Mangalore priest greens parishes

By Thomas Scaria

Talapady, Feb 20, 2025: Father Gregory Pereira, a priest of Mangalore diocese in southern India, is called different names in parishes he has served.

In Bantwal, he was “Papaya Father,” and in Narampady, “Kumbalakai Father.” In Talapady where he now serves, he is “Dragon Father.”

The parishioners have given him such titles as an honor for turning their parishes into “green belts’ with organic farming, beginning from the church land to every house in the parish.

“For me, farming is a spiritual exercise, a path to promote a pastoral ministry with a green commitment,” said Father Pereira, the pastor of the Our Lady of Assumption Church, Talapady, a parish on the Kerala-Karnataka border.

He has converted almost nine acres of baron land around the parish church into a green belt with organic farming of all vegetables, papaya, mangoes, dragon fruit, sweet potato, pumpkin, and even a fish pond.

Some parishes he converted into a green belt are Modankap, Narampady, Venur, Allipade. He came to Talapady from St. Joseph Church in Borimar near Bantwal.

Earlier, he had served almost 14 years in Belve Estate Church of Udupi diocese and turned the diocesan farm into a model farm.

In Talapady, he has experimented with a dragon fruit garden as a special attraction, besides other crops.

Clara D’Cunha, a Talapady parishioner, said they call Father Pereira “Dragon Father” since he has developed an exclusive dragon fruit farm in their church. “This fruit was rarely found in this area,” she told Matters India.

The priest’s farming mission, she added, is not confined to the church land, but extends to every home in his parish, cutting across religions.

People, who come for the Sunday Mass, visit his organic farms, collect seeds, buy saplings, get directions from the priest and plant them at their homes.

Father Pereira was born on November 17, 1953, in an agricultural family of Meremajalu village. He was ordained a priest in 1981. He has promoted his green mission in all parishes he has served.

Father Oswald Monteiro, former director of the Canara Organization for Development and Peace, told Matters India that Father Pereira has become an icon of the green revolution in the diocese.

“The Mangalore diocese always assigns him to rural parishes that have land, so that he can continue his farming mission,” said Father Monteiro, currently parish priest of Kirem near Kinnigoli, 35 km north

He said several priests visit his parish and learn the techniques of organic farming and had tried to do it in their parishes too. “But he has a magical hand, and even if he throws a fruit anywhere, it sprouts there making more fruits”, he commented.

“Wherever he served, he converted that land into a green belt with a lot of fruit plants, vegetables, jasmine flowers and so on, giving a positive energy to the parishioners,” Father Monteiro added.

Father Pereira says he does not do farming for his kitchen alone. “Often, we make enough vegetables for our parishioners too. But I don’t sell it here as I don’t want to make the church a market place,” he told Matters India.

Instead, local vendors collect the produce from him and the villagers buy them from a local shop at a cheaper rate, the priest added.

“Sometimes, we produce enough for Christian festivals and the parish feast. The parishioners enjoy the fruits and vegetables of the parish land,” Father Pereira said.

Reputed Catholic institutions such as Father Mullers Medical college, Jeppu seminary, pastoral center and the Bishop’s House also buy vegetables from Father Pereira’s farm.

Clara says Father Pereira is rarely seen in his room, as spends most of his time on the farm.

“But that does not restrict people from meeting him. They can straight away walk into his farm and meet him there at any time,” she said as she collected some seeds to plant at her home.