Mother Teresa Church consecrated in Tamil Nadu

Chennai – The first–ever Church in Tamil Nadu to venerate Nobel laureate Mother Teresa was consecrated on May 29, according to UNI.

The consecration mass for the St Teresa Church at Manaalanvayal Village in Thiruvadanai taluk in the southern Ramanathapuram district was held by Bishop Rev. Edward Francis of Sivaganga.

Followers from all areas of Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts congregated for the ceremony at the church, housing two idols of Mother Teresa of three feet height each.

There were also icons of Jesus on the Cross, St Joseph and other saints, Parish Priest Singarayar, who was instrumental in turning this into reality, told UNI over phone from Thiruvadanai.

A sense of bonhomie and camaraderie was seen as the Hindus and Muslims also joined the festivities and the entire Thiruvadanai area was tastefully decorated for the historic occasion.

A large number of bishops and priests participated in the ceremony. In all about 600 to 700 people were present on the occasion.

After the High Mass, Father Thathause, Parish priest of Kalkurichi in Kottar diocese, delivered a discourse on the life and times of Mother Teresa.

Three sisters from the Madurai branch of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charities participated in the ceremony. Several orphaned children, including physically handicapped and visually impaired children, were brought from Madurai for the ceremonial function.

The sizeable number of Christians in the neighbouring Andavoorani and surrounding villages did not have a church on their own and had to go to Thiruvadanai for worhsip.

The idea to have a church in the village gathered enough steam with the poor villagers pooling in their resources to raise Rs. 10,000 and handed it over to a Parish priest Singarayar, who in turn persuaded the Bishop of Sivaganga to contribute Rs. 40,000.

The work on building the Church hit a road block in 2003 due to paucity of funds.

The move by the Parish priest to dedicate the Church to Mother Teresa came as a shot in the arm and funds started pouring in from all quarters. The idea was well received and people of all faiths contributed generously and soon the Church building fund swelled to Rs. 4 lakh.

The church was built by the villagers, who donated liberally. The final phase of construction work began in December last year and it was completed in a record time of five months.