Cardinal Telesphore P Toppo at the funeral service of Bishop Emeritus Joseph R Rodericks at St Joseph’s Cathedral in Golmuri on Tuesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, July 20: The funeral service of Bishop Emeritus Joseph R. Rodericks of Catholic Diocese, Jamshedpur, took place at St Joseph’s Cathedral in Golmuri today in the presence of a large number of Catholic priests.

Cardinal Telesphore P. Toppo, Archbishop of Agra Albert D’Souza, Archbishop of Calcutta Henry D’Souza, Bishop of Jashpur, Chhattisgarh, Emanuel Kerketta besides many other dignitaries attended the funeral. Local MLA Banna Gupta, hotelier Ronald D’Costa, trade union leader Rakeshwar Pandey and former JMM MP of Jamshedpur Suman Mahto were also present.

Bishop Emeritus Joseph R. Rodericks served the Catholic Diocese of Jamshedpur from 1971 to 1996. He died of cancer in Mumbai on July 15. His body was brought here yesterday and in keeping with his last wish, he was buried inside St Joseph’s Cathedral. This is the first time a bishop was buried in the cathedral.

On the sidelines of the funeral service, Cardinal Toppo said Naxalism was a serious problem that needed to be solved judiciously. He also said President’s rule was not the solution and a democratic process to form the government should start soon.