A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MOTHER OF SORROWS PARISH – UDUPI

In the temple town of Udupi, a small chapel dedicated to Mother of Sorrows was built and inaugurated on 25th Nov. 1880. In 1880 the then Bishop of Mangalore, His Lordship N. PAGANI issued a decree establishing the independent Udupi Parish, with Fr. J. N. MASSE as the first Parish Priest. A small Church was built by Fr. Casmir Fernandes which was blessed and inaugurated by Bishop Perini on 8th Feb. 1918.

Two parishes were carved out from the Udupi Parish – Christ King Church at Manipal and the Stella Maris Church at Kalmady (Malpe).
Papal Internuncio Most. Rev. Dr. James Robert Knox visited the Udupi Church on 4th Dec. 1959.
The present Church was built in the place of the old one by Fr. J. P. Tauro which was blessed and inaugurated by Bishop Basil D’souza on 17th May 1984. Presently there are 495 families comprising 1915 Parishioners.

PARISH ORGANIZATIONS: S.V.P, Catholic Sabha, Legion of Mary, Franciscan 3rd Order, Y.C.S , I.C.Y.M., Alter Service, Stree Saghatan etc., function actively and serve the Parish and the society fruitfully. Fr. Mathew Vas took charge on 17th May 2004 as the parish Priest and was Instrumental in celebrating the post-centenary Silver Jubilee on a grand scale during which the Adoration Chapel was blessed and inaugurated.


COMMERCIAL PROJECTS:
Towards financial sustenance, the Udupi Supper Bazaar was built by Fr. J. P. Tauro (1980-88), Fr. Peter Noronha (1988-1995) added floors to the premises, the ground floor of which presently rented out to Harsha. Fr. Antony Serrao (1995-2004) built the Christa Jyothi Complex and extended the Vidya Jyothi Complex for commercial purpose.


EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS:
In 1940 Fr. Denis Sequeira established the St. Mary’s Kannada Primary School. Fr. J.P. Tauro got permission to make it High School in 1983. He also established St. Mary’s English Primary School which was elated as High School in 1991. His other contribution was the starting of St. Mary’s Industrial Training Institute ( I T I ) in 1985 for which the workshop was added by Fr. P. Noronha and a new block was added by Fr. Antony Serrao. Fr. P. Noronha was also instrumental in extending the Vidya Jyothi complex to accommodate more classes.

Presently the student strength is : St. Mary’s Kannada High School 162 , St. Mary’s Kannada Primary School 328 St. Mary’s English School 1007 and the St. Mary’s I. T. I


THE NEW EDUCATIONAL COMPLEX:
With total faith in our Blessed Mother and the goodwill and patronage of the well wishers, Fr. Mathew has embarked upon a prestigious project with a vision. To overcome the problems of congestion, pollution, traffic noise and lack of play grounds for the children, the English Medium School is planned to be shifted to a new location of serene ambience, greeted by quite clean air around farm lands, near the cool coast, one kilometer away from the NH 17 and hustle and bustle of the city. On this vast 10 acres land the new educational complex will have spacious class rooms, hostels, play grounds, gymnasium, library and other updated facilities that will address the present and future growing needs to make the student educationally, mentally and physically competent, intelligent and thus graduate in excellence both as student and citizen. Surely, when this facility is completed to intake children, it is bound to be the favorite address of proud parents for their children, a centerpiece of the city and a masterpiece to the lord.