Move to refurbish church floor stirs up hornet's nest

The move of the parish council of St Xavier Church in Bejai to renovate flooring has stirred up a hornet’s nest with well-known genealogist Dr Michael Lobo openly opposing the same with convincing reasons and justifications.

The prime reason is that there are more than 75 tombstones including of many eminent benefactors of the parish who were interred within the church – till a decision was taken by the church authorities in 1972 not to permit more burials in the churches. But the memorial slabs of those buried in the church since 1889 (when Dr Michael Lobo’s great grandfather Joseph Lobo’s wife was buried under the altar of the chapel that Lobo himself erected) are still intact.

Countering the move of parish council to refurbish the flooring of the century-old church, Dr Lobo said that the flooring of Westminster Abbey in London is probably over 500 years old, but no Englishman in his right mind would dare to suggest that it be uprooted along with the memorial slabs to the eminent persons buried there. “It is only in our home town Mangalore – the “Rome of the East” – that our clergy and parish council members get these wonderful ideas,” he rues.

Stating that the flooring of Bejai Church is still in pretty good condition as the building materials used were designed to last long. “Not so today. If the flooring in the church is laid anew, it may glitter for a year or two, but in all probability, after the passage of a decade its condition, is likely to be a lot worse than the old flooring,” he said. Citing the example of Bendore, Urwa and Valencia parishes, where the memorial slabs were uprooted for floor refurbishment and replaced by a brief inscription of the names of the persons buried, he said that the present condition of the flooring in these churches is such that almost all these inscriptions are fading – some have faded altogether.

On the other hand, it is not merely the fading inscriptions that are the issue here. The original memorial slabs provided far more details – with carefully thought out words and verses by the family members, he added.

“But for the fact that I had made a note of all the original memorial slabs back in the 1990s when I had just started the project of genealogical research, it would have been next to impossible for me to identify all the persons buried within the church. This identification is important as I am in the process of bringing out a book titled “Catholic Heritage Tombstones of Mangalore”, where all the major tombstones in the churches and cemeteries of Mangalore are being catalogued – with detailed notes on the families and descendants of the deceased persons – so that the descendants will have no trouble in locating the tombstones of their departed ancestors,” he said.

Noting that each memorial slab in churches and each monument in cemeteries form part of a heritage, Dr Lobo feels that each tombstone is an important link with our past and the inscription on each tombstone has a story to tell.

He said that he would be happy to donate a portion of his ancestral property for a memorial to his great grandfather Joseph Lobo Prabhu and, space permitting, would be happy if all the slabs in the church could be transferred intact to the memorial, if the parish council goes ahead with the project.

William Pais, the author of “The Land Called South Kanara” said that there may be many who oppose the move, but “fear of what others may think if I speak” attitude forces them to remain mum. On the other hand, the church has to honour its commitment to the kin of the dead (who were buried inside the church).
Parish priest clarifies

When contacted, parish priest Rev Fr Wilson Vitus D’Souza said that he has given time till September 20 to file objections and more importantly it was not his individual decision. “A collective decision will be taken by the parish council in this regard,” he said.

To a query on Dr Lobo’s offer of donating land to preserve tombstones, Fr D’Souza said that he would be too happy to accept the offer.