Udupi: Karnataka’s first star-shaped Tallur church set for inaugural on May 12

- Media Release

Udupi, 06 May 2016: The newly-built church of St Francis Assisi, Tallur, near here will be inaugurated by Bishop Dr Gerald Isaac Lobo of Udupi diocese on Wednesday May 12 at 9.00am.

 

The bishop will con-celebrate the Eucharistic Mass at the new church along with clergies, religious nuns and parishioners.

 

The bishop will preside the felicitation programme after the Eucharistic Celebration at 10.45am.

 

 

The state urban and Udupi district-in-charge minister Vinay Kumar Sorake, Karnataka former CM and MP of Byndoor - Shivamogga B S Yeddyurappa , Kundapura deanery vicar  Fr Anil D’Souza, Byndoor MLA Gopal Poojary, MLCs Pratapchandra Shetty and Kota Srinivas Poojary, Tallur gram panchayat president Ananada Billava, Hattiyangady – Siddivinayaka temple priest Vedamurti Vidwan Ramachandra Bhat, Mavinakatte – Al Badriya Jumma masjid president B A Ismail will be the chief guests.

 

The stage programme will be followed by fellowship meal. Kannada play ‘Heluvanthadalla’ will be staged at the church campus on the same day at 6.30pm as part of entertainment programme.

 

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 striven to make the dream of constructing this beautiful, meaningful, St Francis Assisi church to realize. With the blessings and guidance of 19th  priest of the church, Fr Sunil Veigas, and hard work put in by vice president of parish council, Arun Mendonca, secretary, Stany D’Silva, Committee members and faithful, this church has come up majestically. This is an invaluable gift to the next generation of Christians, which is ideal for offering prayers and celebrating holy Eucharist.

 

St Francis Assisi church is backed by a long history. There was no prayer centre for Christians from Tallur region before 1929. They had to go to Holy Rosary church in Udupi town to offer prayers. There was a plea from the devotees to set up separate church at Tallur. Fr Peter Remegias D’Souza in 1928 purchased a land in Tallur and constructed a small hut. The Christian community of Tallur, then constructed a new church in 1959. The 19 priests have served in the church.  Fr Sunil Vegas is the present parish priest of the only Church offered to St Francis Assisi in Udupi and Mangaluru dioceses.

 

Five villages fall under the jurisdiction of this church - Tallur, Uppinakudru, Hemmady, Devalkunda, and Hattiyangady.  The congregation of 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, 8 wards and 8 Gurkars serve the church within its jurisdiction.

 

This church building has been built at a cost of over Rs 3.5 crore. It can accommodate 600 devotees to offer prayers together. 

 

An idea took birth to construct this building, which has completed 8 decades, towards developing this centre of faith in a modern way. Foundation stone for the proposed new building was laid on October 20, 2012. The project cost for the renovated church building including presbytery was around Rs 3.5 crore.

 

’Shilpi’ architects based in Kerala designed the building. Sandeep D’Almeida from the town began to serve as engineer.

 

The church 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 would be installed on left and side of the altar. The statues have been made from Italian marble. 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 it denotes, this is modelled after 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 single fan.