Bangalore 20 June 2019 (CCBI): Most Rev. Telesphore Bilung, SVD (53), Auxiliary Bishop of Ranchi is appointed as the Apostolic Administrator sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the Diocese of Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. Bishop Bilung was born on 15 April 1961 in a village of Gaibira parish in the diocese of Rourkela. He joined the Society of the Divine Word in 1979. He completed his Philosophical and Theological Studies at Jnana Deepa Vidyapeetham (JDV), Pune and was ordained a Divine Word missionary priest on 2 May1992.
He has served as rector and prefect at Jyoti Bhavan minor seminary, Sambalpur and Vidya Jyoti Lungai, SVD minor seminary at Rourkela. As a pastor he has served in the capacity of an Assistant Parish Priest as well as Parish Priest in different Parishes of Odisha and West Bengal. He was elected Provincial Superior for the first term in 2011 and again for the second term in 2014, for the India East Province (having headquarters at Jharsuguda, Odisha) of the Society of the Divine Word. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Ranchi on 6 May, 2014 and ordained Bishop on 30 August, 2014. He is a priest for 27 years and Bishop for 4 years.