Karnataka’s First Star-shaped Tallur Church to be Inaugurated on May 12
Udupi: The newly built church of St Francis Assisi, Tallur will be inaugurated on Wednesday, May 12 at 9 am said Fr Sunil Vegas parish priest of the church.
He was speaking to the media persons at a pressmeet held at the pressclub on May 5. The new Church inauguration will be done by Dr Gerald Isaac Lobo Bishop of Udupi Diocese. Later the Bishop will offer the first Eucharistic service in the new church in the presence of priests, nuns, and thousands of people – Christians as well as non-Christians.
A felicitation and Honouring function will be held after the holy mass at 10:45 am. Dr Gerald Isaac Lobo Bishop of Udupi Diocese will preside over the function. Vinay Kumar Sorake Minister for Urban Development and District minister in-charge, Udupi district, B. S. Yeddyurappa former chief minister of Karnataka and Member of Parliament Bydoor – Shimoga Constituency, Fr Anil D’Souza, Dean Kundapur Deanery, Gopal Poojary, MLA Byndoor Constituency, Prathapchandra Shetty and Kota Srinivasa Poojary Members Legislative Council, Ananada Billava president, Tallur grama panchayat, Sri Vedamoorthy Vidwan Ramachandra Bhat, Dharamadarshi, Siddivinayaka Temple, Hattiangadi, B. A. Ismail Madani Al-Badriya Jumma Masjid, Mavinakatte will be present as chief guests of the function.
Tallur, which is growing fast, has got an addition to its illustrious locales in the form of this attractive church. The church will be an attraction for tourists coming to the region. A large number of people have strived hard to make the dream of constructing this beautiful, meaningful, St Francis Assisi church. With the blessings and guidance of the 19th priest of the church, Fr Sunil Veigas, and the hard work by vice president of parish council, Arun Mendonca, secretary, Stany D’Silva, committee members and faithfuls, the church has come up majestically. This is an invaluable gift to the next generation Christians, which is ideal for offering prayers and celebrating the holy Eucharist.
St Francis Assisi church is backed by a long history. There was no prayer centre for Christians of Tallur region before 1929. They had to go to Holy Rosary church in the town to offer prayers. There was a plea from the devotees to set up a separate church at Tallur. Fr. Peter Remegias D’Souza in 1928 purchased a land in Tallur and built a small hut. The Christian community in Tallur then constructed a new church in 1959. 19 priests have served in the church. Fr. Sunil Veigas is the present parish priest of the only Church offered to St. Francis Assisi in Udupi and Mangalore Diocese.
Five villages fall under the jurisdiction of this church, ie Tallur, Uppinakudru, Hemmady, Devalkunda, and Hattinangadi. 896 members spread over 220 families in these villages are served by this church. This church, which has a history of 87 years, is located in the central part of Tallur, and is known as the centre of harmonious coexistence.
Catholic Sabha, St Vincent De Paul organization, Franciscan organization, Young Christian Students Association, Altar Boys Association, 18 committees, eight Varado, and eight Gurkars serve the church within its jurisdiction.
This church building has been built at a cost of over Rs 3.5 crore. It has enough space to accommodate 600 devotees to offer prayers together.
An idea took birth to construct this building, which has completed eight decades, towards developing this centre of faith in a modern way. The foundation stone for the proposed new building was laid on October 20, 2012. The project cost for the renovated church building including residence for the priests is around Rs 3.5 crore.
‘Shilpi’ architects based in Kerala designed the building. Sandeep Almeida from the town began to serve as engineer.
From outside, this building looks like a star. The church has entrance from three sides through similar doors. The windows have been placed in such a way that they allow abundant light and air to enter into the building. The building is 140 feet wide and 113 feet high with a total area of 10,800 square feet.
A spacious altar has been erected. For anyone who comes near the church, it looks like a star that has been placed vertically. When we enter inside the building and look up, the concept of star is visualized. The concept of fixing a single fan is under consideration. Glass is used in 40 percent of the building. Modern monitor tiles have been used. Glass is being used for outer walls too to the extent of 40 percent. Flooring is provided through attractive granite slabs. For the outer area, interlock is being provided.
The statues of Mother Mary and St Francis Assisi will be installed on the left hand side of the altar. In a nutshell, this church has been built with an architectural design that cannot be found anywhere in Karnataka.
As the shape of the building itself denotes, this is modelled after a star. For the Christian community, star happens to be a sublime symbol of worship. Before the birth of Jesus Christ, wise men saw him descending in the form of a star. This church is shaped after the star. Anyone who enters this building and looks around, gets the feeling of standing inside a star. The building has been designed and shaped so artistically. The three-side doors to the building provide the experience of entering a star. The whole church now has a single fan.
Arun Mendoca vice president PPC, Stany D’Slilva Secretary PPC, Praveen Periera media co-ordinator, John Mendonca programme convener were present in the press meet.