The village of Nalatinputhur is situated in Kovilpatti Taluk under Thuthukkudi District. This belongs to the Diocese of Palayamkottai. This village lies between Kovilpatti and Kazhugumalai main road on the national highway between Madurai – Tirunelveli. It was one of the substations of St. Joseph’s parish, Kovilpatti, which is 6 km away from Nalatinputhur. Most Rev. Dr. Jude Paulraj, the bishop of Palayamkottai bifurcated Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish, Nalatinputhur from Kovilpatti and erected it as a separate parish. He then entrusted the new parish to the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales. Fr. Mani Panthalani, MSFS the provincial superior of Visakhapatnam province happily responded to the bishop’s invitation and designated Fr. S. Anthony, MSFS to the bishop of Palaiyankottai, who appointed him as the first parish priest of Nalatinputhur parish on 28 May 2003. This parish has got 15 substations, namely, Thonukal, Padarnthapuli, Kankankulam, Alampatty,Manthithoppu, Uthupatti, Kumarapuram, Sathirapatti, Gopalapuram, Nachiyarpuram, Kalampatti, Katalankulam, Veilkanthapuram, Vanaramutti, Kumarediyarpuram. The distance between these villages from the parish is about three to four kilometers. The total population of this center is 30,809 out of which the Catholics number 1015.
Developments undertaken at various Times
Fr. S. Anthony, MSFS as a pioneer and while staying in a rented home, worked hard with true pastoral spirit and dedication to animate the people to grow in spiritual life. Since there are many substations in the parish, which are remote villages, he cared for the people with compassion and kindness by reaching out to the people in all those villages and fulfilled their sacramental needs. Since there was no presbytery in the parish, he mobilized the funds needed through the help of the province, the diocese and people’s support and built a well-planned specious presbytery. The new house was inaugurated by Fr. A. Lawrence, MSFS the Reginal Superior of Chennai Region and blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Jude Paulraj, the bishop of Palaiyamkottai on August 24, 2005, with the support from the province and the diocese.
Fr. S. Sahaya Wilson, MSFS succeeded Fr. S. Anthony, MSFS as the parish priest. He also was actively involved in planning and developing the parish. As the parish church was old and not spacious enough, he organized the people and mobilized the funds needed and built a beautiful new church and a grotto in honour of St. Antony of Padua with the help of the people, the diocese and the province. The new parish church was consecrated by Most Rev. Jude Paulraj, the bishop of Palaiyamkottai, and inaugurated by Fr. A. Lawrence, MSFS, the provincial superior of the South-East province on November 07, 2008. The grotto was inaugurated by Fr. A. Dharmaraj, MSFS the provincial and blessed by Msgr. Anthonysamy, the VG of the diocese, on April 8, 2011.
Fr. M. Nicholas, MSFS succeeded Fr. S. Sahaya Wilson, MSFS as the parish priest. Understanding the needs of the parish, he was passionately involved in the parish and organized the people to develop the parish in all the ways possible. As a kind and compassionate parish priest, he was always available to the people and took care of their spiritual and pastoral needs. He initiated mobilizing funds through the help of the province and the people and built a beautiful belltower, which was blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Jude Paulraj, the bishop of Palaiyamkottai on May 26, 2013.
Fr. S. Alexander, MSFS was appointed as the parish priest after Fr. M. Nicholas, MSFS. He made all the efforts possible in forming the people to grow in their spiritual life. In his pastoral approach, he gave importance to the spiritual life of the people and introduced different programs like healing mass and retreats. He worked hard to raise funds needed and built the Way of the Cross stations in the church campus with the support of the people and they were blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Jude Paulraj, the bishop of Palaiyankottai on August 21, 20116. He also made efforts to construct public washrooms within the church campus for the use of the parishioners.
Fr. C. John Britto, MSFS succeeded Fr. S. Alexander, MSFS. He systematically organized the parish activities and guided the people in their spiritual life. He systematically planned and organized very well the liturgical celebrations and the patronal feast of the parish and the substations. He offered mass in all the substations for Christmas and Easter. He worked hard to raise the funds needed and built a beautiful new church in Allampatty substation. Fr. Alocius Durairaj, Vicar Forane of Kovilpatty laid the foundation stone for the church construction and the new church was blessed by Most Rev. Jude Paulraj, the bishop of Palaiyamkottai and inaugurated by Fr. K. Ignacimuthu, MSFS, the provincial superior on October 20, 2019. It was sponsored by the Society of Propagation Faith, Rome and his former parish, namely, Fr. James Rafferty and parishioners of St. Mary our Lady of Annunciation, Rockford, MI, USA. He also worked diligently to raise the funds needed and renovated the sanctuary of the parish church, built a room for the parish priest, parish office adjacent to the presbytery and computerized the parish information with the help from the province and his friends from the former parish in the US and the renovated church sanctuary Most Rev. Dr. Antony Pappusamy, the Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Palaiyankotttai on November 29, 2019 in the presence of Fr. K. Ignacimuthu, MSFS the provincial.
Fr. V. Vedharaj, MSFS was appointed as the parish priest, succeeding Fr. C. John Britto, MSFS. He worked hard to form the people as a vibrant faith community. Realizing the needs of the church, he erected a beautiful flagpole, sponsored by Dr. Thayappan family. It was blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Jude Paulraj, the bishop Emeritus of the diocese of Palaiyankottai on May 20, 2022. He also made efforts to raise funds through the help from his friends and people and did some repair work and painting in the church, laying curing tiles on the roof of the parish church at Nalatinputhur. As the parish priest, he organized the people to raise funds and renovated the churches at Uthupatti, and Gopalapuram. As the church at Veilkanthapuram had tiled roof, he renovated it by removing the tiles and built a concreted roof through the help of the parishioners and the province. The church was inaugurated by Fr. K. Ignacimuthu, the provincial and blessed by Dr. Anthonysamy, bishop of the diocese of Palaiyankottai in the year 2022.
Fr. S. Stephen Xavier, MSFS succeeded as the parish priest and worked hard to form the parish to be an active and welcoming faith community. Realizing the needs of the parish, he mobilized the needed funds with the help of the people and installed a new church bell, safety cameras in the church campus, and made new chariot for the parish Church feast. He had put up the grill work at the church sanctuary and organized the people and installed wooden kneelers for the people with the support of the people.
Participatory Structures in the Parish: Parish Council, Anbiyams (BCC)
Associations in the Parish: Merrmier Youth Movement,
Altar Servers, Choirs and Liturgy Group, Women’s Prayer Group,
St. Vincent De Paul.
Religious in the Parish: SDS Sisters – Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Savior.
Institutions Under the Parish: St. Francis Matriculation High Secondary School managed by MSFS fathers.
Succession of the Parish Priests
Fr. S. Antony MSFS 2003 – 2006
Fr. S. Sahaya Wilson MSFS 2006 – 2011
Fr. M. Nicholas MSFS 2011 – 2014
Fr. S. Alexander MSFS 2014 – 2017
Fr. C. John Britto MSFS 2017 – 2020
Fr. V. Vedharaj MSFS 2020 – 2023
Fr. S. Stephen Xavier MSFS 2023 –
Succession of the Asst. Parish priests / Deacons
Dn. P. Felix MSFS 2003 – 2004
Dn. G. Arockiyasamy MSFS 2004 – 2005
Dn. A. Selvaraj MSFS 2005 – 2006
Dn. A. Ebin Christopher MSFS 2006 – 2007
Dn. S. Vanathaiyan MSFS 2007 – 2008
Dn. Vincent Sagayaraj MSFS 2008 – 2009
Fr. G. Jeganathan MSFS 2009 – 2012
Fr. A. Jeyaraj MSFS 2010 – 2011
Fr. A. Doss MSFS 2011 – 2012
Fr. F. Daniel Raj MSFS 2012 – 2013
Fr. S. Vincent Sahaya Raj MSFS 2013 – 2014
Fr. P. Jone Gregori MSFS 2014 – 2015
Fr. A. Christu Raj MSFS 2015 – 2016
Fr. S. Sahaya Jerald Abin MSFS 2016 – 2017
Fr. P. Anantha Raj MSFS 2017 – 2018
Fr. A. Maria John Franklin MSFS 2018 – 2019
Fr. S. Arockia Charles MSFS 2019 – 2021
Fr. L. John Peter MSFS 2020 – 2021
Fr. J. Jeni Vimal Naveen MSFS 2024 –