By Purushottam Nayak
Rourkela, Nov 12, 2022: The Catholic Church leaders in Odisha have mourned the death of Emeritus Bishop Alphonse Bilung, the first prelate of Rourkela who had ordained more than 100 priests and blessed around 1,000 nuns.
The Divine Word prelate died at 9:40 pm on November 11 at Catholic Mission Hospital at Nuagaon in Sundergarh district of Odisha covered by the diocese of Rourkela. He was 89. He was priest for 61 years and bishop for 43 years.
He was staying at Bishop’s House in Hamirpur since 2017.
The funeral Mass is scheduled at 10 am on November 15 at Kesramal parish followed by the burial.
Bishop Bilung’s “death of brings me great sorrow and much grief. May his soul rest in peace,” said Bishop Kishor Kumar Kujur of Rourkela.
Bishop Kujur appealed all parish priests to urge their people to acknowledge their gratitude to Bishop Bilung by paying respect to his mortal remains kept at Prarthnalaya, (Prayer Hall), Hamirpur.
Bishop Bilung was born on June 5, 1933, as the fifth among six children of Paulus and Paulina Bilung at Dandiamurg village of Kusumdegi parish of Rourkela diocese in Odisha. He began his schooling at Mission Primary School Kusumdegi and high school at Hamirpur Boy’s High School started by the missionaries. After high school, he joined the Divine Word seminary at Palda, Indore, in 1951.
He did his novitiate 1954-1956 at Palda and made his first profession in 1956. He studied philosophy and theology at Jnana Deepa Institute of Philosophy and Theology, Pune. He made his final profession in 1961 and was ordained a priest on October 3, 1961, at Pune.
He served Sambalpur Mission in 1961. He was the assistant priest at Kesramal during 1962-1964, and hostel superintendent at Gaibira from 1964-1965. He was re-appointed in Kesramal from 1966-1970 and was in charge of the school and the Elementary Teachers’ Training School.
After his studies in Rome and Luvain University, Belgium, he returned to India in 1972. He was appointed rector of the Divine Word community and secretary of the New Odisha High School Gaibira.
He also served as vicar general of the Diocese Sambalpur and the pastor of the Catholic Church Hamirpur at the same time.
He was appointed the superior of the Divine Word’s Sambalpur Region with headquarters in Jharsuguda in 1975. Two years later, he was appointed a general consulter of the congregation’s headquarters in Rome.
Rourkela Diocese was carved out from Sambalpur Diocese in 1979 and Father Bilung became its first bishop. His episcopal ordination was on November 3, 1979. He served the diocese for 30 years.
“He always promoted local vocations. His ministry and contribution was immense. He worked in the field of faith formation, proclamation, evangelization, education, health care, and socio-economic development as a whole in the diocese,” said Father Bijay Ekka, secretary to Education commission of Odisha.
The Rourkela priest said Bishop Bilung’s work and zeal led to the Church’s growth in the diocese which has now more than 250,000 Catholis.
Father Ekka said the bishop had conferred more 100,000 candidates for religious life, besides ordaining priests and blessing nuns.He had invited many religious congregations to work in the diocese, he added.
Respectful farewell to Emeritus Bishop Alphonse Bilung. In Paradisum deducant te angeli.
I have a very vivid memory of Bishop Alphonse Bilung even as a small girl. He visited our Parish Telendihi regularly. It brought tremendous joy to the people with his visitation. The people carried him from a long distance on a chair decorated with flowers and danced till they arrived the Church. I always admired him even after I became a religious for his simplicity.
Bishop Alphonse was a loving, compassionate, caring, dedicated, approachable, simple, cheerful, soft spoken and a humble person. Anybody could approach him without fear and it was easy to talk to him. Due to his friendly nature, he was loved by many. He worked tirelessly for the Diocese. He brought many changed and improved the quality of the Diocese. The vocation in Rourkela Diocese increased and the number of priests and religious doubled. Many new parishes were opened and many religious from different part of the country were invited to work in the Diocese. We are proud of him for his dedicated life.
The Daughters of the Cross thank Bishop Alphonse for being a good shepherd to all of us. We are grateful to him for his constant support and encouragement in our mission. May the Lord reward him for his selfless service rendered to our Diocese. May he rest in peace.
The passing away of Bishop Emeritus Rt.Rev.Alphonse, SVD is a huge loss to the church of Odisha. I knew him as a student since the day we studied theology together in Papal Athenaeum, Pune for 4 years. As a priest and bishop he was deeply committed to his ministry in every aspect being fully sensitive to the needs of his people. His prayerful and holy life will remain a source of inspiration for us all, priest, religiois and laity.
May Almighty God grant his soul eternal rest in His kingdom.
Fr. Anselm Biswal.