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Barkur cordially welcomes you….. The new parish priest of St. Peter’s Church, Barkur,
REV. FR. VALERIAN MENDONCA, M.A., B.Sc., B.Th., Diploma in Communications. Barkur parish must be fortunate to have the services of great and renowned priests in general and in the new millennium in particular. Especially Late V. Rev. Fr. Sylvester D’Souza, Rev. Fr. Remigious Aranha, and recently transferred Rev. Fr. Alban D’Souza always lived and served Barkurians with love and authority and it’s a pleasant memory….We always feel, this good fortune may be because our parish has given lot many priests to the Church and in return our parish always privileged to be served by one such good shepherd………! As we mentioned earlier, it was no secret that, soon Fr. Alban will be transferred to nearby Kalmady on 4th June, 2012. The new incumbent is Fr. Valerian Mendonca, who will take over reins of this historical parish dedicated to Apostle St. Peter, tomorrow – 3rd June, 2012.
With Na D'Souza, at Sandesha Press Conference Rev. Fr. Valerian Mendonca, a familiar face in the Kallianpur Varado, so also to us many of the Barkurians, since he was associated with Milagres Church and Milagrian Educational Institutions nearly two long decades. In 1980 – 83 as Assistant Parish Priest and thereafter Lecturer in English at Milagrs College Kallianpur – 1988 – 1995 and later as the Vice Principal of the same College – 1995 – 97 and as one of the most successful and revered Principal of the Milagres College for Seven long years – 1997 – 2003. There are good numbers of his old students in our parish now, (he taught ethics classes to us in 1980, in the College) but there will none who have not heard his beautiful hymns in praise of Lord. Few may not know who composed them but one thing is common all of us liked them most. Let’s try to give a brief background of Fr. Mendonca: Born on 9th December 1949 in the Shirva parish of Mangalore Diocese, and Mr. Gabriel and Mrs. Seraphine Mendonca were his proud parents. They had eight children, four boys and four girls. Valerian was their 7th child. Contemporaries call back that Valerian was a simple, good looking and brilliant child, as he did his primary studies in St, Joseph’s Primary School, Shirva and his secondary studies in St. Mary’s High School, Shirva. He pursued his college studies in St. Aloysius College, Mangalore and obtained a B.Sc. degree with a first rank in English language stream from Mysore University. Following the divine call, Valerian joined St. Joseph’s Seminary, Mangalore and did his Philosophical and Theological studies. Through St. Joseph’s Seminary, he obtained a Bachelor of Theology degree from the Urban University of Rome. He also holds a M.A. degree from Mysore University and a diploma in Communications from Amruthavani Communications Centre, Secunderabad. Valerian Mendonca was ordained a priest on 7th April 1976.
It’s most appropriate to make a note here that our CYM Founder and at present Bishop of Bellary Diocese Rev. Henry D’Souza & Fr. Valerian were classmates!!! Truly, it was a great batch of great priests!!! Some foot prints / important posts held by of Rev. Fr. Valerian Mendonca: · He was a wonderful English teacher all of us know at the same time he was a great musician. He balanced three passions at ease as a Teacher, Preacher and a Musician · Immediately after his ordination, Rev. Fr. Mendonca was appointed as the Assistant Director, St Antony’s Poor Homes, Mangalore. · Next he was served as Assistant Parish priest at Holy Family Church, Meramajalu – 1976- 78. · Under the Director Rev. Fr. Stanly R. Pereira he served at Canara Communications Centre Mangalore, as its Secretary – 1978 – 1980. · For the first time Fr. Mendonca arrived at Milagres Church, Kallianpur as Assistant Parish priest – 1980 – 83. He was instrumental for the great grand success of Tri Centenary Celebrations held in December, 1981. He was also the chairman of the Souvenir Committee, titled – ‘The Milagrian’. · 1983 – 1986 he opted for teaching and joined Milagres P.U. College as Lecturer and there after continued as its Vice Principal. · For an year he served as Ecclesiastical Administrator, de-facto Parish priest of St Francis Church, Tallur – 1986 – 87 · Once again, in 1987 – 88, he was appointed as Vice Principal of Milagres P.U. College Mangalore. · Then came back to Milagres College, Kallianpur in 1988, as Lecturer in English and was there for some seven long years and promoted as Vice Principal in the year 1995. · From 1997 till 2003 the tenure of Rev. Fr. Valerian Mendonca as the Principal of Milagres College considered as one of the most successful, in the all round progress of the College. · In 2003 Fr. Mendonca took over the responsibility as Principal of Pompei College, Aikala, near Kirem, Kinnigoli, till 2008.( Its founder Principal was Late Fr. Bernard D’Souza, also served at Barkur, somewhere in 1959 – 60) · From 2008 – 2012 Fr. Valerian Mendonca was at Sandesha, Mangalore as its Director. · On 3rd June, 2012 he will take the reins of St. Peter’s Church, Barkur as its Parish Priest.
“Let us make our lives joyful songs of praise to God” says Fr. Valerian Mendonca. He means what he says. Someone rightly said, he himself is in the ongoing process of composing his life into a song of praise to God! Whenever he finds time, he is totally dedicated to music and wants to bring out the best of religious music and offer it to God. Fr. Valerian Mendonca has composed many songs, poems and religious lyrics in Konkani and other languages like Kannada, English and Hindi. He has also brought out a number of audio- cassettes and CDs. His liturgical compositions have acquired an international usage. He also learnt to play the musical instruments like Harmonium, Electrical Keyboard, Guitar, Violin and Accordion, and also trained many…..
He composed Konkani Lyrics for Hymns and Bhajans recordings by Dr Fr
Charles Vas, SVD, Sangeet Abhinay Academy, Mumbai
·
Konkani:- Somyak Vandan, Moga Ulo, Jezu Mhojo Rai, Movall Mog, Shanti
Sagar, Abba Bapa, Happy Christmas, Noman Moriye, Naman Zuze Vaz Bapa, · Kannada: - Namo Parameshwara (1 cassette). · Hindi: - Pyare Yesu, Yesu Mera Meeth, Jai Ho Prabhu, Prabhu Ki Stuti and Jeevan Ki Roti (5 cassettes).
Conclusion: I read someone in his observation “Only our best is good enough for God. Let us make our lives joyful songs of praise to God.” The above is just a little about a beautiful personality in Rev. Fr. Valerian Mendonca, rest we leave it to our Barkurian’s to observe him more closer, in days / years to come. We stand up to welcome you to this parish and wish you a wonderful living here. Mother Mary is your inspiration as you spend half of your priestly life under her benevolence, now St. Peter, the rock will be there to guard and bring out the best in you in the service of Barkurians…. On behalf of Barkur-online Team and ICYM Barkur Ex. Members Association, P. Archibald Furtado, Muscat – 3rd June, 2012. Archives Rev.Fr.Sylvester D'Souza Mr.V.L.Roche Mr.Chooda Poojari Mr.Richard Carvalho Mr.B.Seetharam Shetty Mr.B. Shantharam Shetty Mr. Henry Roche Mr.Felix Barnes Dr.Gabriel Fernandes Dr.Derrick D'Souza Dr.Sheshagiri Rao Mr. Kasim Saheb Mr. Staney Pais Dr. B.L.N.Adiga Rev.Fr.Cyprian Henry D'Souza Mr. Peter Furtado Mr.Harry Fernandes Mr. K. Sadashiva Kalkur Mr. Micheal D'Souza Dr.N.C. Kalkur Mr.Wilfred Gonsalves Dr. Sr. Consillia Mr.Baptist D'Souza Rev.Fr.Tony Rtn. Jayarama Shetty Mrs.Eugene Quadras Mr.Charles D'Lima Dr.Niranjan Rao Dr.Barkur Shasthry Mr.Jerome John Fernandes Mr.MVR Acharya Nritya Vidushi Sushma Kamath Fr.Charles Lobo Mr.N.M.Bhat Mr.Barkur Sudhakar Shetty Fr.Remigeous Aranha Fr.Mark Gonsalves Divya Furtado Augustine Arunraj Dais Herald D'Souza Pro.Rajshekhar Hebbar Dr.Joseph Gonsalves Shrinivasa Shettigar B.Dharmaraja Shetty V.L.Roche Ivan M.Rebello Satheesh Poojari Louis D'Costa |
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Barkur, located in Udupi Taluk, Karnataka, India. 576 210 |
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Copyright Kishoo, Barkur 2002.-2008 |
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