Gilbert Blaize Rego (3 September 1921 – 21 June 2012) was an Indian Prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was ordained as a priest at 32 years of age in 1953, and he served for 18 years before being ordained as a bishop of the Diocese of Shimla-Chandigarh, India at age 50, in 1971. As a new bishop, his presence was needed in the new city of Chandigarh when he undertook the decision to shift the residence from the headquarters of Shimla to Chandigarh, even though it lacked a physical church. Rego fulfilled the holy orders, representing the catholic church in its doctrines as he shepherded the new flocks. He sanctified the congregation, while he also governed and administered in church planting and missionary fields through his support and assistance to missionary groups under his pastoral guidance until the age of 78, when he retired in 1999.
Rego was seen as a bishop of the masses, a missionaries bishop dedicated himself to the church and the poor. In his retirement at the Clergy Home, Mumbai, the bishop Emeritus, suffered from Alzheimer's disease until his death at the age of 90 in 2012.
Early life and education
Rego was born on 3 September 1921, into an affluent family of Anthony Cajetan Rego and Otilia Maria Rego, in Mumbai, India, of 10 children. He was raised in a devout Catholic home from the family lineage of the House of Rego. Following his calling, Rego took the path of priesthood with the blessings of his parents as he set about fulfilling his vocation. He completed high school from St. Mary's school in Mazagaon, to St. Xavier's College, Marine Lines, then entered Diocesan, Bombay, in 1946. He was ordained a priest in 1953, he performed pastoral works, specifically choosing to serve in poor areas of Maharashtra. Rego headed to Canada to study in 1964 and further studied divinity in Rome.
Priesthood
Rego was ordained a priest on 3 December 1953, at the age of 32 at St. Peter's Church, Bandra, and set about ministering in far flung areas where the poor lived. He was appointed and ordained a bishop to the Diocese of Simla and Chandigarh in 1971. When his predecessor, Bishop Alfred Fernandez, was transferred to Allahabad in 1970, Rego, who was a newly appointed bishop of diocese, borrowed a chapel hall from Carmel Convent School. Rego visited the mission centers to say the mass either by foot, a Jeep, or bicycle. He was also a pet lover, having owned few dogs, and he would also interact with playful monkeys that hovered around the church compound whenever he visited the hills of Shimla parishes.
The new bishop lacked sufficient tithes and priests were being borrowed from various places. Rego would later have two of the longest serving priests join him in 1973, late Fr. Baptist Gomes and Fr. Stephen Fernandes. Rego determined to traverse the beginning of his lifelong vocation, undeterred, unshaken at the prospect of an enormous tasks ahead, to lead, to build, to shepherd a combined of twenty six civil districts, over 83,560 km2, under the new diocese. The Simla-Chandigarh diocese is the eighth largest area of Indian Christians in India.
Rego had faith that his ministry would be successful. Under his leadership, Rego was a "man of deep prayer, solid faith and undeterred resolve he brought hope, growth and brilliance to the face of the Diocese of Simla-Chandigarh.", in a tribute by Rev. Anchanikal.
Episcopal ministry
Rego begun his tenure by opening, supporting and blessing in various ministries such as missions, missionaries, churches, schools and orphanage centers.