St. Antony's Church, Magadi, Bangalore

 

Fr. Santhosh Nazareth was officially installed as the parish priest of St. Antony's Church, Magadi, about 40 KM from Bangalore. Diocesan directory lists 160 parishioners, most of whom are originally from Mangalore. There is a smattering of other groups.
The Salesians were looking after this substation for a while. They still do Boys' Town ministry in the parish area. The only other religious group is the sisters of the Franciscan Servants of St. Elizabeth. They run a girls' hostel.

Fr. Santosh has to begin from ground zero. With less Rs. 1,000 handed over to him with hardly any furniture, kitchen facilities, it's a bit of a "vanvas" for him. He has taken it all as a challenge with much support from Fr. Lawrence D'Almeid and the administration.
We were eight Holy Cross religious present for the two hour ceremony presided by Archbishop Bernard Moras as well as the large group of Capitanio sisters from the nearby parish.