Mangalore: Bishop Lays Foundation for New Church Building at Shaktinagar
Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (VM)
Mangalore, Aug 15: Bishop of Mangalore Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza laid the foundation stone for the new church building at Mother of God Church in Shaktinagar here on Wednesday August 15.
The foundation stone was laid in the presence of Fr Walter D’Souza, parish priest, other parish priests and parishioners.
Prior to the foundation ceremony, Bishop celebrated Eucharistic mass and the church website was also launched.
Fr Vincent Monteiro, director of pastoral center, Basti Vaman Shenoy, director of World Konkani Centre, Shakeela Kava, local corporator, Fr Jayaprakash, Patrick Soans shared the dais.
Speaking on the occasion, Bishop Dr Aloysius said that the parishioners should work together towards the betterment of the church, trusting in the providence of god. They should think that the church is a house of god and should be generous enough while contributing, he said.
"With ‘one heart, one soul’ the church community should grow," said the bishop, wishing speedy completion of the work.
Dennis Machado, parish vice-president welcomed, William D’Souza compered and Vincent D’Souza, parish secretary proposed the vote of thanks.
Fr Boniface Pinto, director of mangala jyothi, Fr Ronald Prakash D’Souza, Fr Anil D’Souza, Fr Santhosh Rodrigues, Fr Rupesh, Fr Deepak, Lawrence Cutinho-engineer, among others were present.
Shaktinagar parish under Mangalore diocese is dedicated to Mother of God and was established in the year 2003. Now, due to the increasing number of parishioners in the community, the church faces constraint of space especially during Sunday’s congregation. Thus, a need for a bigger church was felt by the parish council and the parishioners.