Indian Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas Appointed as Apostolic Administrator of Daltonganj

Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas (61), sfx, the auxiliary bishop of Ranchi as the new Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Daltonganj in Jharkhand, India, on December 8.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Daltonganj is under the ecclesiastical province of Ranchi. The City of Daltongamj is 173-kilometer Northwest of Ranchi, Jharkhand, in central India.

“Please do pray for me,” Bishop Mascarenhas shared in the WhatsApp message with friends of the Archdiocese of Ranchi.

Diocese of Daltonganj was vacant in 2016 by the resignation of Bishop Gabriel Kujur, S.J. and Bishop Anand Jojo of Hazaribag was appointed as the Apostolic Administrator of Daltonganj on July 7, 2016.

In a press statement, Father Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary-General, Conference of Catholic Bishops of India ( CCBI), stated that Bishop Mascarenhas’ appointment is an addition to his present Office as Auxiliary Bishop of Ranchi.

He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Ranchi on July 9, 2014, at the age of 53 and was ordained Bishop on August 3, 2014. He was the Secretary-General of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) from March 2016 to June 2019. He has been a priest for 33 years and a bishop for seven years.

Bishop Mascarenhas was born on November 9, 1960, in Camurlim, Archdiocese of Goa. He studied Philosophy at St. Charles Seminary in Nagpur, Maharashtra, and Theology at the All India Mission Seminary, of the Society of Pilar, Goa. He holds a Master of Arts in political science from Nagpur University, and a licentiate and doctorate in sacred scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome. He was ordained a priest on April 24, 1988.

Bishop Theodore held a number of pastoral roles in Punjab, North India, in parishes and two schools as Vice-Principal and Principal (1988-1993), studies for the Licentiate and Doctorate at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome (1994-2001), Coordinator of the works of the Society of Pilar in Rome (2005),  ), superior delegate for the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier in Europe (1998-2004), Official of the Pontifical Council for Culture (2006) and since 2010, procurator general of the Society of St. Francis Xavier, member of the Pontifical Committee for the International Eucharistic Congresses and lecturer in sacred scripture at the Pontifical Gregorian University and at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), Rome.