared by the Parishioners was served to all the people present. There were more than 4000 people on the occasion to thank God and shared the joy of a church at Paldane dedicated to Blessed Teresa of Kolkata. On that day a souvenir and a small booklet in Konkani on Mother Teresa written by Mr. Richard Alvares, the Vice President of Cordel Parish was released by Very Rev Fr. Valerian D’souza Episcopal Vicar of Udupi and by Vicar General V.Rev. Msgr. Fred V. Periera respectively.
Post inaugural events :
Though the issuing of Decree declaring Blessed Teresa of Kolkata Church as an independent parish was delayed for sometime, for all purposes the church began to function as an Independent unit. Daily masses at 6.30am and Sunday masses at 7.30 am were offered for the benefit of the Parishioners. One of the priests of Cordel would give these services to the people. On the first Friday mass was offered at 5.30pm and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was held. In order to bring the parishioners closer to the church, during the month of May, devotion to Our Lady of Rosary was held everyday under the leadership of Fr. Alex Noronha, Assistant of Cordel Parish. From June onwards Sunday catechism for children from Ist STD to PUC was imparted after 7.30 mass in the morning. The eight local teachers and two sisters from Santa Cruz Convent and Br. Clifford Pinto, Regent conducted these classes. This procedure continued till the church was declared as an independent Parish with the priest taking charge as Parish Priest.
Most Rev. Aloysius Paul D’souza, Bishop of Mangalore, issued a Decree on 16th July, 2006 on the feast of Mount Carmel declaring Paldane church as an Independent Parish with effect from 13-8-2006 and appointed V. Rev. Fr. Gregory W.Vas Parish Priest of Cordel Parish and Vicar Vara of City Varado to be the first Parish Priest of Paldane church. After handing over the charge of Cordel Parish to the newly appointed Parish Priest of Cordel Parish, Very Rev. Fr. Lawrence D’souza, and the Administrator of Fr. Muller Medical College on 12-8-2006, Fr. G. W. Vas took charge of Paldane church on 13th August at 4.30pm. About 850 parishioners were present for the ceremony of assuming the office and the charge was handed over by V. Rev. Fr. Joseph Lobo, the Procurator for the Diocese of Mangalore in the presence of Cordel Parish clergy. At the time of the Decree the Parish had 250 catholic families.
Parish Priests who have served the parish since its inception :
- Fr Gregory W. Vas (2006 - 2016)
- Fr Vincent V. Menezes (2016 - 2019)
- Fr Alban D’Souza (from 2019 onwards)
Compiled by Catholic Time staff with inputs from facebook.com/mangalorechristiansofficial/posts/paldane-parishhistorybishop-thomas-de-castro-of-the-diocesan-clergy-was-the-firs/683310308463691/
Last updated in Dec 2019.
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