Diocese: Chikmagalur
Pioneers: Sisters Millicent Pinto, Alphonsa Fernandes and Priscilla D’Sa
The parish priest Fr F Pinto of St Joseph parish at Hirebile at a distance of 13 kms from Kalasa and 30 kms from Kottigehara required assistance of a religious congregation to cater chiefly to the estate labourers of the Western Ghats in his parish. He approached the Ursuline Franciscan Sisters who had just then closed down one of their convents at Madanthyar dedicated to the patronage of Sacred Heart. At their arrival they resided in a small house given by the parish as residence. They christened it Sacred Heart Convent.
Sisters Millicent Pinto, Alphonsa Fernandes and Priscilla D’Sa arrived at Hirebile on May 28, 1960. They identified themselves with the people sharing their joys and sorrows. Sr Alphonsa being of medical personnel attended to their concerns related to health. Gradually, they erected a school building which was completed in 1968. The task was truly daunting: of the numerous trials they had to undergo, Sr Millicent Pinto recalls the horror of leaches they had to wrestle with, in their endeavour to cajole and secure children from the neighbourhoods for the newly established school.
Simultaneously, a Home for Poor Children was put up; it catered to the education of children from remote areas. The convent building was put up only in 1985 – a true case in point of being other-oriented! In view of catering to more students, a first floor was added to the Home for Poor Children; it was inaugurated on June 29, 2009 by Sr Concilia Peris, a long- standing member at Hirebile, and blessed by Fr Francis Rasquina the parish priest. The ground floor of the building was inaugurated in 2003.
Sr Jyothi Fernandes, the Provincial Superior of Mysore Province had dreamed of establishing a high school in the remote area of Hirebile. The dream was realized with the inauguration of the school on May 29, 2006. The efforts of Mr Gilbert Pereira a parishioner, Mr Ronald Colaco the President of Karnataka Catholic Association and Sr Emily D’Souza must be recorded in the successful outcome of this enterprise. Even though not many Sisters teach in the school, headed by an Ursuline Franciscan Sister the school bears abundant fruits. A first floor was added to the High School in 2006. In response to the request of people an English medium school also was started on June 2, 2010; the school comprises Standard VI to VIII.
Pastoral activities such as animation of choir, altar services, sodality, teaching catechism and preparing for the reception of sacraments, church cleanliness as well as periodic visits to houses are the regular features of the Sisters’ ministry. Preparation and participation at the Eucharist at Hemmakki substation which is 13 kms away from the main parish are also being carried on.
In the words of the Sisters themselves, an experience of the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus enables them to be Christ- bearers both in their ‘being’ and ‘action’.
