Steephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network - Kasaragod (MS)
Kasaragod, May 2: Bovikkana chapel, which was under the control of St John De Britto church Narampady is declared as a separate quasi parish. This chapel is renamed as the Resurrected Christ church on May 1. Bishop of Mangaluru diocese Dr Aloysius D'Souza offered a thanksgiving mass on the occasion of declaring this chapel as a separate parish.
Fr Valerian Frank, Vicar General of Kasaragod zone and parish priest of Our Lady of Sorrows church Bela offered the mass as the chief priest. Fr John Baptist Moras, parish priest of John De Britto church Narampady read Bishop's announcement message. Fr Santosh Lobo, parish priest of Our Lady of Sorrows church, Kasaragod gave the sermon. Fr Roshan Lopez, assistant parish priest, Sacred Heart church, Ukkinadka and Fr Stany D'Souza, parish priest of Bovikkana quasi parish were present.
In the stage programme that took place after the mass Fr John Baptist Moras, parish priest of John De Britto church Narampady handed over the documents pertaining to the Bovikkana quasi parish to Fr Stany D'Souza. Fr Valerian Frank, Fr Santosh Lobo, Fr Roshan Lopez, Sr Helen, Premlal Crasta, vice-president and George Manibhushan, secretary were present.
Premlal Crasta welcomed the gathering. Fr Stany D'Souza rendered the vote of thanks. The programme was compered by Bonaventure D'Souza.
History of Bovikkana church
In the year 1960, the project of building Bovikkana chapel was undertaken under the leadership of the then parish priest of Narampady church Fr Vincent Menezes. The chapel was blessed on April 14, 1982 by the then Bishop of Mangaluru diocese Dr Basil D'Souza. The opening of this chapel eased the life of devotees, who had to travel 13 km in order to pray at Narampady church.
An arrangement was made to offer the holy mass on every Saturday. During some years, system was made to offer the holy mass at 11 am on every Sunday followed by Catechism for children. However, this was causing inconvenience to the parish priest of Narampady as he had other responsibilities. To avoid this inconvenience, the chapel was handed over to Pallottine congregation on June 1, 2016 by the Bishop of Mangaluru diocese. Now from May 1, Bishop of Mangaluru diocese has declared Bovikkana chapel as a seprate parish (quasi parish). Due to this around 25 families of Narampady parish are admitted to Bovikkana quasi parish.