As appointed by Pope Francis from the Vatican on February 4, Fr Wilbert Marweiñ of Nonbah Parish will be ordained Bishop of the 18-year-old Nongstoin Diocese on April 16 at 10 am at Cathedral Parish Pyndengrei.
The Episcopal Ordination will be performed and consecrated by Arch-Bishop Victor Lyngdoh of Shillong Arch-Diocese in presence of and to be witnessed by Arch-Bishop Leopoldo Girelli, Nuncio of Pope Francis of Vatican Embassy in New Delhi, Arch-Bishops and Bishops of North East India and also will be witnessed by Priests, religious and thousands of the people of God congregated from far and wide.
The Bishop-elect was born in Rangblang village on February 17, 1970. His parents, Oswald Thyrniang and Prisca Marweiñ, passed away. He is the sixth among eight siblings. During his boyhood, Marweiñ had to tend his cattle in the field along with his cattle herd friends for about three years during the day and went to morning school in the village. As he was friendly and amiable, he had many friends in the village. He was very obedient and hard-working like his brothers at home.
Marweiñ comes from a very humble and marginalised family so much so that his parents, due to poverty, had to face immense hardships. However, the situation improved gradually. Having completed Class VI, it was time for young Wilbert to leave tending cows and join Class VII during the day and after having completed it he was selected to join Class VIII at St. Paul’s Minor Seminary as a young aspirant for priesthood and at the same time to complete other secular education. From then on, there was no turning back. He completed philosophy at Christ King College at Laitumkhrah and did his Theology at Oriens Theological College and was ordained priest by Arch-Bishop Dominik Jala SDB, DD on April 27, 2003, at Rangblang Parish. He was sent to Ummulong Parish as assistant parish priest. He spent three years at Oriens Theological College in Mawlai as procurator. From there he went for further study in Missiology at Pontifical Urbaniana in Rome for four years.
Later, he was asked to work as Assistant Parish Priest at Santa Maria in Consenza, Italy, for six years. In 2015, Wilbert was asked to take over as Parish Priest of Nonbah Parish and also take charge as Vicar General of Nongstoin Diocese for nearly 5 years. However, he remained the Parish priest of Nonbah Parish till he was appointed Bishop by Pope Francis on February 4, 2023.
The 18-year-old Nongstoin Diocese was established on January 28, 2006, having a geographical area of about 5,247 sq. km with a population of approximately 5.80 lakh. The literacy rate is 70% with a per capita income of Rs 50,000 approximately. The Catholic population of a little less than 2 lakh spreads over 22 catholic parishes under West Khasi Hills, Eastern West Khasi Hills and South West Khasi Hills Districts. Except for Maweit parish which is horrible to reach by road, all parishes, are easily accessible by road. The 22 parishes are Mairang, Nongkhlaw, Kynshi, Nongkasen, Mawthong, Mawkyrwat, Munai, Nonghyllam, Mawpat, Rangblang, Mawkhlam, Mawlangdep, Nonbah, Cathedral Pyndengrei, Rambrai, Umwahlang, Riangdo, Nongjri, Umdang, Shallang and Riangdim.
All these parishes (many of which were established much later) were administered from Marbisu from 1950 by Fr. Carmelo Attard, SDB, the pioneer of Western Khasi Hills. However prior to 1950 all these Catholic areas including the other greater parts of Khasi-Jaintia Hills areas were administered from Lumtyngkong Cathedral Parish, Laitumkhrah by the German Salvatorian Congregation missionaries from 1897 onwards till the replacement by the Salesian Congregation missionaries in 1922.
Due to the non-availability of parishes in Western Khasi Hills, it was felt necessary to establish a parish at Pyndengrei (now the Cathedral of Nongstoin Diocese) on May 12, 1966. The parish was headed by Fr. Emmanuel Albizuri, a Spaniard and assisted by a young Fr. John Mary Premoli an Italian, both were called “Bulldozer Missionaries” for their giant missionary works in this in neglected rich fertile field. Yes, from just one parish in 1966 now it has multiplied into 22 parishes all over Western Khasi Hills under one Diocese, the 18-year-old Nongstoin Diocese.
