About St. Joseph Church Belman in St. Joseph Church, Belmannu

Belman parish was established in 1894.
At present, the catholic population is around 2,600 and catholic families account for around 585.
The parish is divided into 15 wards.
'San Zuzechi Betkati' is the parish newsletter.
Late Bishop Baptist Mudartha, retired Bishop of Allahabad hails from this parish. Till 2016, 14 parish priests have worked hard for the development of the parish and social & spiritual growth of the parishioners as well.
This church is situated at a distance of 48 kms north of Mangalore, on Padubidri-Kudremukh State Highway and is surrounded by Mukamar, Parapady, Pernal, Mundkur, Kelmbet, Mudarangady and Palimar parishes.

Considering the welfare and spiritual needs of Christians in this area, Episcopal sanction was granted for the erection of chapel in Belman by a decree dated 29th November 1886 of the Bishop of Mangalore, Rt. Rev. N.M. Pagani, S.J.
Once the decree was issued, all attention was focused on the construction of St. Joseph's chapel. After considering many other locations, a place belonging to a Brahmin family, "Madkamane", was selected and the construction of the chapel began in 1887. This place is adjacent to the present church. Construction work was financed by the Mathias family. After seven years, the work of the chapel was completed.
Permission to bless the chapel was granted by the same Bishop, Rt.Rev. N.M. Pagani, S.J. by a decree dated 10th September 1894. The same decree also effected the erection of Belman into a separate parish, marked boundaries of it, and appointed Rev.Fr. N. Carneiro, the then parish priest of St. Francis Xaviers' Church, Shirva, to be the parish priest of Belman parish/church, also. This chapel was blessed by Rev.Fr. N. Carneiro on 10th September 1894. He was ministering to the needs of Belman parishioners from Shirva parish for some years.
The chapel was built of mud walls and had a hay thatched roof. There was no house for the priest nor a belfry.
Sunday mass was at 7:00 a.m. The church dues and grave fees were to be paid to the chapel treasury. The parish priest was paid Rs.2/- as traveling expenses. The chapel was administered from Shirva.
Seeing the convenience and utility of having the church close by, some families of N.S. De Saude, Shirva and also N.S. Remedies, Kirem asked to be transferred to the new parish of Belman. Accordingly, a good number of families were added to the Belman parish at various times by Episcopal decree, and on 12th December 1900, the territorial boundary between Kirem and Belman was settled