Archbishop John Barwa

Archbishop John Barwa, Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, was born on June 1, 1955, in Gaibira, in the Diocese of Rourkela, and was baptized on June 6, 1955. He completed his schooling at Gaibira, studied at the government college of Sundargarh from 1972 to 1974, and graduated from G. M. College in Sambalpur in 1976. He entered the novitiate of the Society of the Divine Word, made his first vows on June 9, 1978, at the Catholic Ashram in Palda, and made his perpetual vows on October 14, 1984, at the Divine Word Seminary in Pune. He was ordained a deacon on October 28, 1984, at the Divine Word Seminary in Pune, and he was ordained a priest on April 14, 1985, at Sambalpur. He served as assistant parish priest at Singharmunda from 1985 to 1986 and at Gaibira from 1986 to 1987, and as vice-director of the Utkal Jyoti regional pastoral centre at Jharsuguda from 1987 to 1990. He then studied at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Sant'Anselmo in Rome from 1990 to 1993, obtaining a licentiate in liturgy, and from 1993 he was visiting professor of liturgy at the regional theologate of Orissa, Khristo Jyoti Mohavidyaloyo, at Sambalpur. He was vice-provincial of the East India Province of the Society of the Divine Word from 1996 to 1999, provincial superior of that province from 1999 to 2005, and parish priest of Rajgangpur from 2005 to 2006. At the time of his appointment as bishop he was president of the Conference of Religious of India. On February 4, 2006, he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Rourkela. He received episcopal ordination on April 19, 2006, at Rourkela, with Telesphore Placidus Toppo as principal consecrator and Alphonse Bilung and Raphael Cheenath as co-consecrators. He succeeded as Bishop of Rourkela on April 2, 2009. On February 11, 2011, he was appointed Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, and he was installed on April 2, 2011, in the cathedral of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Cuttack. His episcopal motto is Thy Kingdom Come.