The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, established in 1847 initially as the Diocese of Maitland and changed to the current name in 1995. The diocese covers the

Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and

Mid North Coast The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgoolg ...

regions of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The bishop of the diocese is Michael Kennedy The diocese is considered to be one of the epicentres of the

Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Australia Catholic sexual abuse cases in Australia, like Catholic Church sexual abuse cases elsewhere, have involved convictions, trials and ongoing investigations into allegations of sex crimes committed by Catholic priests, members of religious orders an ...

, with scores of priests and religious brothers convicted of crimes against children. Two senior members of the diocese, Father Thomas Brennan and Brother William Wade, have also been convicted of concealing child sexual abuse.

History

Prior to the establishment of the diocese, the Hunter Region was under the administration of the Sydney archdiocese. The Catholic Church defines a diocese as '" portion of the people of God, which is entrusted to a bishop" or as "a community of Christ's faithful in communion of faith and sacraments with their bishop". The three most notable priests assigned to the Hunter Region, Therry, Dowling and Lynch, strived to build churches, schools and establish Catholic parishes. Six Catholic parishes established were East Maitland 1835 (the first Catholic church built north of Sydney was the first St Joseph's Church in 1835), Newcastle 1838, West Maitland 1841, Singleton 1845, Taree 1846, Raymond Terrace 1852. During 1840 and 1845 Archbishop Bede Polding visited the whole Hunter Valley and laid foundation stones for churches at Wollombi and St John's at Campbell's Hill. The foundation stone was moved to West Maitland where St John the Baptist Church opened in 1846. By a papal brief dated 27 May 1847, the Titular See of East Maitland was created with the Most Reverend Charles Henry Davis nominated as bishop. Bishop Davis was also the auxiliary bishop to the Archbishop of Sydney and lived in Sydney, never visiting his titular see in East Maitland, therefore the Titular See of East Maitland remained under the administration of the Archdiocese of Sydney until the Most Reverend James Murray was nominated Bishop of Maitland in 1865, taking possession of St John the Baptist Church, West Maitland, as his cathedral on 1 November 1866. From 1866 the diocese extended to include Port Macquarie, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Walgett and Coonamble. In 1887 the Diocese of Maitland reduced in size by exclusion of the Coonamble, Gunnedah and Tamworth districts. In 1933, after servicing the diocese for 87 years, the original cathedral building became inadequate for the needs of the parish and the diocese. In July 1933, Bishop Edmund Gleeson CSsR officially announced that the Catholic Hall in Maitland would be converted to a

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefecture or apostoli ...

suitable as a place of worship. On 26 November 1933 the Catholic Hall was opened as the pro-cathedral and St John's officially closed. In 1966 boundaries were again altered to exclude Kendall parish to Lismore but include the parishes of Belmont, Swansea, Toronto, Booragul, Teralba, which are the present boundaries of the diocese. In 1989 the pro-cathedral suffered damage as a result of an earthquake and was closed. Discussions were then held and it was decided to convert the pro-cathedral to its former use as a hall and to reopen St John's as a chapel for the Central Maitland area. On 24 June 1994, Bishop Leo Clarke celebrated a Dedication of a Church service and thus St John's became a chapel for the area. The 1989 earthquake was also a catalyst to consolidate the diocesan administration offices on one site. This was achieved in 1995 by purchasing the Sisters of Mercy Convent at Hamilton and the former Sacred Heart Parish Primary School, Hamilton. By papal brief dated 14 June 1995, the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle was created and on 16 July 1995 the Sacred Heart Church in Hamilton became the cathedral of the diocese. The diocese was the focus of the Hunter Special Commission of Inquiry and case-study 43 in the

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a royal commission announced in November 2012 and established in 2013 by the Government of Australia, Australian government pursuant to the Royal Commissions Act 1902 t ...

Bishops

Ordinaries

The following individuals have been elected as Roman Catholic Bishop of Maitland: : The following individuals have been elected as Roman Catholic Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle: :

Coadjutor bishops

Patrick Vincent Dwyer Patrick Vincent Dwyer (1858-1931) was the first Australian born Roman Catholic Bishop. Life Patrick Vincent Dwyer was born on 21 August 1858 at Albury, New South Wales, to William Dwyer, schoolteacher, and his wife, Anastasia, née Dermody, both ...

(1897-1909) *

Edmund John Aloysius Gleeson Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings an ...

, C.SS.R. (1929-1931) *

John Thomas Toohey John Thomas Toohey (26 April 1839 – 5 May 1903) was an Irish-born Australian brewer and politician. He was born in Moneygall, County Tipperary to businessman Matthew Toohey and Honora Hall. His family migrated to Melbourne in 1841, where h ...

(1948-1956) *

Michael John Malone Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

(1994-1995)

Other priests of the diocese who became bishops

Ernest Victor Tweedy Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People * Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor * Ernest, ...

, appointed Archbishop of Hobart in 1942 *

Philip Edward Wilson Philip Edward Wilson (2 October 1950 – 17 January 2021) was an Australian Roman Catholic prelate who was the eighth Archbishop of Adelaide from 2001 to 2018. He was President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference from 2006 to 2010 ...

, appointed Bishop of Wollongong in 1996 * Brian Gregory Mascord, appointed Bishop of Wollongong in 2017

Cathedral

Sacred Heart Cathedral in Hamilton acts as both the Hamilton parish church and the cathedral for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. The Sacred Heart Cathedral building was opened in 1930 as the parish church of Hamilton and was consecrated by Bishop Edmund Gleeson in 1941, before becoming Sacred Heart Cathedral on 16 July 1995. The Sacred Heart Church's foundations were dug with the physical aid of parishioners. The church was built virtually brick by brick on the dream of Monsignor Victor Francis Peters and through the generosity of parishioners who, in the midst of the Great Depression, bought bricks for an average of twopence each. A donation of ten pounds was the norm and, in total, 700,000 bricks were used. Monsignor Peters was influenced by the architecture of the cathedral in Thurles in Ireland; the cathedral church of Philadelphia in the US and the brick work in front of the Pisa church in Italy. The foundation stone was laid on 23 September 1928. The first brick was laid on 1 February 1929 and the last brick just ten months later on 1 December 1929. Sixty years later, the earthquake of 1989 caused considerable damage particularly to the belltower. The original concrete dome was replaced by one of copper and the original dome now stands as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the earthquake.

Parishes

The following parishes are situated within the diocese: *All Saints Blackbutt South *Beresfield *Blackbutt North *Boolaroo-Warners Bay *Booragul *Branxton *Cessnock *Denman *Dungog *East Lake Macquarie *East Maitland *Forster Tuncurry *Gloucester *Gresford *Krambach *Kurri Kurri *Lochinvar *MacKillop (Charlestown, Gateshead & Redhead) *Maitland *Mayfield *Mayfield West *Merriwa * Morisset *Morpeth *Murrurundi *

Muswellbrook Muswellbrook ( ) is a town in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle. Geologically, Muswellbrook is situated in the northern parts of the Sydney basin, bordering the New Englan ...

*Myall Coast *Nelson Bay *Newcastle St Benedict (includes Cathedral) *

Raymond Terrace Raymond Terrace is a town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about by road north of Newcastle on the Pacific Highway. Established in 1837 it is situated at the confluence of the Hunter and Williams rivers. The town was nam ...

*Rutherford *Scone *

Singleton Singleton may refer to: Sciences, technology Mathematics * Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element * Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing * Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...

*Stockton *Sugarloaf *

Taree Taree is a town on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Taree and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then Taree has grown to a population of 26,381, and is the centre of a significant agricultural distri ...

*Toronto *Wallsend-Shortland * Wingham

Child sexual abuse in the diocese

The diocese has been referred to as the "epicentre of Catholic clerical sexual abuse in Australia" due to a number of abusive priests and religious brothers with extensive abuse records being jailed since 1997.

Archbishop Philip Wilson

In March 2015, NSW Police charged Archbishop Philip Wilson, then the Archbishop of Adelaide, of "concealing a serious offence regarding child sexual abuse in the Hunter region in 1978" when he was a priest in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese. Wilson took leave and issued a statement saying he would "vigorously defend my innocence through the judicial system". Wilson's lawyer attempted to prevent the trial going ahead on medical grounds but this was refused. On 22 May 2018, Wilson was found guilty and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, suspended, which Wilson would serve under home detention. The Pope accepted Wilson's resignation on 30 July 2018. As an archbishop, Wilson was the most senior Catholic cleric in Australia to be convicted of not disclosing abuse by another priest to the police. On 6 December 2018, Wilson was acquitted of all charges. In September 2021, following Wilson's successful appeal, the fourth volume of the 2014 Special Commission of Inquiry into allegations of cover-up of sexual abuse claims in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle found that Archbishop Wilson was an "unsatisfactory and unimpressive witness" and that he gave evidence the commissioners considered untruthful, self-serving and implausible. They found that Wilson had knowledge of sexual abuse of children committed by Father James Fletcher and Father Denis McAlinden. Wilson died on 17 January 2021.

Brother Christopher Wade

In June 2017, former Marist Brothers Hamilton headmaster Brother Christopher Wade was found guilty of child sex offences against two former students. He was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. On his release, Wade was charged with concealment offences and faced Sydney District Court on 28 February 2020. He pleaded guilty on two counts of failing to provide information to police during a 2014 child sex abuse investigation into Brother Romuald Cable and Brother Dominic O'Sullivan. Wade was sentenced to four months' imprisonment, to be served in the community. In pleading guilty, Wade became the first senior Catholic in Australia to admit to concealing child sex crimes.

Father Thomas Brennan

In 2012, Father Tom Brennan was arrested and charged with two counts of

misprision of felony Misprision of felony is a form of misprision, and an offence under the common law of England that is no longer active in many common law countries. Where it was or is active, it is classified as a misdemeanor. It consists of failing to report kn ...

, or failing to disclose a serious crime, relating to the alleged child sex offences by his colleague Father John Denham. The offences occurred at St Pius X School, Adamstown, where Brennan was the principal and Denham a teacher. Brennan was also charged with eight counts of sexual abuse and two counts of assault. It was the first time anywhere in the world that a senior Catholic church leader had been charged with concealing child abuse. Brennan died of cancer in October 2012 before the charges could be heard in court. In 2018, the Catholic Church acknowledged Brennan's abuse. Bishop William Wright sent James Miller, one of Brennan's victims, a letter of apology. Wright wrote "As a Catholic priest, I feel great shame that an ordained priest of the Diocese chose to inflict his sexual desires upon you ... Brennan and all those who harmed children fundamentally betrayed their vocation. I am sorry."

List of convicted priests and religious brothers

The following is a list of priests and religious brothers from the diocese have been convicted of child sexual abuse or had allegations of child sexual abuse against them substantiated by the diocese or their religious order:

Priests

* Monsignor Patrick Cotter - concealed child sexual abuse, deceased * Father Vincent Ryan - spent over 17 years in prison for child sexual abuse. Served another 14 months. * David O'Hearn - prison, convicted of child sexual abuse * John Sidney Denham - prison, convicted of child sexual abuse * James "Jim" Fletcher - convicted of child sexual abuse, deceased * Thomas Brennan - convicted of child sexual abuse, concealing child sexual abuse, deceased * Albert Davis - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by diocese, deceased * Denis McAlinden - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by the diocese, deceased * Francis Donovan - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by the diocese, deceased * Kenneth Hodgson - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by the diocese, deceased * Peter Brock - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by the diocese, deceased * Peter Quirk - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by the diocese, deceased * William Cantwell - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by the diocese, deceased * Paul Lane - convicted of child sexual abuse

Religious brothers

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brother ...

* William "Christopher" Wade - prison, convicted of child sexual abuse * William Francis "Romuald" Cable - prison, convicted of child sexual abuse * John "Dominic" O'Sullivan - prison, convicted of child sexual abuse * John "Dominic" Gleeson - convicted of child sexual abuse, deceased * Peter Pemble - convicted of child sexual abuse * Terry Gilsenan - convicted of child sexual abuse * John "Nestor" Littler - convicted of child sexual abuse, deceased * Donald Newtown - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by

, deceased * Noel "Leon" Mackey - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by

, deceased * Oswin McKinney - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by

, deceased * Thomas "Patrick" Butler - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by

, deceased

Hospitaller Order of St. John of God The Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, officially the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of Saint John of God (abbreviated as O.H.), are a Catholic religious order founded in 1572. In Italian language, Italian they are also known commonl ...

* Bernard Kevin McGrath - prison, convicted of child sexual abuse * John Marshall Clegg - prison, convicted of child sexual abuse * Daniel John Slattery - convicted of child sexual abuse, awaiting sentencing * William Lebler - convicted of child sexual abuse, deceased * Rodger Moloney - convicted of child sexual abuse, deceased * John Joseph "Bede" Donnellan - allegations of child sexual abuse substantiated by the religious order, deceased * Raymond "Richard" Garchow - charged but deemed unfit for extradition to New Zealand, deceased

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Diocese Of Maitland-Newcastle Maitland-Newcastle

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...