St Francis Xavier Church is located in Murkoth Palke's Saverapura, about 10Kms from Moodbidri town and belongs to Moodbidri Deanery. It comes under Mangalore Diocese.
History:
Fr Francis Xavier D'Souza (Poki Padriab) was the parish priest of Alangar Parish from 1958-1971. During this period he built Moodbidri Town Church and Belvai Church. Later when Fr Francis became the Parish Priest of Belvai, sensing the need of people, he bought 5 acres of land at Murkoth Palke to build a church.
In 1985, when Rev. Fr. Mathias Pereira took charge as the Parish Priest of Paladka, the Chapel construction plans gained momentum. In 1988 on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Paladka Parish, Late Rev Bishop Basil D'Souza laid the foundation stone for the chapel at Saverapura. Fr Mathias Pereira, who is rightly called "Architect of Saverapura", was instrumental in the construction of this chapel. It was blessed by Late Bp Basil on 3rd Dec 1991. The chapel consisted of 2 wards with 42 families.
The Redemptorist presence
After December 2004, when the Redemptorists established their presence at Alangar, they accepted to celebrate masses at Saverapura chapel, at the request of the Parish priests of Paladka. At the PPC meeting held at Paladka parish on 24th Feb 2008, when Fr Norbert Lobo was the Parish Priest, it was decided to hand over the chapel to the Redemptorists. In April 2008, Bishop Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza entrusted the spiritual care of this faithful to the Redemptorists. On the feast of Pentecost Fr Eugene D'Silva took over as the priest in charge of Saverapura Chapel in 2008. From June 2009 to Feb 2015, Fr. Prem Prakash D'Souza took charge as the Priest in-charge of the Chapel. In February 2015, Fr. Rakesh Mathias took charge as the Priest in-charge of the Chapel.
St. Francis Xavier Parish
On Sunday, June 7, 2015 on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Chapel was raised to the Canonical Status of a Parish by Most Rev. Dr. Aloysius Paul D'Souza, Bishop of Mangalore. Fr. Rakesh Mathias was appointed as the first Parish Priest. He was succeeded by Fr Prem Prakash Cutinha from March 2019. On 17th February 2023, Fr Noel Mascarenhas was installed as the new the Parish Priest.
Parish Activities
At present there are 3 wards in the parish with the total of 65 families. There is active PPC, Choir, Sunday Catechism, Altar Servers sodality, Women's cell, ICYM, YCS etc.
The annual feast of the Church is celebrated on the 3rd December, on the feast of St. Francis Xavier.