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Our Lady of the Sea ChurchBankikodla - Gokarn

A Brief History of the Church

Twenty five years ago, a month before the new Diocese was born, Fr. E.A.S.Barros, Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Sea Church was seated one evening outside on the verandah of his old Presbytery. From a distance he saw a tall Priest walking towards the Presbytery. Fr. Barros welcomed the tall figure and asked him who he was. The Priest answered “Fr. Barros, from 29th April, I shall be your Bishop!” Good old Fr. Barros was almost on his knees paying his respects to the bishop-elect of Karwar, Rt. Rev. Dr. William L. D’Mello, on his maiden visit to Gokarn! Fr. Barros spent thirty-four years of his Priesthood in this interior Parish, in those years when it was even inaccessible to the public. Prior to him, Fr. A. J. Saldanha of happy memories was also in this Parish (from 1941-1951)
There is a curious account of how the Church came to be named as the Church of Our Lady of the Sea. Sometime towards the end of the 19th century, a ship is supposed to have been caught up in a storm unable to reach the shore. It is then that they saw a wooden statue of Our Lady come floating by. They recovered the statue and vowed to build a Chapel if they succeeded in reaching the shore safely. They did, and the sailors are supposed to have built a small edifice to keep the statue, which was the first Chapel in a predominantly non-Christian area.
Gokarn, as is known to all, is a pilgrimage center for the Hindus. The old Chapel was blessed on 16.5.1886. The Bankikodla Mission was made a sub-station of the Kumta Parish. Bankikodla Chapel was raised to the status of a Parish on 30th Aug. 1951 with Fr. E.A.S. Barros as the first Parish Priest. Though subsequently the Church as also the Presbytery were repaired and renovated, a new Church and New Presbytery were considered necessary. The new Church was inaugurated in the year of the Diocesan silver Jubilee on 11th Feb. 2002, on which day is celebrated every year the annual feast of the Church. Fr. Thomas Misquith, Fr. Samuel Fernandes, Fr. Bruno Fernandes, Fr. Gnana Prakash Rao, Fr. Benedict Rodrigues, who supervised the construction the new Parish building, Fr. Stany D Cunha, Fr. Gabriel Monis, Fr. Stany D Souza have served the Parish. Fr. Joachim Monteiro is presently the Parish Priest of the Church.

Rev. Fr. Joachim Monteiro

Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Sea Bankikodla.
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Our Former Priests

No
Year
Name of the Priests
01
1951 – 1982
E.A.S. Barros
02
1983 – 1984
Fr.Thomas Misquith
03
1984 – 1985
Fr. Samuel
04
1986 – 1988
Fr. Egidious Monteiro
05
1988 – 1992
Fr. Bruno Fernandes
06
1992 – 1999
Fr. Gnanaprakash Rao
07
1999 – 2006
Fr. Benedict Rodrigues
08
2006 – 2012
Fr. Stany D’ Cunha
09
2012 – 2017
Fr. Gabriel Monis
10
2017 – 2018
Fr. Stany D’ Souza
11
2018 – Onwards
Fr. Joachim Monteiro