Aizawl diocese gets new auxiliary bishop

By Matters India Reporter

Bengaluru, March 30, 2023: Pope Francis on March 30 appointed Father Joachim Walder as the auxiliary bishop of Aizawl diocese that covers the entire state of Mizoram in northeastern India.

The 67-year-old priest is currently the episcopal vicar of Barak Valley region of Aizawl diocese.

The bishop-elect, who is a native of Mangalore in southern India, has worked in northeastern India since 1976, as a parish priest, school principal. He came to the region when the Aizawl diocese was known as Silchar.

Father Walder was born on April 20, 1956, at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, Nirkan, Mangalore diocese of Karnataka state. He joined St. Joseph’s Seminary, Mangalore in 1973 and completed his minor seminary studies in 1976.

From 1976 to 1979 he studied philosophy and BA at Christ King College, Shillong, capital of Meghalaya, another state in northeastern India. From 1979 to 1982 he studied language for the ministry, mainly Bengali, at Shantir Rani Parish, Mariamnagar, Tripura. He did his regency in Holy Cross Parish, Silchar. He studied theology at Papal Seminary in the western Indian city of Pune during 1982-1986.

He was ordained a priest on April 26, 1986 at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, his home parish. He then served the assistant priest at Holy Cross Parish, Silchar, Assam from 1986 to1989. During 1989-1997, he served as the parish priest of St. Joseph’s Church, Badarpur, a town in Karimganj district of Assam. He started a St. Joseph’s School there in 1991 and became its first principal.

He was appointed the dean of Silchar region, Assam, in 1994, a position he held until 1999. Meanwhile he also served as the parish priest of St. Joseph’s parish and a school in Manickbond, Karimganj district, from 1998 to 2003.

He was in 2003 appointed as assistant priest at Holy Cross Parish, Silchar, for a year.

In 2005, he was tasked with looking after Sacred Heart Church, Kabuganj, Assam, and toiled hard to develop the place. In 2015, it was erected as Sacred Heart Parish, Kabuganj. He continued to be the parish priest until 2018. I

Earlier in 2007, he founded Holy Cross School, Kabuganj, and served as its principal until 2018. He has been serving as the dean of Barak Valley region since then and its episcopal vicar.

Aizawl diocese was bounded on the west and south by Bangladesh, and on the south and east by Myanmar.

It began in 1952 as the Apostolic Prefecture of Haflong, entrusted to the Holy Cross Fathers of the Canadian province. The prefecture was elevated in 1969 as the diocese of Silchar and it was renamed to Aizawl on January 11, 1996.

The Catholic population in Aizawl diocese is 40,892. The diocese has 42 parishes and 138 educational institutions, served by 78 diocesan priests, 68 religious men and 205 nuns.