Roman Catholic Church in Australia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Catholic Church in Australia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the spiritual and administrative leadership of the Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

.

Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

is a majority Christian but pluralistic

Religious pluralism

Religious pluralism is a loosely defined expression concerning acceptance of various religions, and is used in a number of related ways:* As the name of the worldview according to which one's religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus that at least some truths and true values...

society with no established religion. There are approximately 5.1 million Australian Catholics (26% of the population). Catholicism arrived in Australia with the British First Fleet

First Fleet

The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

in 1788. The first Australian Catholics were mainly Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

, but Australian Catholics now originate from a great variety of national backgrounds. The church is a major provider of health, education and charitable services: Catholic Social Services Australia

Catholic Social Services Australia

Catholic Social Services Australia is a welfare organisation that advances the social service ministry of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia. It is the Catholic Church's peak body for social services in Australia and has 70 member organisations in metropolitan, regional and remote Australia...

's 63 member organisations help more than a million Australians every year; and the Catholic education system has more than 650,000 students (21% of student population). Australia has 32 dioceses and 1363 parishes.

Mary MacKillop

Mary MacKillop

Mary Helen MacKillop , also known as Saint Mary of the Cross, was an Australian Roman Catholic nun who, together with Father Julian Tenison Woods, founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australasia with an emphasis on...

, who founded an educational order of religious sisters, the Josephites

Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart

The Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the Josephites , were founded in Penola, South Australia in 1866 by Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods....

, in the 19th century, became the first Australian to be canonised as a saint in 2010. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference is the national body of the Bishops of Australia. The President of the Conference is the Most Reverend Archbishop Philip Wilson, DD, D.Litt who was elected to a two-year term in 2006 and re-elected to subsequent two-year terms in 2008 and 2010...

is headed by the Most Reverend Archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

Philip Wilson and there are three Australian cardinals: including the current Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell

George Pell

George Pell AC is an Australian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the eighth and current Archbishop of Sydney, serving since 2001. He previously served as auxiliary bishop and archbishop of the Archdiocese of Melbourne...

, a former Archbishop of Sydney, Edward Bede Clancy, and the former President of the Vatican Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Edward Cassidy. Australia played host to World Youth Day 2008

World Youth Day 2008

The 23rd World Youth Day 2008 was a Catholic youth festival that started on 15 July and continued until 20 July 2008 in Sydney, Australia. It was the first World Youth Day held in Australia and the first World Youth Day in Oceania. This meeting was decided by Pope Benedict XVI, during the Cologne...

Demographics and structure

According to the 2006 Australian National Census, there were 5,126,900 Catholics in Australia. This represented 25.8% of the overall Australian population and was the largest single Christian denomination

Christian denomination

A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...

(being slightly larger than the Anglican

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

and Uniting

Uniting Church in Australia

The Uniting Church in Australia was formed on 22 June 1977 when many congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, the Presbyterian Church of Australia and the Congregational Union of Australia came together under the Basis of Union....

churches combined).

Until the 1986 census, Australia's most populous Christian church was the Anglican Church of Australia

Anglican Church of Australia

The Anglican Church of Australia is a member church of the Anglican Communion. It was previously officially known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania...

. Since then Catholics have outnumbered Anglicans by an increasing margin. One rationale to explain this relates to changes in Australia's immigration patterns

Immigration to Australia

Immigration to Australia is estimated to have begun around 51,000 years ago when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived on the continent via the islands of the Malay Archipelago and New Guinea. Europeans first landed in the 17th and 18th Centuries, but colonisation only started in 1788. The...

. Prior to the Second World War, the majority of immigrants to Australia had come from the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

- though most of Australia's Catholic immigrants had come from Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. After the war, Australia's immigration program diversified and more than 6.5 million migrants arrived in Australia in the following 60 years, including more than a million Catholics from nations such as Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

and Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

.

While Catholicism is now the largest church tradition in Australia and the overall Catholic population continues to grow, active participation in weekly church attendance has been in decline. The National Church Life Survey

National Church Life Survey

Australian National Church Life Surveys have been performed every 5 years from 1991 to 2001, to study Church Life in Australia. The NCLS Research partnership administers these surveys...

of weekly attendance, found that between 1996-2001 Catholic attendance at weekly services dropped by 13% to 764,800.

In Australia there are seven archdioceses and 32 diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

s, with an estimated 3,000 priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

s and 9,000 men and women in religious orders. A diocese usually has a defined territory and comprises the Catholics who live there. This is the case with 28 of the Australian dioceses. There are also five dioceses which cover the whole country: one each for those who belong to the Chaldean, Maronite, Melkite and Ukrainian rites and one for those who are serving in the Australian Defence Force

Australian Defence Force

The Australian Defence Force is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy , Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force and a number of 'tri-service' units...

Arrival and suppression

Since time immemorial in Australia, indigenous people had performed the rites and rituals of the animist religion of the Dreamtime

Dreamtime

In the animist framework of Australian Aboriginal mythology, The Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation.-The Dreaming of the Aboriginal times:...

. Europeans had assumed the existence of a great southern land mass since ancient times. Among the first Catholics known to have sighted Australia were the crew of a Spanish expedition of 1605-6. In 1606, the expedition's leader, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros landed in the New Hebrides

New Hebrides

New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...

and, believing it to be the fabled southern continent, he named the land: Austrialis del Espiritu Santo Southern Land of the Holy Spirit. Later that year, his deputy Luís Vaz de Torres

Luís Vaz de Torres

Luís Vaz de Torres , also Luis Váez de Torres in the Spanish spelling, was a 16th-17th century maritime explorer serving the Spanish Crown, noted for the first recorded navigation of the strait which separates the continent of Australia from the island of New Guinea, and which now bears his name...

sailed through Australia's Torres Strait

Torres Strait

The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is approximately wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost continental extremity of the Australian state of Queensland...

.

The permanent presence of Catholicism in Australia however, came with the arrival of the First Fleet

First Fleet

of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. One-tenth of all the convicts who came to Australia on the First Fleet were Catholic, and at least half of them were born in Ireland. A small proportion of British marines were also Catholic. Some of the Irish convicts had been Transported to Australia for political crimes or social rebellion in Ireland, so the authorities were suspicious of the minority religion for the first three decades of settlement.

It was the crew of the French explorer La Pérouse

Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse

Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse was a French Navy officer and explorer whose expedition vanished in Oceania.-Early career:...

who conducted the first Catholic ceremony on Australian soil in 1788 - the burial of Father Louis Receveur

Louis Receveur

Claude-Francois Joseph Louis Receveur was a French Franciscan priest, naturalist and astronomer who sailed with Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse....

, a Franciscan monk, who died while the ships were at anchor at Botany Bay

Botany Bay

Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...

, while on a mission to explore the Pacific.

Catholic convicts were compelled to attend Church of England services and their children and orphans were raised by the authorities as Anglicans. The first Catholic priests arrived in Australia as convicts in 1800 - James Harold, James Dixon

James Dixon

James Dixon was a United States Representative and Senator from Connecticut.-Biography:Born in Enfield, Connecticut, Dixon pursued preparatory studies, and graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1834, where he had been a charter member of The Kappa Alpha Society. He was...

and Peter O'Neill, who had been convicted for "complicity" in the Irish 1798 Rebellion. Fr Dixon was conditionally emancipated and permitted to celebrate Mass

Mass

Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...

. On 15 May 1803, in vestments made from curtains and with a chalice made of tin, he conducted the first Catholic Mass in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

. The Irish led Castle Hill Rebellion of 1804 alarmed the British authorities and Dixon's permission to celebrate Mass was revoked. Fr Jeremiah Flynn, an Irish Cistercianmonk, was appointed as Prefect Apostolic of New Holland

New Holland (Australia)

New Holland is a historic name for the island continent of Australia. The name was first applied to Australia in 1644 by the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman as Nova Hollandia, naming it after the Dutch province of Holland, and remained in use for 180 years....

and set out from Britain for the colony uninvited. Watched by authorities, Flynn secretly performed priestly duties before being arrested and deported to London. Reaction to the affair in Britain led to two further priests being allowed to travel to the colony in 1820 - John Joseph Therry

John Joseph Therry

Father John Therry was an Irish, early Roman Catholic priest in Sydney, Australia.-Early Life:Therry was born in Cork and was privately educated at St Patrick's College at Carlow, and in 1815 was ordained as a priest. He did parish work in Dublin and later on was secretary to the bishop of Cork...

and Philip Connolly

Philip Connolly

Philip George Connolly was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.He represented the Dunedin West electorate from 1943 to 1946, and then the Dunedin Central electorate from 1946 to 1963: when he retired....

. The foundation stone for the first St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

The Metropolitan Cathedral of St Mary is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and the seat of the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell. The cathedral is dedicated to "Mary, Help of Christians", Patron of Australia...

was laid on 29 October 1821 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie

Lachlan Macquarie

Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...

.

The absence of a Catholic mission in Australia before 1818 reflected the legal disabilities of Catholics in Britain and the difficult position of Ireland within the British Empire. The government therefore endorsed the English Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

monks to lead the early church in the colony. William Bernard Ullathorne

William Bernard Ullathorne

William Bernard Ullathorne was an English Roman Catholic bishop and a missionary in Australia.-Early life:William Ullathorne was born in Pocklington, Yorkshire, the eldest of ten children of William Ullathorne, a prosperous grocer, draper and spirit merchant, and his wife Hannah, née Longstaff...

(1806–1889) was instrumental in influencing Pope Gregory XVI

Pope Gregory XVI

Pope Gregory XVI , born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, named Mauro as a member of the religious order of the Camaldolese, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846...

to establish the hierarchy in Australia. Ullathorne was in Australia from 1833-1836 as vicar-general to Bishop William Morris (1794–1872), whose jurisdiction extended over the Australian missions.

Emancipation and growth

The Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

was disestablished in the Colony of New South Wales by the Church Act of 1836. Drafted by the Catholic attorney-general John Plunkett

John Plunkett

John Hubert Plunkett was Attorney-General of New South Wales and elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly.-Early life:...

, the act established legal equality for Anglicans, Catholics and Presbyterians and was later extended to Methodists. Nevertheless, social attitudes were slow to change. A laywoman, Caroline Chisholm

Caroline Chisholm

Caroline Chisholm was a progressive 19th-century English humanitarian known mostly for her involvement with female immigrant welfare in Australia. She is commemorated on 16 May in the Calendar of saints of the Church of England...

(1808–1877), faced discouragements and anti-Catholic feeling when she sought to establish a migrant women's shelter and worked for women's welfare in the colonies in the 1840s, though her humanitarian efforts later won her fame in England and great influence in achieving support for families in the colony.

The church's most prominent early leader was John Bede Polding, a Benedictine monk who was Sydney's first bishop (and then archbishop) from 1835 to 1877. Polding requested a community of nuns be sent to the colony and five Irish Sisters of Charity

Sisters of Charity of Australia

The Sisters of Charity of Australia is a congregation of Roman Catholic women religious who have served the people of Australia since 1838...

arrived in 1838. While tensions arose between the English Benedictine hierarchy and the Irish Ignatian-tradition order from the start, the sisters set about pastoral care in a women's prison and began visiting hospitals and schools and establishing employment for convict women. In 1847, two sisters transferred to Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

and established a school. The sisters went on to establish hospitals in four of the eastern states, beginning with St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

St Vincent's Public Hospital, Sydney is located in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst. Though part of the New South Wales state public health system it remains under the auspices of the Sisters of Charity.-History:...

in 1857 as a free hospital for all people, but especially for the poor.

At Polding's request, the Christian Brothers

Congregation of Christian Brothers

The Congregation of Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. The Christian Brothers, as they are commonly known, chiefly work for the evangelisation and education of youth, but are involved in many ministries, especially with...

arrived in Sydney in 1843 to assist in schools. Again jurisdictional tensions arose and the brothers returned to Ireland. In 1857, Polding founded an Australian order of nuns in the Benedictine tradition - the Sisters of the Good Samaritan

Sisters of the Good Samaritan

The Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan is a Roman Catholic Congregation of religious women commenced by , Australia’s first Catholic bishop, in Sydney in 1857. The congregation was the first religious congregation to be founded in Australia. The sisters form an apostolic institute...

- to work in education and social work. While Polding was in office, construction began on the ambitious Gothic Revival designs for St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne

St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne

St Patrick's Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and seat of its archbishop, currently Denis J. Hart. The building is known internationally as a leading example of the Gothic Revival style of architecture.In 1974 Pope Paul VI...

and the final St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney.

Establishing themselves first at Sevenhill, in the newly established colony of South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

in 1848, the Jesuits were the first religious order of priests to enter and establish houses in South Australia, Victoria, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

and the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

- Austrian Jesuits established themselves in the south and north and Irish in the east. The goldrush saw an increase in the population and propserity of the colonies and called for an increase in the number of episcopal see

Episcopal See

An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...

s. When gold was discovered in late 1851, there were an estimated 9,000 Catholics in the Colony of Victoria, increasing to 100,000 by the time the Jesuits arrived 14 years later. While the Austrian priests traversed the Outback on horseback to found missions and schools, the Irish priests arrived in the east in 1860 and had by 1880 established the major schools of Xavier College

Xavier College

Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....

in Melbourne, St Aloysius' College and Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview

Riverview, New South Wales

Riverview is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Riverview is located 9 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Lane Cove...

in Sydney - which each survive to the present.

In 1885, Patrick Francis Moran became Australia's first cardinal

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

. St Patrick's College, Manly, intended to provide priests for all the colonies, was opened in 1889. Moran believed that Catholics' political and civil rights were threatened in Australia and, in 1896, saw deliberate discrimination in a situation where "no office of first, or even second, rate importance is held by a Catholic".

The Catholic Church also became involved in mission work among the Aboriginal people of Australia during the 19th century as Europeans came to control much of the continent. According to Aboriginal anthropologist Kathleen Butler-McIlwraith, there were many occasions when the Catholic Church attempted to advocate for Aboriginal rights, but the missionaries were also "functionaries of the Protection

Protector of Aborigines

The role of Protectors of Aborigines resulted from a recommendation of the report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Aborigines . On 31 January 1838, Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies sent Governor Gipps the report.The report recommended that Protectors of...

and Assimilation policies" of the government and so "directly contributed to the current disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians".

With the withdrawal of state aid for church schools around 1880, the Catholic Church, unlike other Australian churches, put great energy and resources into creating a comprehensive alternative system of education. It was largely staffed by sisters, brothers and priests of religious orders, such as the Christian Brothers

Congregation of Christian Brothers

(who had returned to Australia in 1868); the Sisters of Mercy

Sisters of Mercy

The Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy is an order of Catholic women founded by Catherine McAuley in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831. , the order has about 10,000 members worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations....

(who had arrived in Perth in 1846); Marist Brothers

Marist Brothers

The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary...

, who came from France in 1872 and the Sisters of St Joseph

Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart

The Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the Josephites , were founded in Penola, South Australia in 1866 by Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods....

, founded in Australia by Mary MacKillop

Mary MacKillop

and Fr Julian Tenison Woods

Julian Tenison Woods

Julian Edmund Tenison Woods was an English Roman Catholic priest and geologist, active in Australia. With Saint Mary MacKillop, he helped to found the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart at Penola in 1866....

in 1867. MacKillop travelled throughout Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...

and established schools, convents and charitable institutions but came into conflict with those bishops who preferred diocesan control of the order rather than central control from Adelaide by the Josephite order. MacKillop administered the Josephites as a national order at a time when Australia was divided among individually governed colonies. She is today the most revered of Australian Catholics, beatified by Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

in 1995 and canonised by Benedict XVI in 2010. Catholic schools flourished in Australia and by 1900 there were 115 Christian Brothers teaching in Australia. By 1910 there were 5000 sisters from all orders teaching in schools.

Post Australian Federation

The Australian Constitution of 1901 guaranteed Freedom of Religion

Freedom of religion

Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...

and the separation of church and state

Separation of church and state

The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....

throughout Australia. Australia's first Catholic cardinal

Cardinal (Catholicism)

, Patrick Francis Moran (1830–1911), had been a proponent of Australian Federation but in 1901 he refused to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Commonwealth of Australia because precedence was given to the Church of England

Church of England

. He was criticised in The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...

for speaking against racist immigration laws and he alarmed Catholic conservatives by supporting Trade Unionism and the newly formed Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

.

The Catholic Church was rooted in the working class Irish communities. Moran, the Archbishop of Sydney from 1884 to 1911, believed that Catholicism would flourish with the emergence of the new nation through Federation in 1901, provided that his people rejected "contamination" from foreign influences such as anarchism, socialism, modernism and secularism. Moran distinguished between European socialism as an atheistic movement and those Australians calling themselves "socialists"; he approved the objectives of the latter while feeling that the European model was not a real danger in Australia. Moran's outlook reflected his wholehearted acceptance of Australian democracy and his belief in the country as different and freer than the old societies from which its people had come. Moran thus welcomed the Labor Party and the Catholic Church stood with it in opposing conscription in the referenda of 1916 and 1917. The hierarchy had close ties to Rome, which encouraged the bishops to support the British Empire and emphasize Marian piety.

Another Irish cleric, Archbishop Daniel Mannix

Daniel Mannix

Daniel Mannix was an Irish-born Australian Catholic bishop. Mannix was the Archbishop of Melbourne for 46 years and one of the most influential public figures in 20th century Australia....

(1864–1963) of Melbourne, who was a controversial voice against conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

and against British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

policy in Ireland. He was also a fervent critic of contraception. In 1920, the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

prevented him landing in his Irish homeland. Yet despite early 20th century sectarian feeling, Australia elected its first Catholic prime minister, James Scullin

James Scullin

James Henry Scullin , Australian Labor politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Two days after he was sworn in as Prime Minister, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 occurred, marking the beginning of the Great Depression and subsequent Great Depression in Australia.-Early life:Scullin was...

, of the Australian Labor Party in 1929 - decades before the Protestant majority of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

would elect John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

as its first Catholic president. His successor, Joseph Lyons

Joseph Lyons

Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...

, a devout Irish Catholic, split from Labor to form the fiscally conservative United Australia Party

United Australia Party

The United Australia Party was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. It was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia and predecessor to the Liberal Party of Australia...

- predecessor to the modern Liberal Party of Australia

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

. His wife, Dame Enid Lyons

Enid Lyons

Dame Enid Muriel Lyons, AD, GBE was an Australian politician and the first woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives as well as the first woman appointed to the federal Cabinet...

, a Catholic convert, became the first female member of the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

and later first female member of cabinet in the Menzies Government. With the place of Catholics in the British Empire still complicated by Ireland's recent wars for independence

Irish War of Independence

The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...

and centuries of imperial rivalry with Catholic European nations, as prime minister, Lyons travelled to London in 1935 for the Silver Jubilee celebrations of King George V and faced anti-Catholic demonstrations in Edinburgh, then visited his ancestral homeland of Ireland and had an audience with the Pope in Rome.

Ethnicity

Until about 1950, when large numbers of Italians, Germans and other European Catholics arrived, the Catholic Church in Australia was overwhelmingly Irish in its ethos. Most Catholics were descendants of Irish immigrants and the church was mostly led by Irish-born priests and bishops. From 1950 the ethnic composition of the church changed, with the assimilation of Irish Australians and the arrival of more than one million Catholics from countries such as Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia and Hungary after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

and Filipinos, Vietnamese, Lebanese and Poles around the 1980s. There are now also strong Chinese, Korean and Latin American Catholic communities.

For a long time, Irish-Australians had a close political association with the Labor Party. The changing ethnic composition of Australian Catholicism and shifting political allegiances of Australian Catholics saw Catholic layman B.A. Santamaria, the son of Italian immigrants, lead a movement of working class Catholics against Communism

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

in Australia and the formation of his Democratic Labor Party

Democratic Labor Party

The Democratic Labor Party is a political party in Australia that espouses social conservatism and opposes neo-liberalism. The first "DLP" Senator in decades, party vice-president John Madigan was elected to the Australian Senate with 2.3 percent of the primary vote in Victoria at the 2010 federal...

(DLP) in 1955. The DLP was formed over concerns of Communist influence over the trade unions and Labor Party. The movement was not approved by the Vatican

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

, but it siphoned a proportion of the Catholic vote away from the Labor Party, contributing to the success of the newly formed Liberal Party of Robert Menzies

Robert Menzies

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....

, which held power from 1949 to 1972, which, in return for DLP preferences, secured state aid for Catholic schools in Australia in 1963. Along with a sharp decline in sectarianism in post 1960s Australia, sectarian loyalty to political parties has diminished and Catholics have been well represented within the conservative Liberal

Liberal Party of Australia

and National

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

parties. Brendan Nelson

Brendan Nelson

Dr Brendan John Nelson is a former Australian politician and former federal Opposition leader. He served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives from the 1996 federal election until 19 October 2009 as the Liberal member for Bradfield, a northern Sydney seat...

became the first Catholic to lead the Liberal Party in 2007 and the current leader of the party, Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott

Anthony John "Tony" Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives and federal leader of the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott has represented the seat of Warringah since the 1994 by-election...

, is a former seminarian who won the party leadership after defeating two other Catholic candidates for the post. In 2008, Tim Fischer

Tim Fischer

Timothy Andrew Fischer, AC , is a former Australian politician. He served as Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 before retiring from Cabinet in 1999...

, a Catholic and former deputy prime minister in the Howard Government

Howard Government

The Howard Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard. It was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition, which won a majority of seats in the Australian House of Representatives at four successive elections. The Howard Government...

, was nominated by the Labor prime minister, Kevin Rudd

Kevin Rudd

Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...

, as the first resident Australian ambassador

Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....

to the Holy See

Holy See

since 1973, when diplomatic relations with the Vatican and Australia was first established.

Post Second Vatican Council

Since the Second Vatican Council

Second Vatican Council

The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...

of the 1960s, the Australian church has suffered a decline in vocations to the religious life, leading to a priest shortage

Priest shortage

A priest shortage is the situation of a reduced number of priests in religions, especially the Roman Catholic Church.In 2008, 49,631 parishes in the world had no resident priest pastor. While the number of Catholics in the world nearly doubled between 1970 and 2008, growing from 653 Million to...

. On the other hand, Catholic education under lay leadership has expanded, and about 20% of Australian school students attend a Catholic school. While the numbers of nuns serving in Australian health facilities declined, the Church maintained a strong presence in health care. The Sisters of Charity

Sisters of Charity of Australia

The Sisters of Charity of Australia is a congregation of Roman Catholic women religious who have served the people of Australia since 1838...

continued their mission among the sick, opening Australia's first HIV AIDS ward at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

in the 1980s. Declining vocations and increasing complexities in the Health care technologies and management saw orders like the Sisters of Charity and Sisters of Mercy

Sisters of Mercy

amalgamating their efforts and divesting themselves of daily management of hospitals.

Following Vatican II, new styles of ministry were tried by Australian religious. Some rose to national prominence. Fr Ted Kennedy

Ted Kennedy (priest)

-Early life and ordination:Ted Kennedy was known throughout Australia as the priest of St Vincent’s Roman Catholic church in the Sydney inner-city suburb of Redfern. He arrived there in 1971, appointed to head a team ministry by the then Archbishop of Sydney James Freeman . He served also as...

began one such ministry in Sydney's inner city Redfern

Redfern, New South Wales

Redfern is an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Redfern is 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney...

presbytery in 1971 - an area with a large Aboriginal population. Working closely with Catholic Aboriginal laywoman 'Mum' Shirl Smith

Mum (Shirl) Smith

Shirley Smith , better known as Mum Shirl, was a prominent Aboriginal Australian and activist committed to justice and welfare of Aboriginal Australians...

, he developed a theology which held that the poor had special insights into the meaning of Christianity, worked as an advocate for Aboriginal rights and often challenged the civil and church establishment on questions of conscience. In 1989, Jesuit lawyer Fr Frank Brennan AO

Order of Australia

The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...

founded Uniya

Uniya

Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Centre was a small, Sydney-based centre for social justice and human rights research, advocacy, education and networking. The centre operated from 1989 until May 2007....

, a centre for social justice and human rights research, advocacy, education and networking. Uniya focused much of its attention on the plight of refugees, asylum seekers, and Indigenous reconciliation. Later, Prime Minister Paul Keating

Paul Keating

Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...

dubbed Brennan, the 'Meddling Priest'. In 1991, Fr Chris Riley

Chris Riley (Priest)

Father Chris Riley, AM is an Australian Roman Catholic priest who founded and is CEO of the charity Youth Off The Streets. He is a member of the Salesian order....

formed Youth Off The Streets

Youth Off The Streets

Youth Off The Streets is an Australian community organisation working for young people who are homeless, drug dependent and recovering from abuse.It was started in 1991 by Father Chris Riley...

, a community organisation working for young people who are 'chronically homeless, drug dependent and recovering from abuse'. Originally a food van in Sydney's King's Cross

Kings Cross, New South Wales

Kings Cross is an inner-city locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney...

, it has grown to be one of the largest youth services in Australia, offering crisis accommodation, residential rehabilitation, clinical services and counselling, outreach programs, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, specialist Aboriginal services,
education and family support. Melbourne priest Father Bob Maguire began parish work in the 1960s, but became a youth media personality in 2004 with the beginning of a series of collaborations with irreverent satirist John Safran

John Safran

John Safran is an Australian documentary maker and radio broadcaster, known for combining humour with explorations into religion and other issues...

on SBS TV

SBS TV

SBS One is a national public television channel in Australia. Launched on 24 October 1980, it is the responsibility of SBS's television division, and is available nationally...

and Triple J

Triple J

triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...

radio

1970 saw the first visit to Australia by a Pope, Paul VI. Pope John Paul II was the next Pope to visit Australia in 1986. At Alice Springs, the Pope made an historic address to indigenous Australians, in which he praised the enduring qualities of Aboriginal culture, lamented the effects of dispossession of and discrimination; called for acknowledgment of Aboriginal land rights and reconciliation in Australia; and said that the Church in Australia would not reach its potential until Aboriginal people had made their "contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others".

In 1988, the Archbishop of Sydney, Edward Bede Clancy was created Cardinal and during the Australian Bicentenary

Australian Bicentenary

The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1970 on the 200th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing and claiming the land, and again in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of permanent European settlement.-1970:...

celebrations led the religious ceremonies for the opening of Parliament House, Canberra

Parliament House, Canberra

Parliament House is the meeting facility of the Parliament of Australia located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. The building was designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Architects and opened on 1988 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia...

. Pope John Paul II visited Australia for the second time in 1995, to perform the rite

Rite

A rite is an established, ceremonious, usually religious act. Rites in this sense fall into three major categories:* rites of passage, generally changing an individual's social status, such as marriage, baptism, or graduation....

of beatification

Beatification

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...

for Mary MacKillop

Mary MacKillop

, founder of Australia's Josephite Sisters

Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart

The Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the Josephites , were founded in Penola, South Australia in 1866 by Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods....

, before a crowd of 250,000.

From the late 1980s, cases of abuse within the Catholic Church and other child care institutions began to be exposed in Australia. In 1996, the church issued a document, Towards Healing, which it described as seeking to establish a compassionate and just system for dealing with complaints of abuse. In 2001, an apostolic exhortation

Apostolic exhortation

An apostolic exhortation is a type of communication from the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. It encourages a community of people to undertake a particular activity, but does not define Church doctrine...

from Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

condemned incidents of sex abuse in Oceania

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

. Impetus for the Towards Healing protocols was in part led by Bishop Geoffrey Robinson

Geoffrey James Robinson

Geoffrey James Robinson is a retired Australian Roman Catholic bishop.Robinson was ordained for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney in 1960. He earned advanced degrees in philosophy, theology and canon law, first in Australia and subsequently in Rome. From 1967 until 1983, after a few years...

, who would later call for large scale systemic reform of the church globally in his 2007 book Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference did not endorse the book. Pat Power. the Auxiliary Bishop

Auxiliary bishop

An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it requires more than one bishop to administer, or the diocese is attached to a royal or imperial office...

of Canberra & Goulburn, wrote in 2002 that: the current crisis around sexual abuse is the greatest since the Reformation. At stake is the Church's moral authority, its credibility, its ability to interpret the 'signs of the times' and its capacity to confront the ensuing questions. Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI

Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

officially apologised to victims during World Youth Day 2008

World Youth Day 2008

in Sydney and conducted a Mass with four victims of clerical sexual abuse in the chapel of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

and listened to their stories.

In 2001, in Rome, Pope John Paul II apologised to Aborigines and other indigenous people in Oceania

Oceania

for past injustices by the church: Aware of the shameful injustices done to indigenous peoples in Oceania, the Synod Fathers apologised unreservedly for the part played in these by members of the church, especially where children were forcibly separated from their families. Church leaders in Australia called on the Australian government to offer a similar apology.

In 2001 George Pell

George Pell

became the eighth Archbishop of Sydney and, in 2003, became a cardinal. Pell supported Sydney’s bid to host World Youth Day 2008

World Youth Day 2008

. In July 2008, Sydney hosted the massive youth festival led by Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI

. Around 500,000 welcomed the pope to Sydney and 270,000 watched the Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...

. More than 300,000 pilgrims camped out overnight in preparation for the final Mass., where final attendance was between 300,000 and 400,000 people.

In February 2010, Pope Benedict XVI announced that Mary MacKillop

Mary MacKillop

would be recognised as the first Australian saint

Saint

A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

of the Catholic Church. She was canonised on 17 October 2010 during a public ceremony in St Peter's Square

Saint Peter's Square

Saint Peter's Square is located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave within Rome .-History of St...

. An estimated 8,000 Australians were present in the Vatican City

Vatican City

Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

to witness the ceremony. The Vatican Museum held an exhibition of Aboriginal art to honour the occasion titled "Rituals of Life". The exhibition contained 300 artifacts which were on display for the first time since 1925.

Social and political engagement

Introduction

Catholics and Catholic charitable organisations, hospitals and schools have played a prominent role in welfare and education in Australia ever since Colonial times when Catholic laywoman Caroline Chisolm helped single migrant women and rescued homeless girls in Sydney. In his welcoming address to the Catholic World Youth Day 2008

World Youth Day 2008

in Sydney, the prime minister, Kevin Rudd

Kevin Rudd

Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...

, said that Christianity had been a positive influence on Australia: "It was the church that began first schools for the poor, it was the church that began first hospitals for the poor, it was the church that began first refuges for the poor and these great traditions continue for the future".

Welfare

A number of Catholic organisations are providers of social welfare services (including residential aged care

Elderly care

Elderly care or simply eldercare is the fulfillment of the special needs and requirements that are unique to senior citizens. This broad term encompasses such services as assisted living, adult day care, long term care, nursing homes, hospice care, and In-Home care.-Cultural and geographic...

and the Job Network

Job Network

Job Services Australia is an Australian Government-funded network of organisations that is contracted by the Australian Government, through the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations , to deliver employment services to unemployed job seekers on Government income...

) and education in Australia

Education in Australia

Education in Australia is primarily the responsibility of the states and territories. Each state or territory government provides funding and regulates the public and private schools within its governing area. The federal government helps fund the public universities, but is not involved in setting...

, Australia wide these include: Centacare, Caritas Australia

Caritas (charity)

Caritas Internationalis is a confederate of 164 Roman Catholic relief, development and social service organisations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide....

, Jesuit Refugee Service

Jesuit Refugee Service

The Jesuit Refugee Service is an international Catholic organization that aids refugees, forcibly displaced peoples, and asylum seekers. JRS operates at national and regional levels. Founded in November, 1980 as a work of the Society of Jesus, JRS was officially registered on March 19, 2000 in...

, St Vincent de Paul Society, Youth Off The Streets

Youth Off The Streets

Youth Off The Streets is an Australian community organisation working for young people who are homeless, drug dependent and recovering from abuse.It was started in 1991 by Father Chris Riley...

. Two religious orders founded in Australia which engaged in welfare and charity work are the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart

Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart

The Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the Josephites , were founded in Penola, South Australia in 1866 by Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods....

and the Sisters of the Good Samaritan

Sisters of the Good Samaritan

. Many international Catholic orders also work in welfare, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor

Little Sisters of the Poor

The Little Sisters of the Poor is a Roman Catholic religious order for women. It was founded in the 19th century by Saint Jeanne Jugan near Rennes, France. Jugan felt the need to care for the many impoverished elderly who lined the streets of French towns and cities.This led her to welcome an...

who work in aged care. Catholic Social Services Australia

Catholic Social Services Australia

is the church’s peak national body for the delivery of social services and its 70 member organisations help more than a million Australians every year.

Health

Catholic Health Australia

Catholic Health Australia operates 75 hospitals and 550 residential and community aged care services and comprises Australia's largest non-government not-for-profit grouping of health and aged care services...

is the largest non-government provider grouping of health, community and aged care services in Australia. These do not operate for profit and range across the full spectrum of health services, representing about 10% of the health sector and employing 35,000 people.

Religious orders founded many of Australia's hospitals. Irish Sisters of Charity

Sisters of Charity of Australia

The Sisters of Charity of Australia is a congregation of Roman Catholic women religious who have served the people of Australia since 1838...

arrived in Sydney in 1838 and established St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

in 1857 as a free hospital for the poor. The Sisters went on to found hospitals, hospices, research institutes and aged care facilities in Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania. At St Vincent's they trained leading surgeon Victor Chang

Victor Chang

Victor Peter Chang, AC , was a Chinese Australian cardiac surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplantation. Born in Shanghai to Australian-born Chinese parents, he grew up in Hong Kong before moving to Australia...

and opened Australia's first AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

clinic. In the 21st century, with more and more lay people involved in management, the sisters began callaborating with Sisters of Mercy

Sisters of Mercy

Hospitals in Melbourne and Sydney. Jointly the group operates four public hospitals; seven private hospitals and 10 aged care facilities.

The English Sisters of the Little Company of Mary

Sisters of the Little Company of Mary

The Little Company of Mary is a Roman Catholic religious institute of women dedicated to caring for the suffering, the sick and the dying. The order was founded in 1877 England by Venerable Mary Potter....

arrived in 1885 and have since established public and private hospitals, retirement living and residential aged care, community care and comprehensive palliative care in New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

The Little Sisters of the Poor

Little Sisters of the Poor

, who follow the charism

Charism

In Christian theology, a charism in general denotes any good gift that flows from God's love to man. The word can also mean any of the spiritual graces and qualifications granted to every Christian to perform his or her task in the Church...

of Saint Jeanne Jugan

Jeanne Jugan

Saint Jeanne Jugan , also known as Sister Mary of the Cross was born in Cancale in Brittany, France, the sixth of the eight children of Joseph and Marie Jugan. Her father died when she was very young and her mother raised this large family alone. When Jeanne was 16, she took a job as the kitchen...

to 'offer hospitality to the needy aged' arrived in Melbourne in 1884 and now operate four aged care homes in Australia.

Education

By 1833, there were around ten Catholic schools in the Australian colonies. Today one in five Australian students attend Catholic schools. Mary MacKillop

Mary MacKillop

was a 19th century Australian nun who founded an educational order, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart

Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart

The Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the Josephites , were founded in Penola, South Australia in 1866 by Mary MacKillop and Father Julian Tenison Woods....

and in 2010 became the first Australian to be recognised as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

. Other Catholic religious orders involved in education in Australia have included: Sisters of Mercy

Sisters of Mercy

, Marist Brothers

Marist Brothers

, Christian Brothers, Loreto Sisters, Benedictine Sisters

Benedictine Sisters

Benedictine Sisters may refer to any of the following Benedictine religious orders:*Benedictine Sisters of the Reparation of the Holy Face*Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration*Benedictine Sisters of Elk County...

and Jesuits.

As with other classes of non-government schools in Australia, Catholic schools receive funding from the Commonwealth Government. Church schools range from elite, high cost schools (which generally offer extensive bursary programs for low-income students) to low-fee local schools. Notable schools include the Jesuit colleges of St Aloysius and Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview in Sydney, Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide

Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide

The College has two campuses, the Junior school and Early Childhood Centre in Norwood and the Senior campus in Athelstone.Saint Ignatius' College is part of the international network of Jesuit schools which began in Messina, Sicily in 1548...

and Xavier College

Xavier College

Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....

in Melbourne; the Marist Brothers

Marist Brothers

St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, the Society of the Sacred Heart

Society of the Sacred Heart

The Society of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic religious congregation established in France by St. Madeleine Sophie Barat in 1800. It has presence in 45 countries. Membership to the Society is restricted to women only. Its members do many works, but focus on education, particularly girls'...

's Rosebay Kincoppal School, the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary's Loreto Kirribilli

Loreto Kirribilli

Loreto Kirribilli is a Roman Catholic, day school for girls, located in Kirribilli, a Lower North Shore suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....

, the Sisters of Mercy

Sisters of Mercy

's Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College

Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College

Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College is a Roman Catholic, secondary, day school for girls, located in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....

, the Christian Brothers' St Edmund's College, Canberra

St Edmund's College, Canberra

St Edmund's College, is a private, Catholic, day school for boys, located in Griffith, a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.The college was established in 1954 by the Christian Brothers as St Edmund's War Memorial College...

and Aquinas College, Perth

Aquinas College, Perth

Aquinas College is a Catholic independent, day and boarding school for boys, located in Salter Point, Western Australia. Its sister school is Santa Maria Ladies College located in Attadale...

- however, the list and range of Catholic primary and secondary schools in Australia is long and diverse and extends throughout metropolitan, regional and remote Australia: see Catholic Schools in Australia

The Australian Catholic University

Australian Catholic University

Australian Catholic University is a national public university. It has six campuses and offers programs in five faculties throughout Australia.-History:...

opened in 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia. These institutions had their origins in the 1800s, when religious orders and institutes became involved in preparing teachers for Catholic schools and nurses for Catholic hospitals. The University of Notre Dame Australia

University of Notre Dame Australia

The University of Notre Dame Australia is a private Roman Catholic university established in 1989 in the Western Australian port city of Fremantle, . While the University of Notre Dame Australia has "strong collegial links" with the American University of Notre Dame located in Notre Dame, Indiana,...

opened in Western Australia in December 1989 and now has over 9000 students on three campuses in Fremantle, Sydney and Broome.

Politics

Church leaders have often involved themselves in political issues in areas they consider relevant to Christian teachings. In early Colonial times, Catholicism was restricted but Church of England

Church of England

clergy worked closely with the governors. Early Catholic missionary William Ullathorne

William Bernard Ullathorne

criticised the convict system, publishing a pamphlet, The Horrors of Transportation Briefly Unfolded to the People, in Britain in 1837. Sydney's first archbishop, John Bede Polding, was influential in the preparation of the Australian bishops' pastoral letter on Aborigines in 1869 which advocated for Aboriginal rights and dignity. Australia's first Catholic cardinal

Cardinal (Catholicism)

, Patrick Francis Moran (1830–1911), was politically active. He was a proponent of Australian Federation; he denounced anti-Chinese legislation as "unchristian" and opposed anti-semitism

Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

. He became an advocate for women's suffrage

Women's suffrage

Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...

and he stood for election to the Australasian Federal Convention in 1897, but in 1901 he refused to attend the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia because precedence was given to the Church of England. He alarmed conservatives by supporting trade unionism and "Australian socialism". Archbishop Daniel Mannix

Daniel Mannix

Daniel Mannix was an Irish-born Australian Catholic bishop. Mannix was the Archbishop of Melbourne for 46 years and one of the most influential public figures in 20th century Australia....

of Melbourne was a controversial voice against conscription

Conscription

during World War I

World War I

and against British policy in Ireland.

Mum (Shirl) Smith

Mum (Shirl) Smith

Shirley Smith , better known as Mum Shirl, was a prominent Aboriginal Australian and activist committed to justice and welfare of Aboriginal Australians...

, a celebrated Redfern

Redfern, New South Wales

Redfern is an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Redfern is 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney...

community worker who, assisted by the Sisters of Charity

Sisters of Charity of Australia

The Sisters of Charity of Australia is a congregation of Roman Catholic women religious who have served the people of Australia since 1838...

, worked in the courts and organised prison visitations, medical and social assistance for Aborigines. Fr Ted Kennedy

Ted Kennedy (priest)

of Redfern and Fr Frank Brennan, a Jesuit, have been high profile Catholics priests engaged in the cause of Aboriginal rights.

The Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

had largely been supported by Catholics until layman B. A. Santamaria

B. A. Santamaria

Bartholomew Augustine "B. A." Santamaria, otherwise 'Bob' , was an Australian political activist and journalist and one of the most influential political figures in 20th century Australian history...

formed the Democratic Labor Party

Democratic Labor Party

over concerns of Communist influence over the trade union movement in the 1950s.

In 1999, Cardinal Edward Bede Clancy wrote to the then prime minister, John Howard

John Howard

John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....

, urging him to send an armed peacekeeping force to East Timor

East Timor

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...

to end the violence engulfing that country. In 2006, an Australian Greens senator, Kerry Nettle

Kerry Nettle

Kerry Michelle Nettle is a former Australian Senator and member of the Australian Greens in New South Wales. Elected at the 2001 federal election on a primary vote of 4.36 percent with One Nation and micro-party preferences, she failed to gain re-election at the 2007 federal election, despite an...

, called on the health minister, Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott

, to refrain from debating the abortion drug RU486 because he was Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

. The current Archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell

George Pell

, has concerned himself publicly with traditional issues of Christian doctrine, such as supporting marriage

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

and opposing abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

, but also raised questions about government policies such as the Work Choices industrial relations reforms and the mandatory detention

Mandatory detention in Australia

Mandatory detention in Australia concerns the Australian federal government's policy and system of mandatory immigration detention active from 1992 to date, pursuant to which all persons entering the country without a valid visa are compulsorily detained and sometimes subject to deportation.In the...

of asylum seekers.

Australia elected its first Catholic prime minister, James Scullin

James Scullin

, in 1929. In recent times, Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

prime ministers Paul Keating

Paul Keating

(1991–1996) and Kevin Rudd

Kevin Rudd

Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...

(2007–2010) were both raised Catholic (though Rudd now attends Anglican services). The last three Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Australia

Leaders of the Opposition, Brendon Nelson, Malcolm Turnbull

Malcolm Turnbull

Malcolm Bligh Turnbull is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2004, and was Leader of the Opposition and parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party from 16 September 2008 to 1 December 2009.Turnbull has represented the Division...

and Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott

(current) have all been Catholics. The Premier of New South Wales, Kristina Keneally

Kristina Keneally

Kristina Kerscher Keneally MP, is an Australian politician and was the 42nd Premier of New South Wales. She was elected leader of the Australian Labor Party in New South Wales and thus Premier in 2009, but went on to lose government to the Liberal/National Coalition at the March 2011 state election...

, studied theology.

Arts and culture

Architecture

See also

Most towns in Australia have at least one Christian church. The "mother church" of Catholicism in Australia is St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

. The plan of the cathedral is a conventional English cathedral plan, cruciform in shape, with a tower over the crossing of the nave and transepts and twin towers at the west front with impressive stained glass windows. With a length of 106.7 metres and a general width of 24.4 metres, it is Sydney's largest church. Built to a design by William Wardell

William Wardell

William Wilkinson Wardell was a Civil Engineer and Architect, notable not only for his work in Australia, the country to which he emigrated in 1858, but also for having a successful career as a surveyor, and an ecclesiastical architect in England and Scotland before his departure.In Australia,...

from a foundation stone laid in 1868, the spires of the cathedral were not finally added until the year 2000.

Wardell also worked on the design of St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne

St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne

- among the finest examples of ecclesiastical architecture in Australia. Wardell's overall design was in Gothic Revival style, paying tribute to the mediaeval cathedrals of Europe. Largely constructed between 1858 and 1897, the nave was Early English in style, while the remainder of the building is in Decorated Gothic.

Adelaide, the capital of South Australia

South Australia

has long been known as the City of Churches 130 km north of Adelaide is the Jesuit old stone winery and cellars at Sevenhill

Sevenhill, South Australia

The town of Sevenhill is in the Clare Valley region of South Australia, approximately 130 km north of Adelaide. It was settled by the Austrian Jesuit Fathers and Brothers in 1848...

, founded by Austrian Jesuits in 1848.

A rare Australian example of Spanish missionary style exists at New Norcia, Western Australia

New Norcia, Western Australia

New Norcia is a town in Western Australia, north of Perth, along the Great Northern Highway. It is situated next to the banks of the Moore River, in the Shire of Victoria Plains.New Norcia is the only monastic town in Australia...

. Founded by Spanish Benedictine

Benedictine

monks in 1846.

A number of notable Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

era chapels and edifices were also constructed at church schools across Australia.

Along with community attitudes to religion, church architecture changed significantly during the 20th century. St Monica's Cathedral in Cairns was designed by architect Ian Ferrier and built in 1967-68 following the form of the original basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

model of the early churches of Rome, adapted to a tropical climate and to reflect the changes to Catholic liturgy

Liturgy

Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...

mandated at Vatican 2. The cathedral was dedicated as a memorial to the Battle of the Coral Sea

Battle of the Coral Sea

The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...

which was fought east of Cairns in May 1942. The "Peace Window" stained glass was installed on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II

World War II

.

In the later 20th century, distinctly Australian approaches were applied at places such as Jamberoo Benedictine Abbey, where natural materials were chosen to "harmonise with the local environment" and the chapel sanctuary is of glass overlooking rainforest. Similar design principles were applied at Thredbo Ecumenical Chapel built in the Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains

The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", are the highest Australian mountain range and contain the Australian mainland's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko, which reaches 2,228 metres AHD, approximately 7310 feet....

in 1996.

Film and television

Australian films on Catholic themes have included:

Molokai: The Story of Father Damien
Molokai: The Story of Father Damien
Molokai: The Story of Father Damien is a 1999 biopic of Father Damien, who was a Belgian priest working at the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement on the Hawaiian island of Molokai...

(1999), directed by Paul Cox
Paul Cox
Paulus Henriqus Benedictus "Paul" Cox is an award-winning Australian film director.Cox was born in Venlo, Limburg, the Netherlands, the son of Else , a native of Germany, and Wim Cox, a documentary film producer. Cox emigrated to Australia in 1965...

and starring David Wenham
David Wenham
David Wenham is an Australian actor who has appeared in movies, television series and theatre productions. He is known in Hollywood for his roles as Faramir in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Carl in Van Helsing and Dilios in 300 and Neil Fletcher in Australia...

. The film recounts the life of a Belgian Saint, Fr Damien of Molokai who devoted his life to the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement on the Hawaiian island
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...

of Molokai
Molokai
Molokai or Molokai is an island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is 38 by 10 miles in size with a land area of , making it the fifth largest of the main Hawaiian Islands and the 27th largest island in the United States. It lies east of Oahu across the 25-mile wide Kaiwi Channel and north of...

.
Mary (1994), directed written and directed by Kay Pavlou and starring Lucy Bell
Lucy Bell
Lucy Bell is a British-born Australian television and film actress. Her partner is James O'Loghlin and they have three daughters.- Television :...

. A biopic recounting the life and works of Mary MacKillop
Mary MacKillop
Mary Helen MacKillop , also known as Saint Mary of the Cross, was an Australian Roman Catholic nun who, together with Father Julian Tenison Woods, founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australasia with an emphasis on...

, Australia's first canonised Saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

of the Catholic Church.
The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American drama film directed by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus. It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John...

(2004) was directed and co-written by Australian trained actor-director Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...

(who was raised a Traditionalist Catholic
Traditionalist Catholic
Traditionalist Catholics are Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of Catholic teachings which prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council...

in Australia).

Television programs on Catholic themes have included:

Brides of Christ
Brides of Christ
Brides of Christ was an Australian television miniseries produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1991.The series takes place behind the walls of a Sydney convent school and deals with the struggles of both the Roman Catholic nuns and the young students to adapt to the many social...

(1991), starring Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Watts is a British actress. Watts began her career in Australian television, where she appeared in series such as Hey Dad..! , Brides of Christ , and Home and Away . Her film debut was the 1986 drama For Love Alone...

and guest starring Russel Crowe, was a television miniseries produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...

(ABC). Set in a Sydney convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...

school, it dealt with the struggles of both the nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...

s and the young students to adapt to the many social changes taking place within the church and the outside world during the 1960s.
The Abbey, (2007) an ABC Documentary series filmed in Jambaroo Benedictine Abbey, which followed five women from very different backgrounds, with very different views about spirituality as they lived a 33-day program introduction to monastic living devised and implemented by the nuns.

Coverage of religion is part of the ABC's Charter obligation to reflect the character and diversity of the Australian community. Its religious programs include coverage of Catholic (and other) worship and devotion, explanation, analysis, debate and reports

Catholic Church Television Australia is an office with the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting and develops television programs for Aurora Community Television

Aurora Community Television

Aurora Community Channel is an Australian subscription television channel that screens locally produced community television programs. It was launched on the 1 March, on the Foxtel, Austar and Optus Digital Networks and can be found on channel 183...

on Foxtel

Foxtel

Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....

and Austar

Austar

Austar is an Australian telecommunications company. Its main business activity is Subscription Television but it is also involved with internet access and mobile phones...

in Australia.

Literature

The body of literature produced by Australian Catholics is extensive. During colonial times, the Benedictine

Benedictine

missionary William Ullathorne

William Bernard Ullathorne

(1806–1889) was a notable essayist writing against the Convict Transportation system. Later Cardinal Moran (1830–1911), a noted historian, wrote a History of the Catholic Church in Australasia. More recent Catholic histories of Australian include The Catholic Church and Community in Australia (1977) by Patrick O'Farrell

Patrick O'Farrell

Patrick O'Farrell was a historian known for his histories of Roman Catholicism in Australia, Irish history and Irish Australian history...

and Australian Catholics (1987), by Edmund Campion.

Notable Catholic poets have included Christopher Brennan

Christopher Brennan

Christopher John Brennan was an Australian poet and scholar.-Biography:Brennan was born in Sydney, to Christopher Brennan , a brewer, and his wife Mary Ann , née Carroll, both Irish immigrants....

(1870–1932); James McAuley

James McAuley

James Phillip McAuley was an Australian academic, poet, journalist, literary critic and a prominent convert to Roman Catholicism.-Life and career:...

(1917–1976); Bruce Dawe

Bruce Dawe

Donald Bruce Dawe AO is an Australian poet, and is considered by many as one of the most influential Australian poets of all time.-Early life:...

(born 1930) and Les Murray

Les Murray (poet)

Leslie Allan Murray, AO , known as Les Murray, is an Australian poet, anthologist and critic. His career spans over forty years, and he has published nearly 30 volumes of poetry, as well as two verse novels and collections of his prose writings...

(born 1938). Murray and Dawe are among Australia's formemost contemporary poets, noted for their use of vernacular and everyday Australian themes. Emblematic of the Christian poets could be McCauley's rejection of Modernism

Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

in favour of Classical culture:

Christ, you walked on a sea

But you cannot walk in a poem,

Not in our century.

There’s something deeply wrong

Either with us or with you

Many Australian writers have examined the lives of Christian characters, or have been influenced by Catholic schooling. Australia's best selling novel of all time, The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough

Colleen McCullough

Colleen McCullough-Robinson, , is an internationally acclaimed Australian author.-Life:McCullough was born in Wellington, in outback central west New South Wales, in 1937 to James and Laurie McCullough. Her mother was a New Zealander of part-Māori descent. During her childhood, her family moved...

, writes of the temptations encountered by a priest living in the Outback. Many contemporary Australian writers have attended or taught at Catholic schools, including Robert Hughes

Robert Hughes (critic)

Robert Studley Forrest Hughes, AO is an Australian-born art critic, writer and television documentary maker who has resided in New York since 1970.-Early life:...

, Nick Enright

Nick Enright

-Life:He was drama captain of St Ignatius' College, Riverview in 1964, where, like Gerard Windsor and Justin Fleming, he was taught by Melvyn Morrow. At that school, he won the 1sts Debating Premiership in both 1966 and 1967....

, Brian Castro

Brian Castro

Brian Albert Castro is an Australian novelist and essayist.-Biography:Castro was born in Hong Kong and has lived in Australia since 1961. He is of Portuguese, Chinese, and English descent. Currently he is Chair of Creative Writing at the University of Adelaide....

, Santo Cilauro

Santo Cilauro

Santo Cilauro is an Australian television and feature film producer, screenwriter, actor, author, comedian and cameraman, a co-founder of The D-Generation...

, Tom Gleisner

Tom Gleisner

Tom Gleisner is an Australian director, producer, writer, comedian, occasional actor and author. He was educated at Xavier College in Melbourne, Australia.-Television, radio and film:...

; Gerard Henderson

Gerard Henderson

Gerard Henderson is a conservative Australian newspaper columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.. He is also Executive Director of the Sydney Institute, a privately funded current affairs forum. His wife Anne Henderson is Deputy Director.-Education:Henderson attended the Jesuit Xavier College in...

, Miranda Divine, Kimberley Starr

Kimberley Starr

Kimberley Starr is a novelist who moved to Australia as a young child. She began her education at the Armidale Demonstration School, moving on to Garran Primary School, and Padua Catholic High School, ACT , before completing her secondary education at Loreto Normanhurst...

, Melina Marchetta

Melina Marchetta

Melina Marchetta is an Australian writer and teacher. She is the middle child of three daughters. Melina is best known as the author of Looking For Alibrandi. She has twice been awarded the CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers, in 1993 and 2004.- Biography :Melina Marchettaborn in Sydney on 25...

, Melvyn Morrow

Melvyn Morrow

Melvyn Morrow is an Australian playwright.He co-wrote "Shout! The Legend of the Wild One" and "Dusty - The Original Pop Diva" with John-Michael Howson and David Mitchell....

, Justin Fleming

Justin Fleming

Justin Fleming , born Sydney, Australia is a playwright and author. He has written for theatre, music theatre, television and cinema and his works have been produced and published in Australia, the US, Canada, the UK, Belgium, Poland and France...

, Gerard Windsor

Gerard Windsor

Gerard Charles Windsor is an Australian author and literary critic. He was dux of St Ignatius' College, Riverview in both 1961 and 1962, where, like Justin Fleming, he was taught by Melvyn Morrow. He trained as a Jesuit from the age of 18 to 24. He studied Arts at the Australian National...

and Anh Do

Anh Do

Anh Do is a Vietnamese Australian author, actor and stand-up comedian.He has appeared on many Australian TV shows such as Thank God You're Here and Good News Week, and was runner-up on Dancing With The Stars in 2007. He studied a combined Business Law degree at the University of Technology, Sydney...

.

Catholic news publications in Australia include: The Catholic Weekly from Sydney; The Catholic Leader, published by the Brisbane Archdiocese; and Eureka Street Magazine
Eureka Street
Eureka Street is an Australian magazine concerned with public affairs, arts, and theology started in 1989 by Michael Kelly SJ, Morag Fraser, and Adrian Lyons SJ. It was published in paper format for 15 years and was an opinion-forming magazine for many of those years...

which is concerned with public affairs, arts, and theology and is run by Jesuit Communications.

Music

St Mary's Cathedral Choir, Sydney

The St Mary's Cathedral Choir is the oldest musical institution in Australia. In 1818 a group of choristers was formed to sing Vespers before the Blessed Sacrament in the Dempsey Household, the centre of Roman Catholic worship in Sydney as a penal colony...

is the oldest musical institution in Australia, from origins in 1817. Major Catholic raised recording artists from Johnny O'Keefe

Johnny O'Keefe

John Michael O'Keefe, known as Johnny O'Keefe was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the 1950s. Some of his hits include "Wild One" , "Shout!" and "She's My Baby"...

to Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly (musician)

Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...

have recorded Christian spirituals. Paul Kelly's Meet Me In the Middle of the Air is based on Psalm 23

Psalm 23

In the 23rd Psalm in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the writer describes God as his Shepherd. The text, beloved by Jews and Christians alike, is often alluded to in popular media and has been set to music....

. Catholic nun Sister Janet Mead

Sister Janet Mead

Sister Janet Mead is a Roman Catholic nun and is best known for recording a rock version of The Lord's Prayer. The surprise hit reached #3 on the Australian Singles Chart in 1974 and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in that same year. The single earned her a Grammy Award nomination and Golden Gospel...

achieved significant mainstream chart success. New South Wales Supreme Court Judge George Palmer was commissioned to compose the setting of the Mass for Sydney's World Youth Day 2008

World Youth Day 2008

Papal Mass. The Mass, Benedictus Qui Venit, for large choir, soloists and orchestra, was performed in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI

and an audience of 350,000 with singing led by soprano Amelia Farrugia and tenor Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew John Goodwin was Director of Music and Organist at Bangor Cathedral for 37 years.After living in Oxford and then in the West Midlands, Goodwin studied at the University of Liverpool and was subsequently a postgraduate student at the University of Wales Bangor; he obtained degrees in Music...

. "Receive the Power

Receive the Power

Receive the Power is a Gospel song written by Guy Sebastian and Gary Pinto, and performed by Guy Sebastian and Paulini chosen in May 2007 as the official anthem for the Roman Catholic Church's XXIII World Youth Day held in Sydney in 2008....

" a song written by Guy Sebastian

Guy Sebastian

Guy Theodore Sebastian is an Australian pop, R&B, and soul singer-songwriter who was the first winner of Australian Idol in 2003. He is currently a judge on the Australian version of The X Factor. Sebastian has released six top ten platinum/multi platinum albums, including a number-one and...

and Gary Pinto

Gary Pinto

Gary Pinto is an Australian singer, songwriter and musician.-Career:Gary Pinto is an Australian musician of Indian descent. His parents were from Chennai and members of a minority Christian Indian Catholics...

was chosen as official anthem for the XXIII World Youth Day

World Youth Day

World Youth Day is a youth-oriented Catholic Church event. While the event itself celebrates the Catholic faith, the invitation to attend extends to all youth, regardless of religious convictions....

(WYD08) held in Sydney in 2008.

Australian Christmas carols like the Three Drovers or Christmas Day by John Wheeler

John Wheeler

John Wheeler may refer to:* John Wheeler , American Emmy Award-winning audio/video engineer* John Wheeler , Union officer in the Civil War; killed at Gettysburg* John Wheeler John Wheeler may refer to:* John Wheeler (audio/video technologist) (born 1957), American Emmy Award-winning audio/video...

and William G. James

William G. James

William Garnet James was an Australian pianist and composer and a pioneer of music broadcasting in Australia.-Early years:...

place the Christmas story in an Australian context of warm, dry Christmas winds and red dust and are popular at Catholic services. As the festival of Christmas falls during the Australian summer, Australians gather in large numbers for traditional open-air evening carol services and concerts in December, such as the Carols by Candlelight

Carols by Candlelight

Carols by Candlelight is an Australian Christmas tradition that originated in southeastern Australia in the 19th century and was popularised in Melbourne in the 1930s. The tradition has since spread around the world. It involves people gathering, usually outdoors in a park, to sing carols by...

of Melbourne, and Sydney's Carols in the Domain

Carols in the Domain

Carols in the Domain is an annual Christmas concert free event held in the Domain Gardens, Sydney, Australia. It began in 1982. It is broadcast around Australia on the Seven Network and simulcast on 101.7 WSFM....

Art

The story of Christian art in Australia began with the arrival of the first British settlers at the end of the 18th century. During the 19th century, Gothic Revival cathedrals were built in the Colonial capitals, often containing stain glass art works, as can be seen at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

and St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne

St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne

. Roy de Maistre

Roy De Maistre

Roy de Maistre CBE was an Australian artist of international fame. He is famous in Australian art for his early experimentation in "colour-music", and is recognised as the first Australian artist to use pure abstractionism. His later works were painted in a figurative style generally influenced by...

(1894–1968) was an Australian abstract artist who obtained renown in Britain, converted to Catholicism and painted notable religious works, including a series of Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...

for Westminster Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral in London is the mother church of the Catholic community in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Church and Cathedral of the Archbishop of Westminster...

in London. Among the most acclaimed of Australian painters of Catholic themes was Arthur Boyd

Arthur Boyd

Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd, AC, OBE was one of the leading Australian painters of the late 20th Century. A member of the prominent Boyd artistic dynasty in Australia, his relatives included painters, sculptors, architects or other arts professionals. His sister Mary Boyd married John Perceval,...

. He painted a Biblical series, and created tapestries of the life of St Francis of Assisi. Influenced by both the European masters and the Heidelberg School

Heidelberg School

The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. The movement has latterly been described as Australian Impressionism....

of Australian landscape art, he placed the central characters of the Bible within Australian bush scenery, as in his portrait of Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...

, The Expulsion (1948). Artist Leonard French

Leonard French

Leonard William French OBE is an Australian artist, known principally for major stained glass works.French was born in Brunswick, Victoria...

, who designed a stain glass ceiling of the National Gallery of Victoria

National Gallery of Victoria

The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...

has drawn heavily on Christian story and symbolism through his career.

Organisation

Within Australia the church hierarchy is made of metropolitan archdioceses and suffragan sees. Each diocese has a bishop

Bishop (Catholic Church)

In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....

, while each archdiocese is served by an archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

. Australia has three living members of the College of Cardinals

College of Cardinals

The College of Cardinals is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church.A function of the college is to advise the pope about church matters when he summons them to an ordinary consistory. It also convenes on the death or abdication of a pope as a papal conclave to elect a successor...

, including the current Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell

George Pell

, Edward Bede Clancy and Edward Idris Cassidy.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

is the national body of the Bishops of Australia. The Preisdent of the Conference is the Most Reverend Archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

Philip Wilson, DD

Doctor of Divinity

Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....

, D.Litt

Doctor of Letters

Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...

(honoris causa) who was elected to a two-year term in 2006 and re-elected to subsequent two-year terms in 2008 and 2010. Archbishop Wilson occasionally makes statements on behalf of the Conference of Bishops. The Conference is served by a Secretariat, based in Canberra, under the management of Rev Brian Lucas. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference meets at least annually.

Archdioceses and Dioceses

Archdiocese of Adelaide
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide is a Latin rite metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia....
- Diocese of Darwin
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Darwin
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Darwin is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Adelaide based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia....
- Diocese of Port Pirie
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Port Pirie
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Port Pirie is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Adelaide, erected in 1887 covering the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas, Flinders Ranges, Nullarbor Plain, and Mid and Far North regions of South Australia, Australia....

Archdiocese of Brisbane
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane is a Latin rite metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Brisbane and covering the South East region of Queensland, Australia....
- Diocese of Cairns
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns is a Latin rite suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, erected initially as a vicariate apostolic in 1877 and elevated to a diocese in 1941, covering the far north region of Queensland, Australia....
- Diocese of Rockhampton
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton is an suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, erected in 1882, covering Central Queensland, Australia.-Ordinaries:...
- Diocese of Toowoomba
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba is a Latin rite suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, established in 1929, covering the Darling Downs and south west regions of Queensland, Australia.St...
- Diocese of Townsville
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Townsville
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Townsville is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, erected in 1930, covering North Queensland, Australia.-Ordinaries:...

Archdiocese of Melbourne
Archdiocese of Melbourne
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne is a Latin rite metropolitan archdiocese, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.Erected initially in 1847 as the Diocese of Melbourne, a suffragan diocese of Archdiocese of Sydney, the diocese was elevated in 1874 as an archdiocese of the...
- Diocese of Ballarat
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, erected in 1874, covering the west, Wimmera, and Mallee regions of Victoria, Australia.-History:...
- Diocese of Sale
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Sale
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sale is a suffragan Latin Rite diocese of Archdiocese of Melbourne, established in 1887, covering the south east of Victoria, Australia.-History:The Diocese of Sale was erected by Pope Leo XIII on 26 April 1887...
- Diocese of Sandhurst
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, erected in 1874, covering the central and north-east regions of Victoria, Australia, including Bendigo.-History:...

Archdiocese of Perth
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Perth
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Perth is a Latin rite metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Perth and covering the Greater Perth, Goldfields-Esperance, Peel, and Wheatbelt regions of Western Australia....
- Diocese of Broome
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Broome
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Broome is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Perth, established initially as a Vicariate Apostolic in 1887, and elevated as a diocese in 1966; covering the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia, Australia.-Ordinaries:The following...
- Diocese of Bunbury
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Bunbury
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bunbury is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Perth, established in 1954, covering the South West and Great Southern regions of Western Australia, Australia.-Ordinaries:...
- Diocese of Geraldton
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Geraldton
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Geraldton is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Perth, erected in 1898, covering Mid West, Western Australia, Australia.-Ordinaries:...

Archdiocese of Sydney
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney is a Latin rite metropolitan archdiocese, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.Erected in 1842 and directly responsible to the Holy See, the Archdiocese is responsible for the suffragan dioceses of Armidale, Bathurst, Broken Bay, Lismore,...
- Diocese of Armidale
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Armidale
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Armidale is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, established in 1869, covering the New England and Barwon River regions of New South Wales in Australia.-History:...
- Diocese of Bathurst
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Bathurst
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bathurst is a Latin rite suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, established in 1865, covering the Central West and Orana regions of New South Wales, Australia...
- Diocese of Broken Bay
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, covering the North Shore and Northern Beaches of greater metropolitan Sydney, and the Broken Bay and Central Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia....
- Diocese of Lismore
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Lismore
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lismore is a suffragan Latin Rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, established in 1887, initially as the Diocese of Grafton, and then changed to the current name in 1900...
- Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, established in 1847, initially as the Diocese of Maitland, and then changed to the current name in 1995...
- Diocese of Parramatta
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Parramatta
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Parramatta is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, established in 1986, covering the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.-History:...
- Diocese of Wagga Wagga
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Wagga Wagga
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wagga Wagga is a Latin rite suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, erested in 1917, covering the Riverina region of New South Wales in Australia....
- Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, established in 1887, initially as the Diocese of Diocese of Wilcannia, and then changed to the current name in 1917...
- Diocese of Wollongong
  Roman Catholic Diocese of Wollongong
  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wollongong is a suffragan Latin rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, established in 1951, covering the Illawarra and Southern Highlands regions of New South Wales, Australia.-History:...

Immediately subject to the holy see
- Archdiocese of Hobart
  Archdiocese of Hobart
  The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hobart is a Latin rite metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Hobart and covering Tasmania, Australia....
  
  (attached to the Province of Melbourne)
- Military Ordinariate of Australia (attached to the Province of Sydney)
- Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn
  Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn
  The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of CanberraGoulburn is a Latin rite archdiocese located in the Australian Capital Territory and the South West Slopes, Southern Tablelands, Monaro and South Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia...
  
  (attached to Sydney)
- Ukrainian Eparchy of Ss Peter and Paul
  Ukrainian Eparchy of Ss Peter and Paul
  The Roman Catholic Ukrainian Greek Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne is a Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic eparchy of the Catholic Church in Australia based in Melbourne Erected in 1958, the Eparchy is attached to the Archdiocese of Melbourne, but immediately subject to the Holy See.Like...
  
  (attached to Melbourne)
- Maronite Diocese of St Maroun
  Maronite Diocese of St Maroun
  The Roman Catholic Maronite Eparchy of St Maroun is a Maronite rite eparchy of the Catholic Church in Australia, based in Sydney. Erected in 1973, the Eparchy is attached to the Archdiocese of Sydney but immediately subject to the Holy See....
  
  (attached to Sydney)
- Melkite Eparchy of St Michael, Archangel
  Melkite Catholic Eparchy of St Michael, Archangel
  The Melkite Catholic Eparchy of Saint Michael, Archangel is in Sydney, Australia. The eparchy is administered by Bishop Robert Rabbat. The Rt. Rev. Abdallah Sayegh is the current vicar general. The eparchy was established in March 1987.-Bishops:...
  
  (attached to Sydney)
- Chaldean Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle
  Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle
  The Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle is in Sydney, Australia, and is immediately subject to the Holy See. The bishop is Djibrail Kassab, appointed in 2006. His bishopric currently sits as St. Thomas the Apostle Chaldean Catholic Church, Bossley Park, New South Wales.-External...
  
  (attached to Sydney)

External links

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Demographics and structure

Arrival and suppression

Emancipation and growth

Post Australian Federation

Ethnicity

Post Second Vatican Council

Social and political engagement

Introduction

Welfare

Health

Education

Politics

Arts and culture

Architecture

Film and television

Literature

Music

Art

Organisation

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

Archdioceses and Dioceses

See also

Further reading

External links