Diocese: Mangalore

Pioneers: Sisters Mary Braganza, Rose Marie Souza and Rosalie Mendonca

Karopady is situated 46 kilometres away from Mangalore city. The parish church at Karopady, in the form of a tiny chapel came into being in 1889, as a result of having been carved out of Panir parish, earlier known as Ullal-Panir. The tiny chapel was raised to the status of a parish on August 1, 1910 with a resident priest who was in charge of Vorkady parish as well. Fr Gregory A D’Souza, the first parish priest transferred his residence to Vorkady; Mass was celebrated at Karopady every alternate Sunday. Fr Victor Rosario Fernandes, parish priest, later the Bishop of Mangalore Diocese, rebuilt the façade of the church and developed the parish. He also established St Lawrence  Elementary School. A permanent resident priest was appointed to Karopady only in 1927. By then things were beginning to take shape at Karopady. Nonetheless, administering a parish and managing a school efficiently were extremely difficult for a single individual, particularly as the parishioners were leading a hand-to-mouth life.

In such circumstances, the Catechist Sisters of St Ursula arrived at Karopady. Their task was to collaborate in the field of education as well as in pastoral activities of the parish. Fr Jerome M Pinto, parish priest invited them due to his conviction that the Sisters would readily work for the apostolic demands of his parish and that they would fulfil those demands with a spirit of collaboration. Bishop Victor R Fernandes of Mangalore Diocese endorsed the conviction by doing the needful for the arrival of the Sisters at Karopady. Mr Paul Monteiro, parishioner as well as a teacher of St Lawarence Elementary School donated the land to the Sisters where they built a small residence. As the entire region, including the parish church, was reeling under abject poverty, they could not expect financial help from any quarters in the parish.

The Sisters undertook to address the appalling condition of the place. Their four establishments already at Bolar (1901), Vorkady (1927), Bejai (1931) and Fajir (1938), – all of them struggling in conditions of deprivations – had taught them that literacy/education was the best approach to deal with the precarious situations they found themselves in. Hence they took up the responsibility of teaching at St Lawrence School. Circumstances were so bad that they had to deal with half a dozen children in the whole school and with zero attendance of girl children. By way of handling the problem they started a home for the children known as Shanthi Ashram in 1962; three years later, in 1965, it succeeded in securing government aid. Their scheme proved fruitful; the number of students increased steadily. In order to afford better facility to children, an acre of land was purchased from the Sri Madanantheshwar Temple at Manjeshwar on August 30, 1974 and two cottages were put up to accommodate boys and girls separately. Fr Edwin Pinto was a God-sent angel as he had been at Vorkady and Panir. He supported the project financially through the Andheri Hilfe charity fund. Sisters Margaret D’Souza and Maria Rodrigues, both lovers of the poor, spared no efforts in realizing expectations of the Children’s Home. Over the years, the Children’s Home has made immense progress, St Lawrence School has turned out to be a centre of learning, and Karopady is certainly transformed. However, as if to terminate their sixty-year duration in the educational field history, Sr Luciana Pinto the last teaching Sister at St Lawrence School, retired from teaching in 2010. Nonetheless, Sisters are reaching out in educational field as and when necessary: Sr Jeneveera Noronha, at the request from the parish, served for one year at St Lawrence High School started in 2009.

Besides undertaking teaching in the school, the Sisters have addressed professionally the issue of health and hygiene at Karopady as that was a crucial concern of the area. Sisters Mary Mendonca, Lucy Lobo and Rosa Dias rendered their valuable services at St Lawrence Hospital; it was started by Fr Peter Serrao in 1995. Their service in the hospital was brought to an end in 2002 when the Franciscan Hospitallar Sisters took over the hospital. It goes unsaid that pastoral apostolate has been integral to their existence at Karopady. Catechizing, maintaining cleanliness of the House of God, attending to various needs of the parish as in other places are the usual pastoral activities at Karopady.

As stated at the beginning Karopady has been a challenging mission area for the Sisters. However, the ‘bear-like Ursulines’ have faced the challenges with determination and achieved enviable results in their apostolic work even at the cost of losing life. Two names can be mentioned as a case in point. Sr Rose Marie, animator of the house suffered pulmonary tuberculosis and died on August 21, 1957 and Sr Angela Menezes breathed her last on April 29, 2003 due to a cardiac arrest. At the same time, they had to explore alternative measures of survival since no teaching posts were available in the school. Hence a nursery class was started in 2005, 100 children benefit from the school.

Their rickety residence of over sixty years required urgent attention. In 2003 Sr Lenita D’Souza, Provincial Councillor in charge of land and building worked towards attaining decent living conditions for the Sisters by renovating the existing building. Other requirements like sinking an open well and installing an astra ole were undertaken. The Children’s Home, Shanthi Ashram continues to cater to children. Currently 46 children benefit from it. Students from abroad, as part of their study curricula, arrive at Shanthi Ashram annually and spend time with the children.

Karopady has been a changed hamlet today even though the changes may not be remarkable. The Sisters keep themselves open to the designs of God that are disclosed to them day by day in and through the service of God and their neighbour.