 |
|
|
Fr. Michael Tarigopula |
COTTAGE GROVE — St. Patrick Parish in Cottage Grove welcomes a new priest from India to the Diocese of Madison.
Please join the congregation of St. Patrick’s for a “meet and greet” reception with Fr. Michael Tarigopula at St. Patrick Church, 424 N. Main St., on Sunday, Aug. 11, following the 10 a.m. Mass.
Father Michael is from Pannur, a village in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. He is the eighth of 10 children born to his father, a farmer, and his mother, a housewife.
All of Father Michael’s family members are Catholic, but of the six boys, he is the only priest. His nine siblings are married, and he is proud to be an uncle to six nieces and 10 nephews, all of whom reside in India.
Path to the priesthood
Father Michael’s path to the priesthood began at a young age. When he was a boy, his mother used to tell him that he would become a priest.
In fifth grade, he began serving as an altar boy and was inspired at that time to join the priesthood, with his pastor as his role model.
At the age of 13, Father Michael joined an apostolic school and eventually continued on to minor seminary. Father Michael was ordained a priest on April 28, 1994, for the Diocese of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, India.
Diverse experiences
As a priest, Father Michael has served in a variety of capacities with diverse experiences and opportunities to serve God.
For the first year after his ordination, he was a chaplain to leprosy patients in Rapur, India. His ministry then brought him to a new mission called Somasila, where he brought 70 families to the Catholic faith over the course of four years. In the four years that followed, he was the financial administrator of the diocese.
In the United States, he served for three years as the assistant pastor at Epiphany Church in Sayre, Pa. Prior to his current assignment in Cottage Grove as parochial administrator, he was rector of the Infant Jesus diocesan Shrine in Tada, India, for seven years.
Helping the poor
Father Michael believes that God gave him the gift of the priesthood to serve. His desire is to uplift the poor and downtrodden who live in abject poverty so that they can live a life of dignity.
He has worked to help people live better lives socially and economically. Significant projects include building a chapel, a church, a presbytery, an orphanage, and permanent houses for 64 families in different missions.
Father Michael also worked to send many children to school who could not afford an education. He is credited with sending one young man to seminary.
His hope is that, together, we will grow as the children of God, stronger in the Catholic faith, and become true witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ and faithful children of the Mother Church and the Blessed Virgin Mary.