The PIME Missionaries
The mission of Evangelization in Telugu speaking States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is noteworthy. On 5th June 1885, two PIME Missionaries, namely Fr. Dominic Barbero and Fr. Francesco Pozzi, landed in Hyderabad Deccan Plateau from Italy. PIME is an institute made of diocesan priests and brothers. Their charism is to plant the Church and develop the dioceses. So, when a parish is set up with all the necessities, they handover the parish to the local Ordinary and start a new mission elsewhere. The missionaries in obedience to the local ordinary continue to support the parishes that they have set up. From the territory entrusted to them in the middle of 19th century, eight dioceses emerged: Hyderabad, Bellary, Vijayawada, Warangal, Khammam, Nalgonda, Eluru and Aurangabad.

The Nalgonda Mission
The erection of Nalgonda diocese in the year 1976 was due to the hard labour of PIME missionaries and the diocese was fortunate to have its first Bishop, in the person of Most Rev. Mathew Cheriankunnel in the year 1977. The diocese owes its tribute to the great pioneers and heroes of PIME priests. The zeal for the souls led them to leave all their comforts and their native country, kith and kin, and travelling by sea for a couple of months, reached the Deccan Plateau. What a blessing it is for us to have PIME priests, stepping their feet on our soil. Today, in the diocese of Nalgonda, there are 125 diocesan priests and 65 parishes and a minimum of three mission-stations attached to each of these parishes. Back in the early 20th century, all of the area was taken care of by only 3 PIME priests. They made use of every means of transportation; mostly Bicycle, single bullock cart etc., Often times they were going to villages on foot, carrying a Mass Kit, with the message of the Gospel. A catechist was the best companion to these missionaries to help him all along their missionary journey. There were no proper roads, no electricity, no purified drinking water, no concrete buildings, no communication systems, and no medical facilities. Yet, the mission work continued with great zeal and enthusiasm. Hats off, to all those PIME heroes, who sacrificed their entire lives in the vineyard of the Lord. Today we are enjoying the fruit of their hard labour.

The Munugodu Mission
This hamlet came into existence in 1936, when some poor Catholic families migrated from Palnadu region, Ravipadu and Phiranghipuram of Guntur diocese, in Andhra Pradesh. Fr. Carlo Finelli PIME, was the first parish priest of Munugodu. Seeing the pathetic economic condition of the Catholics, he purchased a few acres of land and helped them to put up thatched houses and 2 acres of land to each family to sustain their livelihood. All the primitive houses, which were put up in the land called, black soils, were looking the same in diameter, with thatched roofs from the leaves of palm trees (Kammalu). Because of such nature of houses, the natives called the settlers’ new locality as KAMMAGUDEM. Soon it became a common name to all the settlers that migrated from Andhra and Rayalaseema Regions of the then Andhra Pradesh.

The Era of Fr. Carlo Bonvini, PIME
Fr. Carlo Bonvini, a great visionary and a missionary, succeeded Fr. Finelli. The pastoral ministry was in full swing in and around of Munugode parish. It is noteworthy, that there were another two groups of migrants who followed the Munugodu group of settlers who eventually chose to settle in Velmakanni and Theredpally villages, a few miles from Munugodu. These settlers were also cared by Fr. Carlo Bonvini for their spiritual as well as material need. The missionary Priest saw the need of a Church for the settlers to gather for Mass and other devotional prayers. At first, he completed the incomplete construction of a Church in Velmakanni and simultaneously laid the foundation stone to a new Church in Theredpally. The construction work progressed on one hand and on the other, his thoughts rested on the social development of the settlers. Hence, he thought of providing work to the women in their leisure time. Most of the families were weavers and some of them were farmers. To increase the family income for a better life, he initiated many activities. He opened a ‘Craft Center’ to provide work to the women. As for the farmers, he registered a society called, ‘Village Farmers’ Cooperative Society’. He mobilized farmers to gather under one umbrella and conscientized them through many training & motivational programs. He taught them the new techniques in modern farming and marketing systems. His love for the education of children was immense. He opened, ‘Bassiano Orphanage’, and gave residential access to all the poor children for education. Today, there are many priests and the Consecrated men & women from this Orphanage.

The Pastoral care & the celebration of the Sacraments:
There was no residential priest in this village until it was bifurcated from Munugodu in the year 1985. It was given to the pastoral care of Salesians of Don Bosco [SDB), Chandur for a period of 13 years. The pastoral ministry of Salesian in this village during the years 1985 to 1998 is praiseworthy. They promoted education for all children and specially the ministry among the youth. They have constructed houses for the poor families and purchased 10 acres of land in Gattuppal, a village 5 km away, in view of the mission of Evangelization. Unfortunately, the vision of the Salesians remains a dream, due to many reasons. The present Church in Theredpally was renovated in the year 2011 and Centennial Jubilee was celebrated. Today there are many people and families who are employed and living in cities. The village is blessed with 15 priests both diocesan and religious, 02 religious brothers and 08 Religious sisters. There are 90 catholic families.

THE ORIGINS OF THEREDPALLY PARISH
Theredpally (Kammagudem), was a mission station of Munugodu parish, which is about 12 Kms away from Munugodu. A PIME priest, Fr. Carlo Finelli by name, was already stationed in Munugodu. He was succeeded by Fr. Carlo Bonvini.

The arrival of FRANCISCAN MISSIONSRIES OF MARY [FMM]
The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, [FMM] a Religious Congregation for women was invited to Theredpally village in the year 1960, and constructed a convent in 1966. The Sisters were helping the missionaries in teaching Catechism, visiting families, teaching, primary health care and running a Dispensary to care for the Sick and general health. The sisters were taking classes, for the primary school children under the neem trees. The presence of the Religious sisters was a blessing to the people. With the help of Fr. Colombo PIME, of Warangal diocese, the FMM Sisters opened a Stitching Centre to the unemployed women in the village. The Centre was a tremendous help & support to women to earn their ‘daily bread’. All the products of the Craft and Stitching Centres were exported to Italy for marketing. Another noteworthy activity in the mission was ‘medical care’. This area has no roads and transport facilities. It was impossible for the people to take the sick to nearby towns in emergency, especially the pregnant women. On priority basis, the sisters opened a Dispensary and it was a blessing to the sick. The sick, from the 6 neighboring villages, accessed their medical needs. As the days & years pass by, the roads developed and better medical facilities were available, so the people travelled to neighboring towns for better medical treatment. As the time passed by, the primary school was closed as children moved to towns for education. As time passed by,the sustenance & the survival of the sisters became increasingly difficult to continue in their mission any longer. Besides, there were no more vocations either from the village or from the nearby villages the sisters closed down the school and the Dispensary in the year 2010 for good. The Faithful feel the absence of FMM Sisters this village. But the hard work they did among the rural people will ever remain in the hearts of the people.

Chronological order of the Priests rendered their services at Theredpally Kammagudem Church

AS MISSION-STATION OF MUNUGODU PARISH

1936 - Fr. Elias Casiraghi, PIME Fr. C. Francis Fr. J. Desuza
1940 - Fr. Finelli, PIME
1952 - Fr. Carlo Bonvini, pime
1973 - Fr. C.I. Anthony
1981 - Fr. P. Chinnappareddy

AS SUB-STATION OF CHANDUR PARISH

1985 - Fr. M.A. Jacob, SDB
1991 - Fr. A. Jose, SDB
1994 - Fr. John Varicatt, SDB

INDEPENDENT PARISH - Diocesan Priests

1998 - Fr. Gorantla Kishore
2002 - Fr. Yeruva Janardhan
2007 - Fr. T. Thomas
2008 - Fr. Zaddu Balashowry
2011 - Fr. Madanu Francis
2015 - Fr. Reddimas Vikram
2017 - Fr. M. Bala Prasad
2018 - Fr. Etukuri Raphael

SINCE 15th May 2019

Rev. Fr. Leeno Kalva