Bhalki was chosen to be second centre of the Catholic Mission in Bidar. Late Bishop Basil D’Souza, along with Fr Benjamin D’Souza, Br Peter D’Souza and Br Louis D’Sa came to Bhalki on 5th June 1983. Bhalki Mission was inaugurated on 7th June 1983. The Mission house was named ‘YESU NILAYA.’ The Patron: The Most Holy Redeemer. Fr Benjamin was appointed the Director. In October 1983 the Mission Team was strengthened with three sisters of three different congregations: Sr Edmund (SCCG), Sr Evangelista (BS), and Sr Rennie (SRA). The sisters took up the medical and village ministry. The new Mission was inaugurated in Bhalki in a small rented house of a Lingayat family – Gurunath Swamy and Sugulamma, near Basaveshwar Chowk. Thereafter, Fr Benjamin visited the people in the town and villages and rapidly built very good rapport with all. After studying the place, the Mission Team carefully made plans for the Evangelization of the people.

From the very beginning, Bishop Basil took very keen interest in this Mission and closely monitored every step and development. He put his heart and soul in it. He would travel from Mangalore to visit this Mission twice a year. Whenever he came here, he would stay with the missionaries for sufficient number of days. While coming, he would bring fruit tree saplings and home-made food items for the missionaries who, he knew, would love to get some home-delicacies occasionally! It was said that Bishop Basil had planned to reside in Bidar-Bhalki Mission after retirement. But the great soul was called up to the eternal abode too soon!

Growth of the Mission

Fr Benjamin and Team made a study of the socio-religious reality of the people of Bhalki and the surrounding area. The guidance of Fr Zeitler SVD of Ishvani Kendra, Pune, was sought to make a fruitful study. After three months of visits to different places, contacts with several resource persons and study of some books, a strategic plan was ready for the mission activities. There was christian presence in most of the villages under Methodist pastors. The people came to know Jesus, but they were like sheep without a Shepherd. The Catholic priests, religious sisters and catechists

made a difference in the life of people by their sacrifices, commitment and the zeal in catering to their spiritual needs. Year by year the Spirit moved and people came closer to Jesus Christ and the Sacraments. through continuous catechism and understanding, people accepted the Catholic faith and were received into Catholic faith in large numbers. Bhalki had nearly 25 villages for evangelization. The team spirit that was created in the mission had worked wonders and miracles. Daily prayers, planning and evaluation of the programmes were a new experience for all the team members to work in a systematic way. Though there were many difficulties, problems and hardships in carrying out this mission, the Spirit of the Lord always guided them to work generously. Along with the evangelization work they came across poor economical, educational, social conditions. There was a great need to cater to their all-round development. Thus working for the upliftment of women, youth, children and the less privileged in the society became part of the Mission. Through various programmes, awareness was given to the people so that they could fight for their rights and improve their family life.

The First fruits: the Four Apostles

There were in this area Christians who belonged to the New Apostolic Church (NAC). But they were disappointed with NAC and they expressed their desire to be received into the Catholic fold. Accordingly, Rev. Luke (who was a Shepherd in NAC), Dasharat, Ganapati, and Galappa, (all Pastors), took the initiative to join the Catholic Church. They were duly examined about their motive, given an intense training in the Catholic practice at DBCLC of Mangalore and were received into the Catholic fold at Kodialbail Chapel, Mangalore on 29th May 1984. They were renamed as Luke, John Dasharat, Mathew Galappa, and Mark Ganapati, after the four Evangelists.

These four catechists accompanied the Team of Yesu Nilaya and went from village to village sowing the seed of the Catholic faith. Soon in the year 1985, Mural, Nagaral, Beeri-B, Hupla, Nideban, Honnalli, Goundgaon, Dadgi and Kumar-Chincholi villages were brought under regular faith formation Programme. The Team contacted twenty other villages which included Ghor-Chincholi, Kotagera, Lada, Ghat-Boral, Siddeshwar, Hunaji, Othgi, Chalkapur, Hulsoor, Santhpur, Jalasangi, Halbarga, and Nittur.

The catechumens of Mural village were the first to be received into Catholic church in October 1985. In 1986 the first chapel was built in Kumar-Chincholi. On 10th June 1990, Holy Redeemer Church of Bhalki was blessed and dedicated.

As the mission progressed the need was felt to extend the mission by establishing new mission centres which would enable to reach more people. Thus Santhpur mission in Aurad taluka was bifurcated from Bhalki and Shanthi Nilaya mission dedicated to Holy Cross was started on 17th June 1987. On 12th June 1990, Bhalki mission was further bifurcated with the establishment of new mission in Humnabad taluka at Jalasangi dedicated to Mother Mary which was called Maria Ashram.

The Bicycle Missionary

In order to know the ground reality of the whole district of Bidar, Fr Benjamin had travelled by bicycle to all the five talukas: Aurad, Basavakalyan, Humnabad and Bidar, starting from Bhalki. While Fr Benjamin and his team of priests, sisters and catechists regularly visited various villages, Catechist Emmanuel Hanumant of Uccha visited the Marathi speaking villages like Lada, Halsi, Lakhangao, Shivni, Davargaon, Christapura, etc.

Fr Benjamin and Interfaith Dialogue

From the Beginning, Fr Benjamin made a deep study of Basaveshwara and his philosophy. He also studied the essence of the teachings of other faiths. In the meantime he went back to Mangalore and served in a few parishes. Again he came to Bhalki. This time he launched the Inter-faith Peace Forum which became very fruitful in the subsequent years. Finally Fr Benjamin accepted retirement and was reached to Mangalore on 4th May 2017.

Arrival of Sisters in Bhalki

In the year 1983, Bishop Basil invited the religious congregation to assist in the work of evangelization. Initially in October 1983 Sr Edmunt of SCCG was sent to work in collaboration with two other sisters of other congregations. The survey of the place revealed that the health care was an urgent need due to the high incidents of leprosy. The cases were so many that there was great need of a doctor to cater to these patients and give good treatment. At the request of Bishop of Mangalore, the Provincial superior Late Sr

Raphael Gomes, Saint Dr Sr Immaculate Rodrigues to Bhalki to render her service. She along with other sisters resided in a rented house and began to treat the patients. Then a convent building, ‘Arogya Mata Ashram’ was put up in Yesu Nilaya Campus for the sisters. Later they put up their own dispensary (Arogya Mata Seva Kendra) where people of all sicknesses were taken care. Sr Immaculate along with her staff visited villages of Bhalki identifying and treating the leprosy patients in their own houses. As the years passed there was a need to put up a few beds for serious cases. So a land was bought on the outskirts of Bhalki on the way to Dongapur village. A new Hospital building was constructed in the land and was inaugurated on 10th Nov 2002. Now the Dispensary has been evolved into a full-fledged Hospital where the Arogya Mata Seva Kendra Community Sisters are effectively treating people infected with all kinds of skin and other ailments. The Hospital is popularly known as the Christian Hospital. Its Leprosy eradication project was funded by AMICI of Italy who also donated the land and provided funds for the Hospital construction. The old dispensary building was handed over to the Arogya Mata Ashram Community.

In the year 2002, the community of Arogya Mata Ashram was bifurcated and Arogya Mata Seva Kendra (AMSK) community was erected where the sisters started to render the healing ministry in the hospital building which was newly constructed.

In the year 1999, Sisters started Grahini School for the village girls in the campus of Yesu Nilaya in a small tin shed. Here the poor girls from villages were given classes on tailoring, cooking, gardening, hygiene, cleanliness and home science. At the completion of the course each girl was awarded with a certificate and a sewing machine.

On 1st June 2003, the kindergarten was opened by Sisters of Charity and on March 2020 was handed over to the Diocese, under the management of Divya Jyothi School. On 29th October 2012, the children’s home for the girls was officially handed over to Arogya Mata Seva Kendra by the Diocese of Gulbarga.

As the years passed, the number of sisters started decreasing, the authorities decided to merge the two communities of Bhalki mission viz. Arogya Mata Ashram and Arogya Mata Seva Kendra into one community. So on 1st July 2019, the merging of the

communities took place for better involvement in the mission activities. At present there are 6 sisters involved in healing ministry, education and evangelization work serving from AMSK.

BHALKI  AMMA

Leprosy was very rampant in Bidar-Bhalki area. At the request of Bishop Basil, the Provincial Superior Very Rev. Sr Raphael Gomes SCCG consented to open Arogya Mata Seva Kendra in Bhalki, and it was started on 9th June 1985. Dr Sr Immaculate Rodrigues (SCCG) who was holding the office of Hospital Administrator at Fr Muller’s, Mangalore, came, with two other sisters and opened a dispensary for the sick in general as well as for the leprosy-infected in particular.

Dr Sr Immaculate was visiting the villages sitting in the back seat of the bicycle ridden by a social worker. In the villages she would identify the leprosy infected persons, and begin an ongoing treatment in their own villages. She and her team had conducted an extensive survey of all the leprosy infected persons in more than 110 villages. After sustained and effective treatment over 1500 leprosy patients were cured. Since the cured leprosy patients would not be accepted into their own homes, Sr Immaculate arranged rehabilitation at Jalasangi and occupations for them. For her yeoman service at reducing the leprosy rate from 9 per thousand to near zero, she was honoured with several awards at the district and taluka levels and other forums. Later Sr Immaculate had to return to Mangalore on retirement. Today she is no more, but certainly her noble spirit is moving about in Bhalki. Even today people remember her as AMMA.

The Seva Kendra Sisters also worked at CBR (Community Based Rehabilitation), for the physically challenged, providing artificial limbs, wheel chairs, bicycles, medical care and job facilities from the Government to the physically challenged and those cured from leprosy. Some of them were trained to become cobblers, tailors, craftsmen, carpenters, etc.

Seva Kendra Sisters conducted, ‘Ashodaya’ community-based deaddiction and rehabilitation program from January 2011 till December 2013. Seva Kendra also runs a Children’s Home for girls who attend Divya Jyoti School.

ORBIT (Organization for Bidar Integral Transformation)

Fr Victor Machado, while serving at Bhalki Centre, launched the Organisation for Bidar Integral Transformation (ORBIT) for the social work. He is the pioneer of social development works. ORBIT is a registered trust. It was initially supported and guided by CODP, Mangalore. ORBIT has been serving all people irrespective of caste and creed. It took up women’s development, Asha Kiran for the alcohol addicts, Vidya Vikas for the Government school students, CBR (Community Based Rehabilitation for the Differently Abled,) etc. In 2003 ORBIT Office was shifted from Bhalki to its present office at Humnabad.

Infant Jesus Shrine

As it was the need of the people to enhance their spiritual growth through various devotion, Bidar Mission team, along with the faithful decided to have a Shrine, which would help our people in fulfilling their spiritual needs, instead of going to other places. So it was decided to have a Shrine dedicated to Infant Jesus at Bhalki. Accordingly Bishop of Mangalore, Most Rev. Aloysius Paul, blessed and inaugurated the Shrine in the november 2000. People visit the Shrine with fervour and pray with faith. People from near and far undertake Paada Yatra (Pilgrimage walk) to the Shrine. Parents bring their babies for Jawala (the first shearing of hair) ceremony. Every Thursday special Mass and Novena prayer service are conducted in honour of Infant Jesus.

Divya Jyothi School

 The Primary School was inaugurated on 16th June 2003; it was blessed by Msgr Robert Miranda, Episcopal Vicar (now Bishop). In 2018-19 it became an English medium School.

Yesu Bala Sadana

Yesu Bala Sadana was started in 2012, to educate the children from faith formation villages and then send them to the St Joseph School in Bidar. Later when Divya Jyothi School was started, the village children had the opportunity to attend the school staying in this hostel.

Annual Jatra Utsav – The Mission Festival

The Bhalki Jathra Utsav – Mission Festival started in the year 1994, to bring together the faithful of entire Bidar Mission once a year. This Jathra famously known as Bhalki Jathra, which began

with few hundreds of people, today has become a Diocesan event attracting thousands of people. It is organized and implemented by the entire Diocesan Team, with the Bhalki Team playing the host. The three-day Jatra festival is celebrated every year at Bhalki in the 2nd week of November. It is a public manifestation of people’s faith and fervour, irrespective of denomination and creed. It has spiritual, social and cultural multiple dimension. The Jatra festival comprises, preaching of the Word of God, Eucharist, confessions, adoration, healing prayer, Bhajan singing competition, cultural programmes etc. The Jatra begins with a public religious procession through the streets of the town and is concluded on the third day. The three-day event is a well planned and keenly worked out Diocesan Mission Festival, in which the entire diocese becomes one.

Villages under Bhalki mission

Biri (B): started in 1984 by Fr Benjamin. The church is dedicated to Perpetual succour.

Mural: started in 1984 by Fr Benjamin. The church is dedicated to St Joseph.

Nagaral: started in 1983 by catholic pastors. The church is dedicated to st Antony.

Bajolga: started in 1995 by catholic pastors. The church is dedicated to Holy Rosary.

Enkur: started in 1988 by catholic pastors. The church is dedicated to st John Baptist.

Davargoa: started in 1998 by Catholic pastors. The church is dedicated to Mother Teresa.

Dadgi: started in 1993 by Fr Benjamin. The church is dedicated to st Thérèse of Lisieux.

Eklespurwadi: started in 2005. The church is dedicated to St Sebastian.

Nideban: started in 1997. The church is dedicated to Holy Cross.

Nitur: started in 2002. The church is dedicated to Holy Family.

Colonies of Bhalki mission

Dadgi Base dedicated to St Joseph

Mahanteshwar colony dedicated Mother Teresa

Indiranagar Colony dedicated to St Thomas

Janata colony dedicated to St Peter

Bhim nagar dedicated to St Paul

Sidharth nagar dedicated to St Lawrence

Church Colony dedicated to St Antony

DIRECTORS OF YESUNILAYA

1 Rev.Fr BENJAMIN D’SOUZA 1983-86

2 Fr CLIFFORD D’SOUZA 1986-87

3 Fr ROBERT MIRANDA 1987-91

4 Fr FAUSTINE LOBO 1991-92

5 Fr ROBERT MIRANDA 1992-96

6 Fr BAPTIST MENEZES 1996-97

7 Fr VICTOR MACHADO 1997-98

8 Fr LEO VEIGAS 1998-99

9 Fr JOHN VAS 1999-01

10 Fr FREDRIC D’SOUZA 2001-02

11 Fr ANTONY LASRADO 2002-05

12 Fr LEO VEIGAS 2005-06

13 Fr RONALD LOBO 2006-10

14 Fr JOSEPH RODRIGUES 2010-2014

15 Fr STANY GOVIAS 2014-2016

16 Fr STANY LOBO 2016-2018

17 Fr CLARY D’ SOUZA 2018-2021

18 Fr ROQUE NAVEEN DSOUZA 2021-2025