HISTORY PHASE - 2

history-phase-1 On 17th June 2008 Fr. J. A. Nathan took over as Parish Priest, the financial situation was very poor, hardly left anything in the Parish without any cash, in the midst of such a distress, the Parish was taken over by Father and passed through quite a lot of environmental issues. Some of the senior members of the Parish Like Col.Lobo, Sylvester, Sebastian and old Committee members they contacted the Parish Priest and requested him to develop or to take over the Church construction.

Already a few steps have been taken by the predecessors. Arch diocese was very aware of the need of a bigger Church for the Parish People. But what required most was the Sanction Plan from the BBMP. Although many steps were taken earlier on the documentation, financial and legal permission in all these grounds, the work did not proceed and got suspended.

Though on Sundays people were filling the Church inside in the present Community Hall, quite a lot of people attended the mass on Sundays, Christmas and Easter times standing outside the campus in the hot sun, cold and rain. Shamiana was being arranged every Sunday in the Church premises facilitating the safety of the people and better participation having speaker system outside. This pitiful status went on for almost two years.

And it was in 2010 the Parish Priest took a strong initiative, by approaching various individuals, including BBMP staff to fetch sanction plans for the new Church construction. Finally Parish Priest approached a right person namely Mr. Mario of BBMP working in the City Corporation as Senior Official. After a long process and effort, Mr. Mario could help us in obtaining the Sanction plan from the Corporation. That was a great day in the History of our Parish. After a payment of few lakhs without any bribe Father was able to obtain the Sanction plan.

The Arch Bishop Most Rev. Dr. Bernard Moras received this news with great joy and paid the whole amount for the Sanction plan and there on the Estate Council of the arch diocese headed by the Arch Bishop and Mr. John Rosaria held number of meetings in the Arch Bishop's house along with the Parish Priest and Mr. Nikki Thomas the Architect, the Contractor Mr. Abraham Thomas and Church Building Committee members such as Col. Lobo, Mr. Prabhakar, Mr. Amalanathan, Mr. Fernando, Mrs. Lorna Lobo, Francis Anthony, Mr. Sylvester.

Also deep discussion was done with regard to the structure of the Church designed earlier by Mr. Nikki Thomas and few changes were made in the structure and thus it was settled with high roofing without RCC, facilitating better ventilation and light.

Another historical day came to the Parish on 12-12-2010, when the Arch Bishop blessed the site of the new Church Building Construction on the terrace of the current structure and thus he gave a new fillip to the enthusiasm and faith of the people and the Parishioners received this news with deep sentiment of joy and gratitude to Arch Bishop, Parish Priest and Committee Members and others.

The actual physical work of the New Church construction began with earth work on 3rd Jan 2011 and there upon the Church construction took up a new shape posing a big challenge both to Parish Priest who is residing the Church and to the Parishioners, little by little the work moved towards a complete shape by end of Sep 2012.

It is the collective faith of the Parish Priest and Parishioners who have undergone lot of hardships and difficulties in the last two years. Especially our Parish Priest who is living in the midst of dust and noise pollution, Lord has provided him the strength to sustain the sail through the difficulties and challenges

Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain who build. Unless the Lord guard the city, in vain the God keep watch”

Number of plans and strategies were made in order to mobilize funds towards the construction of the New Church by the Parish Priest joining with Parish Council, Finance Committee and Church Building Committee and this was coordinated by the Parish Pastoral Council Secretary and other members of the PPC. Our Parishioners expressed their goodwill and generosity by contributing in a big way towards the Church Construction. The following senior members of the Church went door-to-door collection:

Mr. Amalanathan, Mr. Xavier Fernando, Mr. Francis Anthony, Mr. Joseph Kline, Mr. William D'souza, Mr. A. Joseph, Mr. Mathew Pushparaj, Mr. Sylvestor, Mr. PeriyaNayagam along with Parish Priest F. J. Arokia Nathan. Around Rupees 45 Lakhs thus collected was credited from the Building Fund to the Arch Diocese Bangalore towards the Church Building and the rest of the finance was taken care by the generosity of the Arch Bishop. The Parish is indebted to the Arch Bishop for his care and concern towards our Parish.

A new prayer was composed by the Parish Priest in order to pray to the Lord to obtain special grace to complete the Church. Here is the prayer..

A new prayer was composed by the Parish Priest in order to pray to the Lord to obtain special grace to complete the Church. Here is the prayer..

DEAR MOST LOVING AND MERCIFUL LORD/ WE THANK YOU MOST SINCERELY/ FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF OUR NEW CHURCH BUILDING/ THAT HAS BEEN STARTED WITH YOUR DIVINE WILL/ AND FOR ENABLING US TO WORSHIP YOU/ IN A BETTER AND BEAUTIFUL SPACE AND PLACE. / LORD, WE BESEECH YOU TO BLESS OUR ENDEVOUR. / BLESS ALL WHO HAVE UNDERTAKEN THIS PROJECT / OUR ARCHBISHOP AND OUR PARISH PRIEST/ OUR PARISH COUNCIL AND BUILDING COMMITTEE MEMBERS / OUR PARISH COMMUNITY AND ALL OUR WELL WISHERS/ BUILDERS, ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS/ SUPERVISORS AND LABOURERS/ FINANCIERS AND DONORS./ LORD, PROTECT EVERYONE WHO WORKS IN THIS PROJECT/ FROM THE DAY ONE TILL THE END / FROM ALL EVIL. / LET NO OBASTACLE COME IN THE WAY OF THIS PROJECT / THAT IS MEANT TO BUILD UP / THIS PARISH COMMUNITY/ THE MYSTICAL BODY OF YOUR SON JESUS CHRIST./ SHOWER UPON US/ THE GIFTS OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT / THAT WE MAY COLLECTIVELY TAKE UP/ THE RESPONSIBILITY OF SAFEGUARDING/ THE HOLINESS AND DIGNITY OF THIS HOUSE. / HELP US TO KEEP OUR THOUGHTS, WORDS AND DEEDS PURE/ CORDIAL AND FRATERNAL/ SO AS TO RENDER LIVING WITNESS TO YOUR GOSPEL/ LORD, LET THE NOURISHING FAITH OF MOTHER MARY / BE A LAMP FOR OUR FEET AND LIGHT TO OUR PATH/ ON OUR JOURNEY TOWARDS YOUR SON JESUS/ WHO LIVES AND REIGNS FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN.

The Church has come out very beautifully with a modern look, especially the Stained Glass structure of the Lord giving the Keys to St. Peter and the Way of the Cross in etched glass and the provision for the lift for the elders and specially challenged parishioners.

Finally on 26th Oct 2012 the Parishioners dream came true, when the Arch Bishop joined with Parish Priest Fr. J. Arokianathan, Former Parish Priests and many Concelebrants Blessed opened the New Church in midst of melodious singing and praising the Lord, by thousands of people who witnessed this gracious and fervent event.

On behalf of the PPC, we give our sincere thanks to Arch Bishop, Parish Priest and the Parishioners by providing their guidance, support and prayer.

In order to make the event more solemn and meticulously organize, we cannot forget the great role played by the Secretaries of the various Commissions: Family Commission (Mr. Amalanathan), Liturgy Commission (Mr. Roy D'Cunha), YouthCommission (Mr. Vinu Joseph & Miss Divya Joseph), Catechetical Commission (Dr. Joseph Xavier), Women's Commission (Mrs. Sneha Fernandez and Mrs. Dani) , Evangelization Commission (Mr. Francis Anthony), Health and Education Commission (Mr. Arun Prasad) , Maintenance Committee (Mr. Roger) , Hospitality Committee (Mr. Walter).

The entire staff of the Parish Mr. Gabriel Arokianathan, Mrs. Mary Johnson and Mrs. Malliga who helped the Parish Priest at all circumstances undergoing hardships and difficulties during the construction time.

The New Church Building Committee headed by the Parish Priest remembers with gratitude the former Parish Priests in the struggle to give an impetus for this project.

The faith in the Lord by the Parishioners has ensured that the New Church Construction had gone smoothly without any major impediments. We must continue to have this faith and strive to bring gospel message to all people and places in our neighborhood. Parish Pastoral Council will consider the needs of the faithful and search within the community for the means that will adequately respond to these needs, so that this 'heart' of the Church can continue to 'beat' with perennial vitality, drawing to herself all of us and help us enjoy a spiritual experience.

Nothing on earth is more valuable to God than his Church. We must passionately love the Church as Jesus did. Life is meant to be shared. God intends for us to experience life together. The Bible calls this shared experience fellowship. Real fellowship is so much more than just showing up at services. It is experiencing life together. It includes unselfish loving, honest sharing, and practical serving, sacrificial giving, sympathetic, comforting one another.

So we have our beautiful Church as a platform to experience the real fellowship and we experience mutuality. Mutuality is the art of giving and receiving. It's depending on each other.

We must foster oneness in Christ and continue to provide our support to our Parish Priest Fr. J. Arokia Nathan, who has endured numerous hardships in converting the dream of our New Church to reality. He has shown extreme commitment and patience despite facing lot of challenges. We must show our gratitude to him.

Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace.
(Colossians 3:15)
By Mr.Joshua Francis,

Secretary,
(Parish Pastoral Council)