In a modest homestead in Nguutani village, Mwingi West, Mzee Joseph Mwandi Vilingi speaks about his firstborn son with the quiet pride of a father who believes every sacrifice was worth it.
“When people ask me how I feel, I tell them, a father’s greatest wealth is not land or cattle, it is a child who has found his purpose,” he says. “John found his.”
That “John” is now known across Kitui County and the wider Catholic community as Bishop John Mwandi, who was installed as the fifth Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kitui on August 8, 2026, in a colourful ceremony at St Charles Lwanga School in Kitui town.
The ceremony brought together clergy, government officials and thousands of faithful from across the diocese.
But before the mitre and crosier, there was simply John, the eldest of 12 children, seven boys and five girls, born in 1969 into a family where, his father admits, priesthood was never part of the plan.
As the firstborn son in a large family, Joseph expected John to take on certain responsibilities, chief among them marriage and raising a family of his own.
“I will be honest with you,” the elder says, laughing softly at himself. “I wanted him to wed. He was my firstborn, and in our tradition, the firstborn son marries and builds his home so the younger ones can follow his example. That is what I wanted for John.”
But John had a different conviction, one that would eventually shape not only his own life but also the spiritual life of an entire diocese.
“He told me, ‘Baba, this is not my plan, it is God’s plan for me.’ What could I say to that?” Mzee Mwandi recalls. “A father can want many things for his child, but in the end, we must let them walk the path they were called to walk. I gave him my blessing, even though it was not easy.”
Fr John Mwandi began his priestly ministry 24 years ago at Nuu Parish, a posting his parents remember as the true beginning of his work among the people of Kitui.
It was there, they say, that the young priest first demonstrated the pastoral steadiness and discipline that would later define his ministry.
He would go on to serve as the adjudicator for the Diocese of Kitui and oversee its financial administration, a responsibility his father describes with evident pride as proof that his son’s calling was matched by competence.
“People trusted him with the diocese’s resources. That is not a small thing,” Mzee Mwandi says. “It told me that whatever path he had chosen, he was walking it seriously, and walking it well.”
When the announcement came that Fr Mwandi would become the fifth Bishop of Kitui, the news travelled through Nguutani village long before it reached the wider public.
His installation at St Charles Lwanga School on August 8 was, for his parents, a moment they will carry for the rest of their lives. Their firstborn son, once expected to marry and raise a family in the traditional sense, was now set to shepherd an entire diocese as its spiritual father.
“I stood there and I thought of the boy who used to run through my homestead, and I thought of the young priest who insisted, so gently but so firmly, that this was his calling,” Mzee Mwandi says. “A father learns, eventually, that God’s plans are often better than our own.”
For his mother, Beatrice Mwandi, the pride is simpler still.
“He is still my son,” she says. “Now he is also father to many more.”
As Bishop John Mwandi settles into his new responsibilities leading the Catholic Diocese of Kitui, his parents in Nguutani village say their prayer remains the same one they have offered since he first spoke of his calling: that he continues to serve with the humility and conviction that first took him to Nuu Parish all those years ago.