ANDHRA PRADESH & TELENGANA

BALAPALA

    Balapala is a village in Kuravi mandal in Warangal district of Telangana state, India. It is located 89km towards south from the headquarters Warangal, 9km from Kuravi. This place is in the border of the Warangal district and Kammam district.

Balapala 2011 censes Detail

    Balapala local language is Telugu. The total population of the village is 3802 and the number of the houses are 996. (At present there may be 5000 people with 4500 households). According to 2011censes 42% of the people are Scheduled tribes, 11.4% are Scheduled caste and others are OC and BCs. Majority are Hindus and others are Christians. It has government high school, Co-operative bank, post office and primary health center. It is a peace-loving village and people live in harmony.

Politics in Balapala

    TRS (Telangana Rastria Samithi), TDP(Telugu Desam Party) and INC( Indian National Congress are themajor political parties in this area. It is a reserved constituency for STs since they form major population. It belongs to Dornakal assembly constituency. People are ignorant and they need to be politicallystronger to get their rights.

Social and Economic condition of Balapala

    The dominant caste in the village is Kammas and they own major agricultural lands. They controlthe whole thing; the middle-class people are Back ward community. They too have agricultural land andengage in cattle rearing. Our concern is for the poor and marginalized people, the Christians. They areagricultural coolies and they lack basic needs in life.

Oblates in Balapala

    Our aim is to preach the good news to poor and most abandoned. So, we chose this place to mark Golden Jubilee of our arrival in India. On May 30 2018 the mission centre is solemnly inaugurated by Bishop Udumala Bala and the provincial Fr. S. Chinnappan, 0MI. We already stared the initial works.

Contact:

   Fr. Kishore Kumar ABBADASARI OMI

   The Parish Priest

   St. Mary’s RCM Church,

   Balapala, Kuravi Mandal,

   Mahabubabad District,

   Telangana State, India. Pin-506381.

ST. EUGENE RCM CHURCH

BUTTAYAGUDEM

The History of the Mission

     Buttaigudem village was one of the substations of the parish of Jangareddigudem. It is located among the tribal forest region in the diocese of Eluru of West Godavari district. The PIME missionaries bought a piece of land here in 1968 and started evangelization. When Fr. Y. Marredy was the parish priest of Jangareddigudem, Buttaigudem was bifurcated and was entrusted to the pastoral and spiritual care of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in the year 2007 by Bishop John Mulagada who declared this a tribal mission. Rev. Fr. Pathinathan, OMI was the first Parish Priest. The subsequent Parish Priests developed this mission with great dedication. Now we have 120 families. Fr. Joseph SIRIPURAM, OMI is serving as the parish priest currently.

Parish Priest : Fr. Joseph SIRIPURAM OMI

CHRIST THE KING RCM CHURCH

CHINTALAVALASA

The History of the Church

     Chis about 7 kilometers away from Vizianagaram, and 10 kilometers from the Calcutta highway road. All the substations of Vizianagaram parish were curved and made a parish and given to the oblates. This mission station began with the coming of AndhraPradesh special police, 5th battalion in 1979. The catholic community began in 1986. The old church was built in 1987. There are some families who settled outside of the quarters after their retirements. All of them are regular Catholics for every Sunday mass, which is at 9.00 am on every Sunday. There are 2 villages namely Ainada, Majjipeta which are near to this Chinthalavalasa. There are around 10 families in both villages each. And Dakkumarri village with 11 families from Bheemili parish is added to our parish.

     This church campus is around 25 cents. Now the whole land is used to construct the new group of buildings. There is compound wall with two toilets at the back of the church used for the people and there is open well and hand-bore pump. At Jonnada village 4 kilometers from Chintalavalasa about 10 cents of land on the main road is given to oblates for further development.

     There is hope for good development and day by day many are coming and settling there and there are no catholic institutions nearby they have to come to Vizianagaram. One of the positive signs is that people are very co-operative for any work. All those who worked here are very positive about this mission.

Parish Priest : Fr. Yesuratnam GUNTHAMALLA OMI

Parish Priest : Fr. Varghese CHERUPARAMBAN OMI

Contact:

   Fr. Yesuratnam GUNTHAMALLA OMI

   The Parish Priest

   Christ the King RCM Church,

   APSP quarters,Chintalavalasa,

   Vizianagaram Dt-535005

   Andhra Pradesh,India.

ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER CHURCH

MUSUNURU

The History of the Mission

     The Proclamission of faith and the establishment of the church in this village was in the early seventies, particularly in the year 1974. It was further developed and was erected by then Bishop Thumma of Vijayawada diocese on 19th March 1984 and was entrusted to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI). Frs. Ambrose Anthonysamy, OMI and Pragasam Paniadimai, OMI were the pioneers serving as parish priest and assistant respectively. This parish has 1320 catholic families inclusive of 15 substations. The total catholic population of this parish is 5300.

     There are number of pious associations that help the people to deepen their Christian faith. St. Eugene Youth, Altar Servers, Basic Christian Communities, Legion of Mary, Parish Choir, MAMI, and Parish Finance Council are the back bone of the parish. Regular catechism to the children, daily prayer services, adorations Marian devotion, and Holy Mass are the means to deepen the faith of the people. The oblates support the poor and needy of the parish through educational assistance program such as: Eugene Tuition Centre, Child Development Centre. In addition, to provide quality education to the students in the area, St Eugene School was started in the year 2005-06 at Gopavaram, one of the sub-stations of the parish, and it is largely catering to the rural underprivileged children. Sisters of Charity of Nazareth (SCN) also serve in the parish in faith formation and in the social activities.

Parish Priest : Fr. Solomon MOSES OMI

Contact:

   Fr. Solomon MOSES OMI

   The Parish Priest

   St. Joseph RCM Church,

   Musunuru, Krishna Dt,

   Andhra Pradesh -521207,India

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS CHURCH

PAIDURUPADU

The History of the Church

     St. Thomas Aquinas church at Rayannapadu – Paidrupadu in the diocese of Vijayawada, AP was entrusted to the Oblates in the Year 2008. There is a noble cause in taking up Paiduruadu Parish by the Oblates. In the year 2008 Oblates celebrated their 25 years of evangelical presence in Andhra Pradesh. In recognition of the hard work and edifying service of the Oblates to the people of the diocese, Rev. Mallavarapu Prakash DD, then Bishop of Vijayawada, gifted 14.5 cents of land to the Oblates at Rayanapadu. The first parish priest was Fr. GunthamallaYesu Ratnam, OMI. This was taken when Rev. Fr. Francis Nallappan was the delegation Superior.

     Residing at Rayanapadu oblates administer the pastoral needs of newly bifurcated parish Paiduruadu. Oblates are working tirelessly in building the faith of the people by means of regular prayer meetings, popular devotions, catechetical Sisters camps, health camps, youth camps and children camps. All these have helped the people to build up their faith and social values. The parish is also very active and vibrant by pious associations like: BBC groups, Legion of Mary, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Parish Council, St. Eugene Youth group, and St. Thomas Aquinas Altar group.

     In these ten years Oblates have worked with zeal and love in ways of building a compound wall, renovation of both Parish and Substation Church, building a Sacristy, two Grottos were erected for the development of popular devotion and a stage for the parish activities. We thank God for giving a chance to the Oblates to glorify His name in and through this parish ministry.

Parish Priest : Fr. John Bharathi SELVARAJ OMI

Contact:

   Fr. John Bharathi SELVARAJ OMI

   The Parish Priest

   Thiyaga Jyothi Nilayam,

   Rayanapadu,Vijayawada.

ST. THOMAS CHURCH

RAMANAKKAPETA

The History of the Church

     We oblates took up this Ramanakkapeta parish in the diocese of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh in the year 1993 and it was bifurcated from Nuzvid Parish and was erected as a parish on 22 October, 1973. Fr. Simeon omi was the 1st parish priest and he started his ministry by baptizing many people and mission was flourishing. The following priests, who continued the mission after Fr. Simeon, are Fr. PathinathanMarianiArogyam, Fr. PragasamPaniadimai, Fr. Cyril Joseph, Fr. Bosco, Fr. Nallappan Francis, Fr. Vadakoot Simon, Fr. GunthamallaYesuRathnam, and Fr. PragasamPaniadimai. There are 18 substations for this parish and each substation is taken care by one catechist. Every Sunday there are seven Holy masses in seven villages where there are more than 70 families. Remaining villages are given pastoral care during the week days. All together there are 6,500 catholic in this parish. Most of them are working as daily wages and only few of them have their own land. There is a Shrine of Mary Immaculate at Nehuru Nagar which is started by Fr. Qunitaba Orlando PIME and this shrine is constructed at the top a small hill. There is a regular mass on first Friday of every month, along with 18 catechists and local faithful. The shrine Feast is celebrated in the fourth Sunday of Lenten Season. This shrine is developed by Oblates by making road to go to the hill top and constructing the steps along with way of the cross stations. There is also grotto of our lady of Perpetual Help in Kothagudem, one of our substations and feast is celebrated on 8th of September. Oblates are doing a wonderful ministry such as Parish/Pastoral, education for the poor, youth ministry, Legion of Mary and special care for the poor and the needy. There is Holy Family Sisters congregation who is helping the parish by preparing the faithful for the liturgy and teaching basic catechism for the children and more specially empowering the women.

Parish Priest : Fr. James DEVASAGAYAM OMI

Assistant Parish Priest : Fr. Rajasekar KURAPATI OMI

Contact:

   Fr. James DEVASAGAYAM OMI

   The Parish Priest

   St. Thomas RCM Church

   Ramanakkapeta, Musunuru Mandal,

   Krishna Dt, Andhar Pradesh– 521213, India.

ST. EUGENE CHURCH

TALLAPUDI

The History of the Mission

     Tallapudi mission is at the banks of river Godawari in the diocese of Eluru. Having taken up the mission at Buttayagudam in the same diocese, Tallapudi was taken up for the little more proximate prance of oblates for better co-operation. It was an initiative taken by Rev. Fr. Maia Elias who had developed a Marian shrine invited the oblates to join him in developing the place through the education ministry. A new parish was divided and entrusted to the Oblates care by Most. Rev. John Mulangada, the bishop of Eluru. The mission at Tallapudi was taken up by the Oblates in the year 2009.

Parish Priest : Fr. PragasamPANIADIMAI OMI

Principal : Fr. Maria Rajan JOHN CHARLES OMI

Administrator : John Britto JONA DOSS

Contact:

   Fr. PragasamPANIADIMAI OMI

   The Parish Priest

   St. Eugene Church,

   Tallapudi, West Godawari Dt,

   Andhra Pradesh - 534341, India.