Location :
Prior to 2018, Delanthabettu of Kanyana Village, was the sub-station of the rural parish of Our Lady of Dolours Church, Vittal, in Mangalore Diocese. It is located 15 Kms away from Vittal church, and 65 Kms away from Mangalore, the Diocesan Headquarters.
It is in Eastern Deanery dedicated to St Paul who is also the patron saint of this church situated in the valley of hills, near the extensive government reserved forests of Kalanjemale spread out from Anekal to Yanekal. This is located on the border of Kerala and Karnataka States.
The beginning :
In the year 1971 the late Fr. Peter Nazareth, then the Parish Priest of Vittal Church, in his letter dated 01-01-1971 requested for the permission from the late Bishop Rt. Dr. Basil S. D’ Souza to celebrate the holy masses in the houses for the poor catholic people, living in the distant villages especially in the village centers of Manela, Peruvai and Delanthabettu as they were not able to attend the Sunday Masses and other spiritual obligations and celebrations due to the distance, poverty and dangers in the ways.
In the course of time, the churches and presbyteries were built at Peruvai and Manela, these two churches were made independent, with the facility of having parish priests.
However the felt need of people of Delanthabettu remained unattended. In the course of time, they put up a shed of coconut leaves roof supported by jungle wood poles. Often this temporary structure was damaged by the heavy winds and the poor local people found it very hard to repair it.
Meanwhile the local poor Catholics bought some land for the Cemetery to be used for the burial of local catholic people. In the course of time, these catholic people also bought some more land from two Non-Christian families at the nominal rates for the building of a church dedicated to the patronage St. Paul for their spiritual needs and for the memory of the 2000 Birth Year Jubilee of St. Paul the Apostle.
To mark the jubilee year of St Paul, the parish council of Vittal parish under the leadership of parish priest Fr Peter Serrao and the local people of Delanthabettu, with the support of Bishop of Mangalore Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza , decided to put up a new church as a memorial to St Paul for the spiritual needs of the local people at an estimated cost of Rs 80 lac.
The foundation stone was laid by Rev Fr Denis Moras Prabhu, the vicar general of our Diocese in September 2011.
The proposed parish had 110 Catholic families with a population of 625 in 2011.
Mangalore Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza, through a decree, declared Delanthabettu as an independent parish in 2018.
Parish Priests who have served in the parish :
- Fr Lancy Joel Saldanha (2018 - 19)
- Fr Sunil Praveen Pinto (from 2019 onwards)
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