Location :
Pamboor church dedicated to Holy Cross is located 600 meters on Pangala – Bantakal - Belle Cross Road (B C Road) that bifurcates at Katapady on National Highway 66. It lies about 6 kilometres away from churches at Shirva, Moodubelle and Pangala. The parish community flourished along with spiritual bliss.
Origin :
The boundaries of Shirva and Moodubelle are so vast, besides there lies a rivulet between Moodubelle and Padubelle that was a major obstacle for the faithful to attend masses. The faithful living in Bantakal and Manipady who wanted to attend masses in Shirva church, had to walk nearly 5 kilometres. There were no proper roads and transport facilities at that time.
Under these circumstances, the veterans of the community convened a meeting in 1958 to plead Mangaluru diocesan authorities on the need to construct a church building. However, it did not yield any result. They prepared a letter and sent it to the then Mangaluru Bishop Basil Salvador D’Souza in 1965. The bishop visited them and was convinced of their need for a worship centre. He assigned the neighbouring parish priests to identify a plot and pool the essential materials. The plot of land that the existing church built on 1.5 acres was bought and began to build a temporary shelter to hold gatherings to offer Eucharistic Celebration. A chapel was built with the collective efforts of Shirva deanery vicar and shirva parish priest Fr Hilary Gonsalves and assistant parish priest, Moodubelle parish priest Fr Abundius F D’Souza and assistant parish priest in November 1966.
The parish priest of Shirva began offering Sunday Masses at the chapel in December 1966. Pamboor parish was carved out of 3 wards of Moodubelle parish and one ward of Shirva parish, where 217 families lived numbering a total of 1500 faithful.
Formation of Parish :
The Bishop Basil S D'Souza appointed Fr Denis D’Souza as the first parish priest of Pamboor on May 12, 1968. An acre of land was bought and gifted by the diocese for the new church building. An independent parish was erected on July 23, 1968. The Bishop instructed to build a presbytery in 1968 that was taken up by Pamboor’s first parish priest Fr Denis D’Souza. He rechristened the locality as Shantipura from Shanikumer.
The church became the second church in Mangalore diocese to be dedicated to Holy Cross. The young priest Fr Denis focused on developing basic needs and a cemetery. In order to substitute the income, palms and plantains saplings were planted in the church compound. The church school was repaired along with a new access road, a post office for the benefit of the parish community. He laid emphasis on the spiritual needs of parishioners along with other parish duties. The parish community saved a handful of rice daily to meet the expenses of building a new church. They also contributed voluntary service in this regard.
The new church was built by Fr Denis D’Souza with the relentless labour of the parishioners and with the help of foreign aid through his brother Rev. Fr Valerian D’Souza. It was consecrated on May 18, 1971 by Bishop Basil S D’Souza of Mangalore and Archbishop Albert D’Souza of Calcutta. The Altar made of granite was donated by Fr Joseph Falombi of Rome. The plan of this church was prepared by Bishop Basil D’Souza. The Cross kept on the Main Altar was donated by Archbishop Alphonsus Mathias of Bangalore.
Parish Priests :
The first parish priest Fr Denis D’Souza became the architect of Pamboor who laboured his prime youth in building presbytery, building compound walls for the church and cemetery, besides fulfilling his spiritual duties towards his flock from 1968-1977. Fr Denis who was much revered by the parish community is spending his retirement at Bishop’s House in Mangalore.
Fr Joseph Piad Sequeira succeeded Fr Denis and served the parish from 1977 to 1984. Despite his old age and failing health, he devoutly served the spiritual needs of parishioners. He repaired the parish-run primary school and upgraded the same to higher primary school. He founded the ICYM unit at the parish.
Fr Maurice D’Paula served the parish from 1984 to 1988. He was a genius, powerful preacher, authored spiritual books, always soft spoken. He rejuvenated the different associations of the parish. He installed new furniture and ceiling fans, erected a grotto in front of the church and statue of Lord Jesus in the church premises.
Fr Jerome Monteiro served the parish from 1988 to 1995. He was thirty-three-years old when he took charge as a parish priest who was an ace musician. He developed a choir who would render melodious music during Sunday Masses and other festal occasions. The new bell tower was built during his term. He also erected Vailankanni Shrine in the church premises to seek divine graces from Mother Mary and to instill devotion among the parishioners. The silver jubilee was celebrated with much fanfare. A parish hall was built to commemorate the silver jubilee of the parish.
Fr Herald Menezes served the parish from 1997 to 2003. He was the dear of Pamboor parishioner because his term was the golden era in the history of Pamboor. He was an ace preacher reviving the spirituality of the parish community to be vibrant. The different associations that were set up at the parish became active. He organized many workshops and camps in the parish, such as leadership camp, farming camp, legal and political awareness camp etc. He began the parish monthly bulletin, ‘Kursacho Thallo’, and set up a fund to continue its uninterrupted publication. He was credited with distributing liturgy among different wards of the parish. He also launched 25 plans to commemorate the silver jubilee of ICYM parish unit and accomplished at his term. The parish unit of Stree Sanghatan was begun at his term.
Fr Joseph Machado served the parish from 2003 to 2010. He was instrumental in celebrating the silver jubilee of ICYM parish unit and diamond jubilee of Pamboor Higher Primary School. He was a preacher and accomplished musician. The choir group presented melodious music during Sunday Masses and other festal occasions. He encouraged the associations functioning at the parish.
Fr Charles Lewis served the parish from 2010 to 2013. He was a simple and soft spoken, devout priest. He gave significance to spirituality by building a new grotto at the church campus to revive devotion to Mother Mary.
Fr Paul Rego took over the charge as parish priest in 2013. He organized weekly programmes through 18 Commissions at the parish to make it vibrant. The Small Christian Community (SCC) that is thriving in the parish because of Fr Paul in uniting the faithful in different wards.
Fr Paul initiated several development works and also spirituality with the help of parishioners and overseas parishioners to commemorate golden jubilee celebration. Many of such works were completed restructuring of the presbytery, building a mini hall above it that was inaugurated in 2015. The projects to improve the basic amenities of parishioners, fund was created for educational and medical needs. The church building was reconstructed in a new style to commemorate the golden jubilee celebration.
Golden Jubilee celebration of Holy Cross Church
Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Holy Cross Church began with the Solemn Mass at 9:30 a.m. on December 21, 2017. Rt. Rev. Dr. Aloysius Paul D'Souza, Bishop of Mangalore was the main celebrant. Rev. Fr. Denis D'Souza, Founder Parish Priest; V. Rev. Fr. Stany Tauro, Vicar Forane, Shirva Deanery; Rev. Fr. Clement Mascarenhas, Parish Priest, St. Lawrence Church, Moodubelle concelebrated the mass along with being the Guests of Honour.
Rt. Rev. Dr. Jerald Issac Lobo, Bishop of Udupi Diocese presided over the formal function which began at 11 a.m.
Hon. Shobha Karandlaje, Member of Parliament, Udupi-Chikmagalur Constituency; Hon. Vinay Kumar Sorake, Former Minister, Govt. Of Karnataka and Member of Legislative Assembly, Kaup Constituency; Hon. J. R. Lobo, Member of Legislative Assembly, Mangalore (South) and Chairman, Committee on welfare of backward classes & Minorities; Hon. Ivan D'Souza, Member of Legislative Council & Chief Whip, Govt. of Karnataka; Smt, Priyanka Mary Francis, I.A.S., Deputy Commissioner of Udupi Dist. and others were the other Guests of Honour who graced the occasion and the dais.
The Fellowship meals were organised at 1 p.m., followed by Cultural Programme at 6:30 p.m. "Poppa" a Tulu drama was played by "Rangataranga Kalavidaru" Group, Kaup.
New Grotto inauguration :
New Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes was inaugurated at Holy Cross Church on March 18, 2018. The grotto was sponsored by Shiny Shipping & Logistics Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai. Parish Priest Fr Paul Rego blessed the grotto in the presence of a large number of faithful.
Parish Priests who have served the parish since its inception :
- Fr Denis D’Souza (1968 – 1977)
- Fr Joseph Piad Sequeira (1977-1984)
- Fr Maurice D’Paula (1984-1988)
- Fr Jerome Monteiro (1988-1995)
- Fr Norbert Lobo (1995-1997)
- Fr Herald Menezes (1997-2003)
- Fr Joseph Machado (2003-2010)
- Fr Charles Lewis (2010-2013)
- Fr Paul rego (2013-2019)
- Fr Henry Mascarenhas (from 2019 onwards)
Compiled by Catholic Time Staff with inputs from pamboorchurch.com
Last updated in Dec 2020.
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