In the year 1934, Late Mr Bernard Martis, under the guidance of the then Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Francis D’Souza, formed an association of the youth of the Parish and Catholic Action League (CAL) came into existence in Bendur Parish.
Later, in the year 1939, when Mr Martis left Mangalore for better prospects, Rev .Fr. Charles Lobo played a prominent role in strengthening the League. During his time, most of the church activities were carried out with the help of CAL members.
Later, Rev.Fr.Joachim Pereira became the spiritual director and Mr Lewis Mascarenhas as President of the League. Under their leadership, CAL bloomed fully and progressed remarkably. During this time, CAL organized their first Konkani play at Bendur church “Punvechya Uzvadak” to a huge gathering of the parishioners. During the same period, a stall to sell spiritual books and church accessories was opened at Bendur Church.
CAL played a wider role to raise funds to build the Church Belfry in the year 1940. They even organized a play to collect funds for this good cause.
As the years passed by, the activities of CAL increased. In the year 1943, Mr Harry Monteiro became the president of the association and Mr Edmond D’Silva was elected as the secretary.
Around 1952, many of the senior members quit the association and the responsibility of CAL was passed on to the younger members of the association. A major change took place during this time; CAL became wholly a youth organization, and the senior members, who had quit CAL, encouraged them in all their activities.
Commencing from this time, CAL organized a number of plays and the funds collected from these plays, were utilized for the betterment of down trodden people around. As a result, CAL Bendur was recognized in the diocese as a distinguished association.
In the year 1959 CAL members celebrated the Silver Jubilee of the association. As the Bendur Parish was expanding, there was a need for building a larger Church Belfry. CAL members organized a play “Sezarchi Chali” at Don Bosco Hall, to raise funds for this worthy cause.
CAL members took the initiative to introduce “Raknno” to the Bendur parishioners, and made it a popular weekly among the people. The members also played an important role in the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of St Sebastian Church, in the year 1964-65. CAL organized a play “Professor” and donated the collected amount for this event.
In addition to the noble work within the Church, the CAL members went out of their way to facilitate city bus services to the residents of Bendur locality, thus solving the problem of conveyance to the people residing in this area.
CAL started organizing fancy fetes in the Church during Easter season and the money collected through these fetes was donated to the Education Fund for the Poor Children in the Parish.
The CAL members included many musicians, who encouraged and trained the parishioners to participate in various inter-parish competitions and the Bendur Parish secured Runner-up place in the competition in the year 1988.
During 1988 St. Sebastian Church celebrated the Platinum Jubilee and CAL played a prominent role to raise funds for this occasion. A play written by our renowned parishioner, Mr Claude D’Souza, “Shipai Santh” was organized by CAL, which was presented to the public twice. A good amount was collected through this play which was contributed to the Platinum Jubilee Celebration Fund.
Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the League was held in the year 1994 in a memorable way.
It is a great pleasure to observe that CAL Bendur is still continuing to be an active association of the Parish, with its ever growing youth membership, actively participating in various activities of the Church, rendering their commendable services for the betterment of the Parish and the parishioners.