Catholic ecclesiastical territory
The Archdiocese of Brisbane is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Brisbane and covering the South East region of Queensland, Australia.
Part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Brisbane, the region covered was initially administered by the Archdiocese of Sydney. In 1859 the Diocese of Brisbane was erected, and elevated as an archdiocese in 1887. The archdiocese is the metropolitan of the suffragan dioceses of Cairns, Rockhampton, Toowoomba and Townsville.
The Cathedral of St Stephen is the seat of the Archbishop of Brisbane. On 12 May 2012 Mark Coleridge was installed as the sixth Archbishop of Brisbane, the seventh Bishop of Brisbane.[2][3]
History
The Diocese of Brisbane was established in 1859, with responsibility for the entire state of Queensland. Prior to its establishment, Queensland was part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney.[4]
On 27 January 1877 Pope Pius IX excised the northern part of the Diocese of Brisbane from Cape Hinchinbrook and then west to the border with South Australia (now Northern Territory) to create the Vicariate Apostolic of Queensland (later the Diocese of Cairns.[5]
On 29 December 1882, the Diocese of Rockhampton was excised from the Archdiocese of Brisbane. The new Rockhampton diocese had responsibility for northern Queensland while the Brisbane archdiocese retained responsibility for southern Queensland.[6][7]
In 1929, the Diocese of Toowoomba was excised from the Archdiocese of Brisbane.[4]
Bishops
Ordinaries
The following people have been appointed as Archbishops of Brisbane or any of its precursor titles:[8]
| Order
|
Name
|
Title
|
Date enthroned
|
Reign ended
|
Term of office
|
Reason for term end
|
| 1 |
James Quinn † |
Bishop of Brisbane |
14 April 1859 |
18 August 1881 |
22 years, 126 days |
Died in office
|
| 2 |
Robert Dunne † |
Bishop of Brisbane |
3 January 1882 |
10 May 1887 |
5 years, 127 days |
Elevated as Archbishop of Brisbane
|
| Archbishop of Brisbane |
10 May 1887 |
13 January 1917 |
29 years, 248 days |
Died in office
|
| 3 |
James Duhig † |
Coadjutor Archbishop of Brisbane |
27 February 1912 |
13 January 1917 |
4 years, 321 days |
Succeeded as Archbishop of Brisbane
|
| Archbishop of Brisbane |
13 January 1917 |
10 April 1965 |
48 years, 87 days |
Died in office
|
| 4 |
Patrick Mary O'Donnell † |
Coadjutor Archbishop of Brisbane |
8 November 1948 |
10 April 1965 |
16 years, 153 days |
Succeeded as Archbishop of Brisbane
|
| Archbishop of Brisbane |
10 April 1965 |
5 March 1973 |
7 years, 329 days |
Retired and titled Archbishop Emeritus of Brisbane
|
| 5 |
Francis Roberts Rush † |
Archbishop of Brisbane |
5 March 1973 |
3 December 1991 |
18 years, 273 days |
Retired and titled Archbishop Emeritus of Brisbane
|
| 6 |
John Bathersby † |
Archbishop of Brisbane |
3 December 1991 |
14 November 2011 |
19 years, 346 days |
Retired and titled Archbishop Emeritus of Brisbane
|
| 7 |
Mark Coleridge |
Archbishop of Brisbane |
11 May 2012 |
present |
11 years, 281 days |
n/a
|
Coadjutors are included in the table above.
Auxiliary bishops
- Current
- Former
Other priests of the diocese who became bishops
- James Byrne †, appointed Bishop of Toowoomba in 1929
- Andrew Gerard Tynan †, appointed Bishop of Rockhampton in 1946
- Edward John Doody †, appointed Bishop of Armidale in 1948[citation needed]
- John Ahern Torpie †, appointed Bishop of Cairns in 1967[citation needed]
- Brian Heenan, appointed Bishop of Rockhampton in 1991
- James Foley, appointed Bishop of Cairns in 1992
- William Martin Morris, appointed Bishop of Toowoomba in 1992
- Michael Fabian McCarthy, appointed Bishop of Rockhampton in 2014[citation needed]
- Anthony Randazzo, appointed an Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney in 2016
- Timothy James Harris, appointed Bishop of Townsville in 2017[citation needed]
Cathedral
The gothic revival cathedral is located on a site bounded by Elizabeth, Charlotte and Edward Streets, in the Australian city of Brisbane. Built between 1864 and 1922, with extensions made in 1989, the cathedral was established with James Quinn as its first bishop. Quinn planned to construct a large cathedral to accommodate a growing congregation. On 26 December 1863, the Feast of St Stephen, Quinn laid the foundation stone for a grand cathedral designed by Benjamin Backhouse. Backhouse's original design was changed and downsized numerous times over the course of the cathedral's completion, mainly for economic reasons.
In 1927, there was a plan to replace St Stephen's with a new Holy Name Cathedral to be built in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. However, funding was only sufficient to build the crypt. Eventually the project was abandoned, the crypt demolished and the land sold.
Economic contribution
The archdiocese contributes around $2.5 billion to the economy through its schools and other institutions, providing employment to 22,000 people.[10]
The archdiocese manages 98 parishes and 144 Catholic schools. It also provides services to 12,992 aged care and disability clients, support for 8362 seniors to live at home, support to 23,000 victims of domestic violence and help for 4,000 people with mental illness.[10]
