Pastoral

Little Flower Church, Puthiyidam

Little Flower Church is situated six k.m. away from the St. Norbert Priory. It is a hilly area surrounded by tea estate. The beauty of the place isso great that we fail to express it in words. Because of the lack of transportation facilities people had to walk 12 k.m. to the nearby parish for their pastoral as well as sacramental needs. In 1983 the diocese of Mananthavady entrusted Little Flower parish to the Mananthavady Norbertines. Since then Norbertine fathers care to the sacramental needs of the people of this area. Today it is a well-established parish with 120 families. Fr. Jose Chempukettickal is the present parish priest of the church.

St. Norbert Church, Kasavanahalli

Ever since the foundation of St. Augustine study house at Kasavanahalli, Bangalore, the Norbertines have been rendering all possible spiritual care to the Syro-Malabar faithful of the locality. In 2004, St. Augustine study house became a Mass Centre and catechism classes for children were begun with the consent of his Grace Archbishop Ignatius Pinto. As the number of faithful kept increasing, the demand for a parish too became inevitable. Consequently, on 23 May 2009 Archbishop Bernard Mores raised the Mass Centre to the status of a semi-public Church, with St. Norbert as its patron saint.

Furthermore, the long cherished dream, and prayers of the people to have their own parish church was realized on 26 June 2010. On this auspicious day, the archbishop Bernard Moras blessed and dedicated the newly built Church to St. Norbert the patron saint of the parish in the presence of Prelate Rev. Fr. Alois Jose Anthanatt O.Praem, Rev. Dr. Mathew Koikara CMI, dean of Madiwala deanary and other distinguished guests and faithful. Rev. Dr. Jose Murickan O.Praem is the first parish priest of St. Norbert Church. As on September 2011, there are 250 families with three masses on Sundays. In the Sunday school there are 125 children.

Pastoral Mission at N. R. Pura Mission Region

The pastoral care of Christians in N.R. Pura was initiated by His Excellency Mar. Sebastian Valloppally, the then Bishop of Thalassery in the year 1954. Later it was entrusted to the diocese of Mananthavady, which was again handed over to Norbertine Fathers in the year 1993. Little Flower church was the first church in N.R. Pura mission. All other parishes of N.R. Pura region lay spread over the entire district of Chikamangalore. After taking up the mission from Mananthavady Diocese we have accelerated the developmental activities in all the parishes. The churches at Koppa, Aldhoor, and Sheeguvani are the direct result of Norbertine mission at N.R. Pura. New churches at Muthinakoppa, Balehonnur, Mallandur and a presbytery at N.R. Pura have also been constructed. The new and beautiful Little Flower church at N.R. Pura is one of the ever memorable contributions of Mananthavady Norbertines to N.R. Pura mission region.

The year 2010 has been a year that brought new ecclesiastical change to the mission region of N.R. Pura. On the 21 February 2010 N.R. Pura mission region was officially attached to the diocese of Bhadravati. On the same day N.R. Pura Little Flower Church was raised as the Cathedral Church of diocese of Bhadravati. Today the ministry of Norbertines at N.R. Pura is centered around two communities namely St. Norbert Nilaya at N.R. Pura and St. Norbert CBSE school community at Koppa. Each community is consisted of three fathers each and regents.

Parishes of N.R. Pura Mission Region

  • St. Norbert’s Church, Koppa
  • St. Antony’s Church, Varketta
  • St. Mary’s Church, Chettikudy
  • St. Sebastian’s Church, Makkod