Gregory John O'Kelly SJ AM (born 10 August 1941) is an Australian Jesuit

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and the former Bishop of Port Pirie.

Life

O’Kelly was born in Adelaide. He taught at

Pentridge Prison HM Prison Pentridge was an Australian prison that was first established in 1851 in Coburg, Victoria. The first prisoners arrived in 1851. The prison officially closed on 1 May 1997. Pentridge was often referred to as the "Bluestone College", " ...

and at two schools while preparing for the priesthood. He was ordained a priest for the Society of Jesus in Adelaide in 1972. His career has been largely devoted to education. From 1978 to 1982 he was headmaster at Saint Ignatius' College in Adelaide and from 1982 to 1993 was headmaster at

Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview Saint Ignatius' College Riverview is an Australian independent single-sex primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, conducted in the Jesuit tradition, located in Riverview, a small suburb located on the Lane Cove River on the ...

in Sydney. He then returned to his former school to manage its transition to coeducation. In 1989, he was elected Chairman of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia, the first Catholic to hold that position. In 1994, he was awarded the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AM) for services to education. On 6 July 2006, O'Kelly was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Adelaide and titular bishop of Ath Truim. He was the first Jesuit to be appointed a bishop in Australia. He was consecrated a bishop on 14 September by Philip Wilson, Archbishop of Adelaide. On 15 April 2009 he was named Bishop of Port Pirie, the diocese in northern South Australia where the pioneering Australian Jesuits established numerous schools and churches. O'Kelly's family also have strong ties to this region of South Australia. On 3 June 2018 he was named

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

''sede plena'' of the Archdiocese of Adelaide, where the ordinary, Philip Wilson had "stepped aside" after being convicted of failure to report allegations of sexual abuse to authorities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okelly, Gregory Living people 1941 births Australian Jesuits 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Australia People from Adelaide Jesuit bishops Members of the Order of Australia Roman Catholic bishops of Port Pirie Roman Catholic bishops of Adelaide Roman Catholic titular bishops