St Sebastian Church Bendur will celebrate its Centenary in 2014, The opening ceremony of the Centenary will be held on January 20, 2013, said the parish priest of the Church Fr Antony Serrao in a press meet held at the press club, Urva here on January 17.
Addressing the mediapersons Fr Antony said that St Sebastian Church, Bendur will be celebrating 100 years of its existence. It was in 1912 that a small Chapel was built in the same place where the present church exists and mass was celebrated there. Till then the Bendur area was a part of Rosario Parish. The Bendur Parish had its origin in August 1914 and became an independent Parish with Rev Msgr Raymond Mascarenhas as the first Parish Priest.
From then on 17 Parish Priests and 61 Assistant Priests have rendered their services in Bendur. The parish has done much progress in every field, such as Spiritual, Social, Religious, Educational and Economic. The Padua Educational institutions starting from primary school up to Degree College and St Joseph’s primary school at Nanthur comes under the administration of the Bendur church. Presently the parish has 2150 families with a population of 8223
, more and more Catholic families are being added to the parish. We have also 8 different Religious houses in the parish.
A strong Parish Pastoral Parishad works hand in hand with the priests for the growth and development of the people. This parish is known for its vibrant life manifested by variety of talented people. This has been the birth place of musicians, dramatists, educationists, social workers, media persons, business people and politicians.
The opening ceremony of the Centenary will be held on January 20, 2013 (January 20 being the feast day of St. Sebastian) at 4.45 pm in the Church premises. Bishop of Bellary, Rt Rev Dr Henry D’Souza, will inaugurate the auspicious occasion and celebrate the festive Mass with other guest priests.
The Centenary Celebration aims at bringing the people together in faith and unity. The theme of the Centenary is “Towards deeper Faith and Fraternity”. To mark the Centenary, the parishioners along with the Parish Priest and Assistant Priests are planning to launch a Medical Fund for the poor and needy families of the parish. Various competitions and events will be organized for the parishioners throughout the year to make the year very special and memorable. The Closing ceremony of the Centenary will be on January 19, 2014.
Asst Parish Priest Fr John Moras, Vice President of Parish Pastoral Parishad Ronald Valder, Secretary Laveena John and convener of the Centenary Publicity Committee Walter Colaco were also present.