Gerard Holohan (born 5 September 1947) is

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

who served as the

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the Diocese of Bunbury from 2001 to 2023.

Early life

Holohan was born and baptised on the 5th September 1947. He was educated by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

at Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School in Perth, and by the Christian Brothers, first at St Francis Xavier College, then at the Christian Brothers' College, St George's Terrace and later at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. He entered St Charles Seminary Guildford in 1965 for philosophical studies, and then moved to St Francis Xavier Seminary, Adelaide in 1968 to study theology.

Priesthood

Holohan was ordained to the priesthood on 4 September 1971 by Perth Archbishop

Launcelot Goody Launcelot John Goody (5 June 1908 – 13 May 1992), an Australian metropolitan bishop, was the sixth Roman Catholic Archbishop of Perth, serving from 1968 to 1983. Prior to his election as Archbishop of Perth, Goody served as the inaugural Bis ...

. He was initially appointed to serve in the Cottesloe parish before serving in the parish of Subiaco until 1975. Archbishop Goody asked him to spend his ministry in Catholic education and between 1975 and 1981, he completed postgraduate degrees in Education and Arts at Murdoch University in Perth, and Fordham University in the United States. In 1980, he became chaplain and religious education coordinator at Newman College, Churchlands and in 1981, he was appointed Director of Religious Education. He also served as Governor of the

University of Notre Dame Australia The University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) is a national Roman Catholic private university with campuses in and in Western Australia and Sydney in New South Wales. The university also has eight clinical schools as part of its school of med ...

. He became an affiliated member of the Marist Brothers Order in 1990.

Episcopacy

Holohan was appointed as Bishop of Bunbury by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 11 June 2001, replacing Bishop Peter Quinn who retired in 2000. He was ordained a bishop and installed on 5 September 2001, becoming the fourth Bishop of Bunbury. As required by canon law, Holohan tendered his resignation to the Vatican when he turned 75 in 2022. It was accepted on 30 June 2023.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holohan, Gerard 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Australia Roman Catholic bishops of Bunbury Living people 1947 births