Catholic Church in Oceania
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The Catholic Church in Australia is part of the worldwide
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 ...
under the spiritual and administrative leadership of the
Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
. From origins as a suppressed, mainly Irish minority in early colonial times, the church has grown to be the largest Christian denomination in Australia, with a culturally diverse membership of around 5,075,907 people, representing about 19.9% of the overall population of Australia according to the 2021 ABS Census data. The church is the largest non-government provider of welfare and education services in Australia.
Catholic Social Services Australia Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA) is a body that seeks to advance the social service ministry of the Catholic Church and consists of member welfare organisations. It was established as a commission of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conferen ...
aids some 450,000 people annually, while the
St Vincent de Paul Society The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor. Innumerable Catholic parishes have ...
's 40,000 members form the largest volunteer welfare network in the country. In 2016, the church had some 760,000 students in more than 1,700 schools. The church in Australia has five provinces: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. It has 35 dioceses, comprising geographic areas as well as the military diocese and dioceses for the Chaldean,
Maronite The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larges ...
,
Melkite The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic Semitic root, ro ...
and
Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...
rite Rite may refer to: * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite of passage, a ceremonious act associated with social transition Religion * Rite (Christianity), a sacred ritual or liturgical tradition in various Christian denominations * Catho ...
s. The national assembly of bishops is the
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ACBC) is the national episcopal conference of the Catholic bishops of Australia and is the instrumentality used by the Australian Catholic bishops to act nationally and address issues of national s ...
(ACBC). There are a further 175
Catholic religious order In the Catholic Church, a religious order is a community of consecrated life with members that profess solemn vows. They are classed as a type of religious institute. Subcategories of religious orders are: * canons regular (canons and canone ...
s operating in Australia, affiliated under Catholic Religious Australia. One Australian has been recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church:
Mary MacKillop Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ (15 January 1842 – 8 August 1909) was an Australian religious sister who has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church, as St Mary of the Cross. Of Scottish descent, she was born in Melbourne but is best known fo ...
, who co-founded the
Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the Josephites or Brown Joeys, are a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Mary MacKillop (1842–1909). Members of the congregation use the postnominal initials RSJ (Religious Sist ...
("Josephite") religious institute in the 19th century.


Demographics

Since the 1980s, Catholicism has been largest Christian denomination in Australia constituting around one quarter of the overall population becoming slightly larger than the
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
and Uniting churches combined. Up until the , adherents had been recorded as growing both numerically and as a percentage of the population, however the 2016 census found a fall in both overall numbers and the percentage of Catholics as a proportion of Australia: with 5,291,839 Australian Catholics (around 22.6% of the population) in 2016 down from 5,439,257 in the (25.3% of the population). This was repeated again in 2021, with the numbers dropping to 5,075,907 people, representing about 18.9% of the overall population of Australia according to the 2021 ABS Census data. Until the , Australia's most populous Christian church was the
Anglican Church of Australia The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the R ...
. Since then Catholics have outnumbered Anglicans by an increasing margin. The change is partly explained by changes in immigration patterns.Religion in Australia: 2016 Census Data Summary
http://www.abs.gov.au
Before the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the majority of immigrants to Australia came from the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and most Catholic immigrants came from
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. After the war, Australia's immigration diversified and more than 6.5 million migrants arrived in the following 60 years, including more than a million Catholics from
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
,
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
,
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...
and
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
. At the 2016 Census, the ancestries that Australian Catholics most identified with were English (1.49 million), Australian (1.12 million), Irish (577,000), Italian (567,000) and Filipino (181,000). Despite a growing population of Catholics, weekly
Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
attendance has declined from an estimated 74% in the mid-'50s to around 14% in 2006. There are seven
archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
s and 32
diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
s, with an estimated 3,000
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
s and 9,000 men and women in
institutes of consecrated life An institute of consecrated life is an association of faithful in the Catholic Church erected by canon law whose members profess the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience by vows or other sacred bonds. They are defined in the ...
and societies of apostolic life, including six dioceses which cover the whole country: one each for those who belong to the Chaldean, Maronite, Melkite, Syro-Malabar and Ukrainian rites and one for those serving in the
Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...
s. There is also a
personal ordinariate A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"...the liturgies approved for the Anglican ordinariates..." "Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." ...
for former Anglicans which has a similar status to a diocese.


History


Arrival and suppression

Since time immemorial, indigenous people in Australia had performed the rites and rituals of the animist religions of the
Dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal mythology, Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Ja ...
. 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 Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...
landed in the
New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...
, 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 ( Galician and Portuguese), or Luis Váez de Torres in the Spanish spelling (born c. 1565; fl. 1607), was a 16th- and 17th-century maritime explorer of a Spanish expedition noted for the first recorded European navigation of ...
sailed through the
Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost extremity of the Australian mai ...
between Australia and New Guinea. The permanent presence of Catholicism in Australia came rather with the arrival of the
First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...
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. Just as the British were setting up the new colony, French captain
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse Jean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (; variant spelling: ''La Pérouse''; 23 August 17411788?), often called simply Lapérouse, was a French naval officer and explorer. Having enlisted at the age of 15, he had a successful naval caree ...
arrived off
Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
with two ships.David Hill, ''1788: The Brutal Truth of the First Fleet'' La Pérouse was 6 weeks in Botany Bay, where the French, besides other things, held Catholic Masses. The crew conducted the first Catholic burial, that of Father
Louis Receveur Claude-Francois Joseph Louis Receveur Conventual Franciscans, O.F.M. Conv., (1757 – 17 February 1788) was a French friar Priesthood (Catholic Church), priest, naturalist and astronomer who sailed with Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérous ...
, a Franciscan friar who died while the ships were at anchor at Botany Bay. Some of the Irish convicts had been transported to Australia for political crimes or social rebellion in Ireland, so the authorities were suspicious of Catholicism for the first three decades of settlement. 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 (August 5, 1814 – March 27, 1873) was a United States representative and United States Senator, Senator from Connecticut. Biography Dixon, son of William & Mary (Field) Dixon, was born August 5, 1814 in Enfield, Connecticut, ...
and Peter O'Neill, who had been convicted for "complicity" in the Irish
1798 Rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a Irish republicanism, ...
. Fr Dixon was conditionally emancipated and permitted to celebrate Mass. 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 ) , 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 ...
". The Irish-led
Castle Hill Rebellion The Castle Hill convict rebellion was an 1804 Convicts in Australia, convict rebellion in the Castle Hill, New South Wales, Castle Hill area of Sydney, against the colonial authorities of the British Empire, British colony of Colony of New South ...
of 1804 alarmed the British authorities and Dixon's permission to celebrate Mass was revoked. Fr Jeremiah O' Flinn, an Irish
Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
monk, was appointed as
Prefect Apostolic An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...
of New Holland 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 Therry (1790 - 25 May 1864) was an Irish Roman Catholic priest in Sydney, Australia. Early life John Therry was born in Cork and was privately educated at St Patrick's College in Carlow. In 1815 he was ordained as a priest. He did pari ...
and Philip Conolly. The foundation stone for the first St Mary's Church, was laid on 29 October 1821 by Governor
Lachlan Macquarie Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Lachlan Macquarie, Companion of the Order of the Bath, CB (; gd, Lachann MacGuaire; 31 January 1762 – 1 July 1824) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. Macquarie se ...
. 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 , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
monks to lead the early church in the colony. The Reverend
William Bernard Ullathorne William Bernard Ullathorne (7 May 180621 March 1889) was an English prelate who held high offices in the Roman Catholic Church during the nineteenth century. Early life Ullathorne was born in Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire, the eldest of ...
(1806–1889) was instrumental in influencing
Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He h ...
to establish the hierarchy in Australia. Ullathorne was in Australia from 1833 to 1836 as vicar-general to Bishop
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
of
Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
, whose jurisdiction extended over the Australian missions.


Emancipation and growth

The
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
was disestablished in the colony of New South Wales by the ''Church Act of 1836'', which also provided equal funding of Protestant and Catholic churches. Drafted by the Catholic attorney-general
John Plunkett John Hubert Plunkett (June 1802 – 9 May 1869) was Attorney-General of New South Wales, an appointed member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, Legislative Council 1836–41, 1843–56, 1857–58 and 1861–69. He was also elected ...
, 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 (born Caroline Jones; 30 May 1808 – 25 March 1877) was a 19th-century English humanitarian known mostly for her support of immigrant female and family welfare in Australia. She is commemorated on 16 May in the calendar of s ...
(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 John Bede Polding, OSB (18 November 1794 in 16 March 1877 ) was the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia. Early life Polding was born in Liverpool, England on 18 November 1794. His father was of Dutch descent and his mother ...
, a
Benedictine monk , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...
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 Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity in their name. Some ''Sisters of Charity'' communities refer to the Vincentian tradition, or in America to the tradition of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, but others are unrelated. The ...
arrived in 1838. While tensions arose between the English Benedictine hierarchy and the Irish,
Ignatian Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, ...
-tradition religious institute 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 ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
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 is a leading tertiary referral hospital and research facility located in Darlinghurst, Sydney. Though funded and integrated into the New South Wales state public health system, it is operated by St Vincent's Heal ...
, in 1857 as a free hospital for all people, but especially for the poor. At Polding's request, the Christian Brothers 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
religious institute A religious institute is a type of institute of consecrated life in the Catholic Church whose members take religious vows and lead a life in community with fellow members. Religious institutes are one of the two types of institutes of consecrate ...
in the Benedictine tradition – the
Sisters of the Good Samaritan The Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, colloquially known as the "Good Sams", is a Roman Catholic congregation of religious women commenced by Bede Polding, OSB, Australia’s first Catholic bishop, in Sydney in 1857. The congreg ...
– to work in education and social work. While Polding was in office, construction began on the ambitious
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
designs for
St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne The Cathedral Church and Minor Basilica of Saint Patrick (colloquially St Patrick's Cathedral) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and seat of its archbishop, currently Peter Comensoli. ...
, and the final St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. Establishing themselves first at
Sevenhill The Australian monastic town of Sevenhill is in the Clare Valley of South Australia, approximately 130 km north of Adelaide. The town was founded by members of the Jesuit order in 1850. The name, bestowed by Austrian Jesuit priest Aloysius ...
, in the newly established colony of
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
in 1848, the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
were the first religious order of priests to enter and establish houses in South Australia, Victoria,
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
and the
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
– Austrian Jesuits established themselves in the south and north and Irish in the east. The
goldrush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Ze ...
saw an increase in the population and prosperity of the colonies and called for an increase in the number of
episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...
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 is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Classes started in 1878. Th ...
in Melbourne and in Sydney St Aloysius' College and Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview – which each survive to the present. Despite anti-Irish lobbying by English Catholic bishops and the British government, Irish cleric
Patrick Francis Moran Patrick Francis Cardinal Moran (16 September 183016 August 1911) was the third Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney and the first cardinal appointed from Australia. Early life Moran was born at Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland, on 16 ...
won the favour of
Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...
and was appointed Archbishop of Sydney in 1884, arriving in New South Wales on 8 September. A prominent figure in Australian Catholic history, he became Australia's first cardinal the following year after being summoned back to Rome, and presided over Plenary Councils of Australasia in 1885, 1895 and 1905 which laid the foundations for Church structure in the 20th century. The Australian colonies had hitherto relied heavily on immigrant clergy. In 1889, Moran founded
St Patrick's College, Manly St Patrick's Seminary, Manly is a heritage-listed former residence of the Archbishop of Sydney and Roman Catholic Church seminary at 151 Darley Road, Manly, Northern Beaches Council, New South Wales, Australia. The property was also known as ...
, intended to provide priests for all the colonies. 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". In Rome in 1884, Moran had met the Venerable
Mary Potter Mother Mary Potter (22 November 1847 – 9 April 1913) founded the sisters of the Little Company of Mary in 1877. On 8 February 1988, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her Venerable. Early life Mary Potter was born in a rented house at 23 O ...
and invited her to send a group of her newly established
Little Company of Mary The Little Company of Mary is a Roman Catholic religious institute of women (also referred to as the Blue Sisters) dedicated to caring for the suffering, the sick and the dying. The order was founded in 1877 in Nottingham, England by Venerable Mary ...
sisters to Australia in order to establish a local congregation. Six pioneering sisters arrived in Sydney in November 1885, commencing work caring for the sick and dying. Establishing a convent at Lewishman, they had nearly fifty members within just five years. In 1889 they opened a small hospital at Lewisham. Under the leadership of Mother Mary Xavier Lynch from 1899, the hospital would grow to be one of Sydney's leading general hospitals and nursing schools.About Little Company of Mary Sisters
NSW Blue Plaques Program
Mother Mary Xavier established a new hospital at Adelaide in 1900 and
Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...
in 1926, and despatched sisters to found hospitals in New Zealand and South Africa. In 1922 she became the order's first provincial of Australasia, and is remembered as one of Australia's most noted hospital and nursing administrators. 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 Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...
and Assimilation policies" of the government and so "directly contributed to the current disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians". The missionaries themselves argued that they protected children from dysfunctional aspects of indigenous culture. 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 institutes, such as the Christian Brothers (who had returned to Australia in 1868); 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 ...
(who had arrived in Perth in 1846);
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 ...
, who came from France in 1872; and the
Sisters of St Joseph The Sisters of St. Joseph, also known as the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, abbreviated CSJ or SSJ, is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women founded in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, in 1650. This congregation, named for ...
, founded in Australia by Mary MacKillop and Fr
Julian Tenison Woods Julian Edmund Tenison-Woods (15 November 18327 October 1889), commonly referred to as Father Woods, was an English Catholic priest and geologist who served in Australia.D. H. BorchardtTenison-Woods, Julian Edmund (1832–1889) ''Australian Dicti ...
in 1867. MacKillop travelled throughout
Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...
and established schools, convents and charitable institutions but came into conflict with those bishops who preferred diocesan control of the institute rather than central control from Adelaide by the Josephite religious institute. MacKillop administered the Josephites as a national religious institute at a time when Australia was divided among individually governed colonies. She is today the most revered of Australian Catholics,
beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
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 ...
in 1995 and
canonised Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...
by
Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
in 2010. Catholic schools flourished in Australia and by 1900 there were 115 Christian Brothers teaching in Australia. By 1910 there were 5000
religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pr ...
s teaching in schools.


Federation

The
Australian Constitution The Constitution of Australia (or Australian Constitution) is a constitutional document that is supreme law in Australia. It establishes Australia as a federation under a constitutional monarchy and outlines the structure and powers of the ...
of 1901 guaranteed
Freedom of Religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty 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. It also includes the freedom ...
and the
separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
throughout Australia. Australia's first Catholic cardinal,
Patrick Francis Moran Patrick Francis Cardinal Moran (16 September 183016 August 1911) was the third Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney and the first cardinal appointed from Australia. Early life Moran was born at Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland, on 16 ...
(1830–1911), had been a proponent of
Australian Federation The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...
but in 1901 he refused to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Commonwealth of Australia because precedence was given to the Church of England. He was criticised in '' The Bulletin'' for speaking against racist immigration laws and he alarmed Catholic conservatives by supporting
Trade Unionism A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
and the newly formed
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
. 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 of 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 referendums of 1916 and 1917. The hierarchy had close ties to Rome, which encouraged the bishops to support the British Empire and emphasize Marian piety.


Between the Wars

Another Irish cleric, Archbishop
Daniel Mannix Daniel Patrick Mannix (4 March 1864 – 6 November 1963) was an Irish-born Catholic bishop. Mannix was the Archbishop of Melbourne for 46 years and one of the most influential public figures in 20th-century Australia. Early years and Maynoo ...
(1864–1963) of Melbourne, was a controversial voice against
conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and against
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
policy in Ireland. He was also a fervent critic of contraception. In 1920, the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
prevented him landing in his Irish homeland. Yet despite early 20th century sectarian feeling, Australia elected its first Catholic prime minister,
James Scullin James Henry Scullin (18 September 1876 – 28 January 1953) was an Australian Labor Party politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Scullin led Labor to government at the 1929 Australian federal election. He was the first Catho ...
, of the Australian Labor Party in 1929 – decades before the Protestant majority of the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
would elect
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
as its first Catholic president. His successor,
Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...
, a devout Irish Catholic, split from Labor to form the fiscally conservative
United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...
– predecessor to the modern
Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...
. His wife, Dame
Enid Lyons Dame Enid Muriel Lyons (née Burnell; 9 July 1897 – 2 September 1981) was an Australian politician who was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives and the first woman to serve in federal cabinet. Prior to her own political ca ...
, a Catholic convert, became the first female member of the
Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...
and later first female member of cabinet in the
Menzies Government Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...
. With the place of Catholics in the British Empire still complicated by the recent
Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...
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 George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
and faced anti-Catholic demonstrations in Edinburgh, then visited his ancestral homeland of Ireland and also had an audience with the Pope in Rome. The Australian congregation known as
Our Lady's Nurses for the Poor Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regulat ...
was founded by Melbourne born mystic Eileen Rosaline O'Connor and Fr Edward McGrath in a rented home at Coogee in 1913. The deeply religious youth had suffered a damaged spine when she was three years old and lived in a wheelchair with a painful disability. The parish priest of Coogee Fr Edward McGrath had found accommodation for her widowed mother and family, and been impressed by her courage. O'Connor told McGrath that she had experienced a visitation from Mary, and McGrath shared with her his hope to establish a congregation of nurse to serve the poor. Eventually, a group of seven lay-women gathered around O'Connor and elected her as their first superior. Directed by the largely bed-ridden O'Connor, they visited the sick poor and nursed the frail aged. O'Connor died in 1921 of chronic tuberculosis of the spine and exhaustion. She was 28. Initially a lay-group, the Our Lady's Nurses for the Poor later formed themselves into a religious community of sisters under vows, and their work continues in Sydney, Newcastle, and Macquarie Fields. In 2018, Australia's bishops voted to initiate her cause for sainthood, and the Holy See granted her the title
Servant of God "Servant of God" is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression "servant of God" appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in th ...
. In October 1916, the Catholic Women's Social Guild (now Catholic Women's League) was formed in Fitzroy, Victoria, and Dr
Mary Glowrey Mary Glowrey (1887–1957) was an Australian born and educated doctor who spent 37 years in India, where she set up healthcare facilities, services and systems. She is believed to be the first Catholic religious sister-in-vows to practise as a ...
became the inaugural president. Dr Glowrey was one of the first women to study medicine at Melbourne University, and later went to India to become a missionary nun, founding the largest non-government healthcare system in that country. She was accorded the title Servant of God in 2013, and her cause for sainthood is underway. The Australian Army Chaplains Department was promulgated in 1913, and 86 Catholic chaplains went on to serve in the army during World War One. As well as conducting church parades and religious services, chaplains organised activities to improve the morale and welfare of the troops. Fr John Fahey from Perth was the longest-serving front-line chaplain of the conflict. Assigned to the 11th battalion, he was the first chaplain ashore on Gallipoli, after disregarding orders to stay on the ship. During the Second World War, the Australian administered
Territory of New Guinea The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an administrative union by the nam ...
was invaded by Japanese forces. Some 333 Martyrs of New Guinea are remembered from all denominations during WW2, including 197 Catholics. On
Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...
, Australians and Europeans found refuge at the Vunapope Catholic Mission, until the Japanese overwhelmed the island and took them prisoner in 1942. The local Bishop Leo Scharmach, a Pole, convinced the Japanese that he was German and to spare the internees. A group of indigenous
Daughters of Mary Immaculate The Daughters of Mary Immaculate (french: Filles de Marie Immaculée, abbreviated F.M.I.) are a Catholic religious institute of Religious Sisters co-founded in 1816 by Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon and William Joseph Chaminade for the purpose of ...
(FMI Sisters) then refused to give up their faith or abandon the Australians and are credited with keeping hundreds of internees alive for three and half years by growing food and delivering it to them over gruelling distances. Some of the Sisters were tortured by the Japanese and gave evidence during war crimes trials after the war. Indigenous Rabaul man
Peter To Rot Peter To Rot (; 5 March 1912 - 7 July 1945) was a Papua New Guinea Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic. He served as a well-noted and beloved catechist in his village and was entrusted with the local parish during World War II when the Japanese ...
found himself in charge of the Mission at Rakunai after the internment of the Europeans. He took on their work of teaching the faith, presiding over baptisms, prayer and marriages and caring for the sick and POWs. When the Japanese outlawed these practices, he continued them in secret, was exposed by a collaborator, and sent to labour camp where he was executed. Pope John Paul II declared him a martyr in 1993 and beatified him in 1995.


Post War Immigration: A more diverse Church

Until about 1950, 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. A number of rural areas had high proportions of Irish and a strongly Catholic culture. From 1950 the ethnic composition of the church began to change, with the assimilation of Irish Australians and the arrival of Eastern European
Displaced Persons Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...
from 1948 and more than one million Catholics from countries such as Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia and Hungary, and later 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 Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria, usually known as B. A. Santamaria (14 August 1915 – 25 February 1998), was an Australian Roman Catholic anti-Communist political activist and journalist. He was a guiding influence in the founding of the Demo ...
, the son of Italian immigrants, lead a movement of working class Catholics against
Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
in Australia and the formation of his Democratic Labor Party (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 Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
, 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 The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
, 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 and
National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
parties.
Brendan Nelson Brendan John Nelson (born 19 August 1958) is a business leader and former Australian politician. He served as the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008, going on to serve as Australia's senior diplomat to the European Union and NA ...
became the first Catholic to lead the Liberal Party in 2007. Former prime minister Tony Abbott is a former
seminarian A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
who won the party leadership after defeating two other Catholic candidates for the post. In 2008,
Tim Fischer Timothy Andrew Fischer (3 May 1946 – 22 August 2019) was an Australian politician and diplomat who served as leader of the National Party from 1990 to 1999. He was Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 to 1999. Fischer ...
, a Catholic and former deputy prime minister in the Howard Government, was nominated by the Labor prime minister,
Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...
, as the first resident Australian
ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...
to the
Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
since 1973, when diplomatic relations with the Vatican and Australia were first established.


Post Second Vatican Council

Since the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...
of the 1960s, the Australian church has experienced a decline in vocations to the religious life, leading to a
priest shortage In the years since World War II there has been a substantial reduction in the number of priests ''per capita'' in the Catholic Church, a phenomenon considered by many to constitute a "shortage" in the number of priests. From 1980 to 2012, the ratio ...
. 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 continued their mission among the sick, opening Australia's first
HIV AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...
ward at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, in the 1980s. Declining vocations and increasing complexities in the health care technologies and management saw religious institutes like the Sisters of Charity and 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 Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
began one such ministry in Sydney's inner city Redfern presbytery in 1971 – an area with a large Aboriginal population. Working closely with Catholic Aboriginal laywoman "Mum" Shirl Smith, 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 founded
Uniya Frank Tenison Brennan SJ AO (born 6 March 1954) is an Australian Jesuit priest, human rights lawyer and academic. He is known for his 1998 involvement in the Wik debate when Paul Keating called him "the meddling priest" and the National Tru ...
, 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. In 1991, Fr Chris Riley formed
Youth Off The Streets Youth Off The Streets is an Australian not-for-profit youth organisation with locations in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. The organisation works with young people, their families and communities to create safety, offer support and provid ...
, 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, 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 Robert John Maguire (born 14 September 1934) is an Australian Roman Catholic priest, community worker and media personality from South Melbourne. From 1973 to 2012, Maguire was parish priest of Sts Peter and Paul's Church in South Melbourne. Co ...
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 , citizenship = , education = , occupation = DocumentarianJournalistRadio presenterAuthor , years_active = 1997 – present , known_for = ''John Safran's Music Jamboree'' ''John Safran vs God'' ''Race ...
on
SBS TV SBS may refer to: Broadcasting * SBS Broadcasting Group, Belgium, formerly many countries * Talpa TV, formerly SBS Broadcasting B.V., Netherlands ** SBS6, Dutch television channel ** SBS9, Dutch television channel * Special Broadcasting Service ...
and
Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...
radio. The year 1970 saw the first visit to Australia by a Pope,
Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...
. 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 ...
was the next Pope to visit Australia in 1986. At
Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
, 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 Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indigenou ...
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 a cardinal and during the
Australian Bicentenary The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1988. It marked 200 years since the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. History The bicentennial year marked Captain Arthur Phillip's arrival with the 11 ships ...
celebrations led the religious ceremonies for the opening of
Parliament House, Canberra Parliament House, also referred to as Capital Hill or simply Parliament, is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, and the seat of the legislative branch of the Australian Government. Located in Canberra, the Parliament building is ...
. Pope John Paul II visited Australia for the second time in 1995, to perform the
rite Rite may refer to: * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite of passage, a ceremonious act associated with social transition Religion * Rite (Christianity), a sacred ritual or liturgical tradition in various Christian denominations * Catho ...
of
beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
for Mary MacKillop, founder of Australia's Josephite Sisters, before a crowd of 250,000. From the late 1980s, Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in Australia, 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 from Pope John Paul II condemned incidents of sex abuse in Oceania. Impetus for the ''Towards Healing'' protocols was in part led by Bishop Geoffrey James Robinson, Geoffrey Robinson, 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 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 officially apologised to victims during World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney and celebrated a Mass with four victims of clerical sexual abuse in the chapel of 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 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 became the eighth Archbishop of Sydney and, in 2003, became a cardinal. Pell supported Sydney's bid to host World Youth Day 2008. In July 2008, Sydney hosted the massive youth festival led by Pope Benedict XVI. Around 500,000 welcomed the pope to Sydney and 270,000 watched the Stations of the Cross. 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 would be recognised as the first Australian saint of the Catholic Church. She was canonised on 17 October 2010 during a public ceremony in Saint Peter's Square, St Peter's Square. An estimated 8,000 Australians were present in the Vatican City 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 artefacts which were on display for the first time since 1925. In the late 20th and early 21st century, Catholicism in Australia has been growing numerically, while remaining relatively stable as a proportion of the population and facing a long-term decline in numbers of people following vocations to the religious life. In 2016, the Catholic education sector ran 1,738 schools, accounting for some 20.2% of Australian school students. There were also two Catholic universities – University of Notre Dame Australia and the Australian Catholic University.
Catholic Social Services Australia Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA) is a body that seeks to advance the social service ministry of the Catholic Church and consists of member welfare organisations. It was established as a commission of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conferen ...
, the church's peak national body for social services, had 52 member organisations providing services to hundreds of thousands of people each year. Catholic Health Australia was the largest non-government provider grouping of health, community, and aged care services. The church was among the secular and religious institutions examined at the 2013-2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which reported that abuse cases by Catholic personnel had peaked in the 1970s, with around 4400 cases and alleged cases over the 6 decades prior to the inquiry. In 2017, there were 5.5 million Australian Catholics. Gerard Henderson stated that statistics presented to the Royal Commission indicated that children were safer in a Catholic religious institution in Australia during the years studied than in any other religious institution (state institutions were not studied, so a statistical comparison could not be made).


Social and political engagement


Introduction

Catholic people and charitable organisations, hospitals and schools have played a prominent role in welfare and education in Australia ever since colonial times when Catholic laywoman
Caroline Chisholm Caroline Chisholm (born Caroline Jones; 30 May 1808 – 25 March 1877) was a 19th-century English humanitarian known mostly for her support of immigrant female and family welfare in Australia. She is commemorated on 16 May in the calendar of s ...
helped single, migrant women and rescued homeless girls in Sydney. In his welcoming address to the Catholic World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, the prime minister,
Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...
, 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 Elderly care, residential aged care and the Job Network) and education in Australia. Australia-wide these include: Centacare, CatholicCare Caritas (charity), Caritas Australia, Jesuit Refugee Service,
St Vincent de Paul Society The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor. Innumerable Catholic parishes have ...
,
Youth Off The Streets Youth Off The Streets is an Australian not-for-profit youth organisation with locations in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. The organisation works with young people, their families and communities to create safety, offer support and provid ...
. Two religious institutes founded in Australia which engaged in welfare and charity work are the
Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the Josephites or Brown Joeys, are a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Mary MacKillop (1842–1909). Members of the congregation use the postnominal initials RSJ (Religious Sist ...
and the
Sisters of the Good Samaritan The Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, colloquially known as the "Good Sams", is a Roman Catholic congregation of religious women commenced by Bede Polding, OSB, Australia’s first Catholic bishop, in Sydney in 1857. The congreg ...
. Many international Catholic religious institutes also work in welfare, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor who work in aged care.
Catholic Social Services Australia Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA) is a body that seeks to advance the social service ministry of the Catholic Church and consists of member welfare organisations. It was established as a commission of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conferen ...
is the peak body for Catholic welfare agencies and has 54 member organisations in metropolitan, regional and remote Australia. Members include diocesan-based Centacare and CatholicCare agencies and those under the stewardship of religious orders.


Health

Catholic Health Australia 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 institutes founded many of Australia's hospitals. Irish
Sisters of Charity Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity in their name. Some ''Sisters of Charity'' communities refer to the Vincentian tradition, or in America to the tradition of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, but others are unrelated. The ...
arrived in Sydney in 1838 and established
St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney is a leading tertiary referral hospital and research facility located in Darlinghurst, Sydney. Though funded and integrated into the New South Wales state public health system, it is operated by St Vincent's Heal ...
, 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 and opened Australia's first AIDS clinic. In the 21st century, with more and more lay people involved in management, the sisters began collaborating with
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 ...
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 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, Queensland (Cairns) and the Northern Territory. The Little Sisters of the Poor, who follow the charism of Jeanne Jugan, Saint Jeanne Jugan to "offer hospitality to the needy aged", arrived in Melbourne in 1884 and now operate four aged care homes in Australia. In 1895, Perth's Bishop Matthew Gibney sent a request for help to the Sisters of St John of God in Wexford, Ireland to care for people suffering from typhoid fever during the Western Australian gold rushes, 1890s gold rush. They established a hospital in Kalgoorlie in the late 1890s, followed shortly by St John of God Subiaco Hospital, another in the Perth suburb of Subiaco, Western Australia, Subiaco. These services developed into St John of God Health Care, which now operates 24 hospitals and facilities across Western Australia,
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 ...
, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, and New Zealand.


Education

By 1833, there were around ten Catholic schools in the Australian colonies. Today one in five Australian students attend Catholic schools. There are over 1700 Catholic schools in Australia with more than 750,000 students enrolled, employing almost 60,000 teachers. Mary MacKillop was a 19th-century Australian Religious sister (Catholic), religious sister who founded an educational religious institute, the
Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the Josephites or Brown Joeys, are a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Mary MacKillop (1842–1909). Members of the congregation use the postnominal initials RSJ (Religious Sist ...
. Other Catholic religious institutes involved in education in Australia have included:
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 ...
,
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 ...
, Christian Brothers, Loreto Sisters, Sisters of the Good Samaritan, Benedictine Sisters and
Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
. 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' College (Sydney), St Aloysius and Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview in Sydney, Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide and
Xavier College Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Classes started in 1878. Th ...
in Melbourne; the
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 ...
St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, the Christian Brothers' High School, Lewisham, the Society of the Sacred Heart's Kincoppal School, Rosebay Kincoppal School, the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary's Loreto Kirribilli, 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 ...
's Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College, the Christian Brothers' St Edmund's College, Canberra and Aquinas College, Perth – 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, Catholic Schools in Australia The Australian Catholic University opened in 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia. These institutions had their origins in the 1800s, when religious institutes became involved in preparing teachers for Catholic schools and nurses for Catholic hospitals. The University of Notre Dame Australia opened in Western Australia in December 1989 and now has over 9,000 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 The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
clergy worked closely with the governors. Early Catholic missionary William Bernard Ullathorne, William 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 John Bede Polding, OSB (18 November 1794 in 16 March 1877 ) was the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia. Early life Polding was born in Liverpool, England on 18 November 1794. His father was of Dutch descent and his mother ...
, 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 (Catholicism), cardinal,
Patrick Francis Moran Patrick Francis Cardinal Moran (16 September 183016 August 1911) was the third Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney and the first cardinal appointed from Australia. Early life Moran was born at Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland, on 16 ...
(1830–1911), was politically active. He was a proponent of
Australian Federation The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Western A ...
; he denounced anti-Chinese legislation as "unchristian" and opposed anti-semitism. He became an advocate for women's suffrage 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 Patrick Mannix (4 March 1864 – 6 November 1963) was an Irish-born Catholic bishop. Mannix was the Archbishop of Melbourne for 46 years and one of the most influential public figures in 20th-century Australia. Early years and Maynoo ...
of Melbourne was a controversial voice against
conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and against British policy in Ireland. Mum (Shirl) Smith, a celebrated Redfern community worker, assisted by the
Sisters of Charity Many religious communities have the term Sisters of Charity in their name. Some ''Sisters of Charity'' communities refer to the Vincentian tradition, or in America to the tradition of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, but others are unrelated. The ...
, worked in the courts and organised prison visitations, medical and social assistance for Aborigines. Fr Ted Kennedy of Redfern and Fr Frank Brennan, a Jesuit, have been high-profile Catholic priests engaged in the cause of Aboriginal rights. In 1999, Cardinal Edward Bede Clancy wrote to the then prime minister, John Howard, urging him to send an armed peacekeeping force to East Timor to end the violence engulfing that country. In 2006, an Australian Greens senator, Kerry Nettle, called on the health minister, Tony Abbott, to refrain from debating the abortion drug RU486 because he was Catholic. Cardinal George Pell has concerned himself publicly with traditional issues of Christian doctrine, such as supporting marriage and opposing abortion, but also raised questions about government policies such as the Work Choices industrial relations reforms and the Mandatory detention in Australia, mandatory detention of asylum seekers. ; Australian Catholic politicians Australia elected its first Catholic prime minister,
James Scullin James Henry Scullin (18 September 1876 – 28 January 1953) was an Australian Labor Party politician and the ninth Prime Minister of Australia. Scullin led Labor to government at the 1929 Australian federal election. He was the first Catho ...
of the
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
in 1929. He was succeeded by
Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...
of the
United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...
who was prime minister from 1932 to 1939, and remains Australia's longest serving Catholic prime minister. The first woman elected to the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives was his wife,
Enid Lyons Dame Enid Muriel Lyons (née Burnell; 9 July 1897 – 2 September 1981) was an Australian politician who was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives and the first woman to serve in federal cabinet. Prior to her own political ca ...
(
United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...
), who was a Catholic convert. Australian Catholic women have achieved a number of significant milestones in the history of Australian politics. The first woman to be elected as leader of a state or territory was Catholic Rosemary Follett, who won the first ACT election in 1989. The first woman Premier of NSW was Labor's Kristina Keneally, a Catholic with a Master's degree in Catholic systemic theology. Dame Roma Mitchell, a devout Catholic, served as Governor of South Australia from 1991-1996, the first woman to be appointed governor of an Australian state. Dame Roma had also been a Supreme Court Judge, University Chancellor, Human Rights campaigner and advocate for Aboriginal people. Following her death, the ABC reported "Those who were close to Dame Roma Mitchell say her deep Catholic faith guided every aspect of her life, giving her the strength and ambition to campaign for social change and her philosophy of generosity and kindness". The
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
had largely been supported by Catholics until layman B. A. Santamaria formed the Democratic Labor Party over concerns of Communist influence over the trade union movement in the 1950s. The war-time prime minister, John Curtin (Labor), was raised Catholic. Ben Chifley (Labor) also served as prime minister from 1945 to 1949. In more recent decades, Catholics have led all major parties and served as Prime Ministers and Opposition leader. Labor prime ministers Paul Keating (1991–1996) and
Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...
(2007–2010, 2013) were both raised Catholic (though Rudd now identifies as an Anglican).
Tim Fischer Timothy Andrew Fischer (3 May 1946 – 22 August 2019) was an Australian politician and diplomat who served as leader of the National Party from 1990 to 1999. He was Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 to 1999. Fischer ...
was Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the National Party of Australia, National Party between 1996 and 1999, was a practising Catholic and later served as the Australian Ambassador to the
Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
between 2008 and 2012. The three Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal Party Leaders of the Opposition between 2007-2013 -
Brendan Nelson Brendan John Nelson (born 19 August 1958) is a business leader and former Australian politician. He served as the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008, going on to serve as Australia's senior diplomat to the European Union and NA ...
, Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott - were all Catholics. Abbott brought the Party to office Abbott Government, in 2013 and was succeeded by Turnbull as Prime Minister in 2015. As the connection of the conservative parties to Catholicism has increased in recent decades, so the formerly strong connection between Labor and Catholicism has waned. Nevertheless, since losing office in 2013, the Labor Party has been led by Jesuit educated Bill Shorten and the current Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who describes himself as a "cultural Catholic". Shorten, now an Anglican, wrote in his book ''The Common Good'', that he is grateful for his Jesuit education and takes inspiration from the invocation of the Jesuit Pedro Arrupe to be "men for others". Politicians including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and NSW Premier John Fahey (politician), John Fahey studied for the priesthood before politics. Michael Tate served as a minister in the Labor Hawke Government and then, after politics, became a Catholic priest.


Arts and culture


Architecture

See also Most towns in Australia have at least one Christian church. St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, follows 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 and a general width of , it is Sydney's largest church. Built to a design by William Wardell 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 – 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 (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, has long been known as the ''City of Churches''. North of Adelaide is the Jesuit old stone winery and cellars at Sevenhill, South Australia, Sevenhill, founded by Austrian Jesuits in 1848. A rare Australian example of Spanish missionary style exists at New Norcia, Western Australia, founded by Spanish
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
monks in 1846. A number of notable Victorian Architecture, Victorian 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 model of the early churches of Rome, adapted to a tropical climate and to reflect the changes to Catholic liturgy mandated at Vatican II. The cathedral was dedicated as a memorial to the Battle of the Coral Sea 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. In the later 20th century, distinctly Australian approaches were applied at places such as Jamberoo, New South Wales, 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, New South Wales, Thredbo Ecumenical Chapel built in the Snowy Mountains in 1996. File:StMarysCathedral.jpg, St Mary's Cathedral, Perth File:New norcia gnangarra 1.jpg, New Norcia, Western Australia File:StPatrick 9801.jpg,
St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne The Cathedral Church and Minor Basilica of Saint Patrick (colloquially St Patrick's Cathedral) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and seat of its archbishop, currently Peter Comensoli. ...
File:Main Building, St Ignatius College Riverview.jpg, Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview File:Sfxcathedral2006.jpg, St Francis Xavier's Cathedral, Adelaide File:St Stephens nave looking east.JPG, The Cathedral of St Stephen, Brisbane File:St Christophers Cathedral.JPG, St Christopher's Cathedral, Canberra File:Mary Mackillop Memorial Chapel.jpg, Mary MacKillop Chapel, in North Sydney, New South Wales, North Sydney File:JoeysChapel.jpg, St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill Chapel, 1940 File:StPatricksChurch2021.jpg, St Patricks Church Murrumbeena in Victoria


Film and television

Australian films on Catholic themes have included: * ''Molokai: The Story of Father Damien'' (1999), directed by Paul Cox (director), Paul Cox and starring David Wenham. The film recounts the life of the Belgian Saint Fr Damien of Molokai who devoted his life to the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement on the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian island of Molokai. * ''Mary (1994 film), Mary'' (1994), written and directed by Kay Pavlou and starring Lucy Bell, a biopic recounting the life and works of Mary MacKillop, Australia's first saint of the Catholic Church. * ''The Passion of the Christ'' (2004) was directed and co-written by Australian trained actor-director Mel Gibson (who was raised a Traditionalist Catholic in Australia). * ''Oranges and Sunshine (film), Oranges and Sunshine'' (2010), directed by Ken Loach and starring Emily Watson, Hugo Weaving and David Wenham. The film is based on the true story of Margaret Humphreys, an English social worker who uncovers the scandal of a scheme to forcibly relocate poor children to Australia and Canada. Many of the children suffered sexual, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers in Australia. * ''The Devil's Playground (1976 film), The Devil's Playground'' (1976) directed by Fred Schepisi and starring Simon Burke, Nick Tate, Arthur Dignam and John Frawley (actor), John Frawley. The film is semi-autobiographical and tells the story of 13-year-old Tom Allen, training to be a religious Brother in the De La Salle Brothers, De La Salle Order. Television programs on Catholic themes have included: * ''Revelation (TV series), Revelation'' (2020) directed by Nial Fulton and Sarah Ferguson (journalist), Sarah Ferguson. A three-part documentary on the sexual abuse of children by priests and religious brothers. Ferguson interviewed Father Vincent Ryan (priest), Vincent Ryan and Brother Bernard McGrath during their criminal trials in Sydney. * ''The Devil's Playground (2010 film), The Devil's Playground'' (2014), directed by Rachel Ward and Tony Krawitz and starring Simon Burke, John Noble, Don Hany, Jack Thompson (actor), Jack Thompson and Toni Collette. The series picks up 35 years after the events of Fred Schepisi's film. Tom Allen, now in his 40s is a respected Sydney psychiatrist and father of two children. After accepting an offer to counselling priests, he uncovers a scandal. *''Sisters of War'' (2010) is a telemovie based on the true story of two Australian women, Lorna Whyte, an army nurse and Sister Berenice Twohill, a Catholic nun from New South Wales who survived as prisoners of war in Papua New Guinea during World War II. * ''Brides of Christ'' (1991), starring Naomi Watts and guest starring Russell Crowe, was a television miniseries produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Set in a Sydney convent school, it dealt with the struggles of both the nuns and the young students to adapt to the many social changes taking place within the church and the outside world during the 1960s. * The Monastery (TV series)#Australia, The Abbey (2007), an ABC documentary series filmed in the Jamberoo Benedictine Abbey, followed five women from very different backgrounds and 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 on Foxtel and Austar in Australia.


Literature

The body of literature produced by Australian Catholics is extensive. During colonial times, the
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
missionary William Bernard Ullathorne, William 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 Australia include ''The Catholic Church and Community in Australia'' (1977) by Patrick O'Farrell and ''Australian Catholics'' (1987) by Edmund Campion (historian), Edmund Campion. Notable Catholic poets have included Christopher Brennan (1870–1932); James McAuley (1917–1976); Bruce Dawe (1930-2020) and Les Murray (poet), Les Murray (1938–2019). Murray and Dawe were among Australia's foremost contemporary poets, noted for their use of vernacular and everyday Australian themes. Emblematic of the Christian poets could be McAuley's rejection of Modernism 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 Thorn Birds'' by Colleen McCullough, writes of the temptations encountered by a priest living in the Outback. Many contemporary Australian writers have attended or taught at Catholic schools Catholic news publications have existed since 1839. They currently include: ''The Catholic Weekly'' from Sydney; ''The Catholic Leader'', published by the Brisbane Archdiocese; and ''Eureka Street (magazine), Eureka Street Magazine'' which is concerned with public affairs, arts, and theology and is run by the communication division of the Jesuit religious order.


Music

St Mary's Cathedral Choir, Sydney, is the oldest musical institution in Australia, from origins in 1817. Major Catholic-raised recording artists from Johnny O'Keefe to Paul Kelly (Australian musician), Paul Kelly have recorded Christian spirituals. Paul Kelly's ''Meet Me in the Middle of the Air'' is based on Psalm 23. Catholic nun Sister Janet Mead achieved significant mainstream chart success. New South Wales Supreme Court Judge George Palmer (composer), George Palmer was commissioned to compose the setting of the Mass for Sydney's 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 and an audience of 350,000 with singing led by soprano Amelia Farrugia and tenor Andrew Goodwin (tenor), Andrew Goodwin. "Receive the Power", a song written by Guy Sebastian and Gary Pinto, was chosen as the official anthem for the XXIII World Youth Day (WYD08) held in Sydney in 2008. Australian Christmas carols like the ''Three Drovers'' or ''Christmas Day'' by John Wheeler and William G. James 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 Carols by Candlelight in Melbourne and Carols in the Domain in Sydney.


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 Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
cathedrals were built in the colonial capitals, often containing stained glass art works, as can be seen at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, and
St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne The Cathedral Church and Minor Basilica of Saint Patrick (colloquially St Patrick's Cathedral) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and seat of its archbishop, currently Peter Comensoli. ...
. Roy de Maistre (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 for Westminster Cathedral in London. Among the most acclaimed of Australian painters of Catholic themes was Arthur Boyd. 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 of Australian landscape art, he placed the central characters of the Bible within Australian bush scenery, as in his portrait of Adam and Eve, ''The Expulsion'' (1948). The artist Leonard French, who designed a stained glass ceiling of the National Gallery of Victoria, has drawn heavily on Christian story and symbolism through his career.


Saints and other venerated Australians

Some of the Australians honoured by the Catholic Church to be saints or whose cause for canonisation is still being investigated include:


Saints

*
Mary MacKillop Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ (15 January 1842 – 8 August 1909) was an Australian religious sister who has been declared a saint by the Catholic Church, as St Mary of the Cross. Of Scottish descent, she was born in Melbourne but is best known fo ...
, founder of the
Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the Josephites or Brown Joeys, are a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Mary MacKillop (1842–1909). Members of the congregation use the postnominal initials RSJ (Religious Sist ...
of Jesus **Venerated: 13 June 1992 **Beatified: 19 January 1995 **Canonised: 17 October 2010


Servants of God

*
Caroline Chisholm Caroline Chisholm (born Caroline Jones; 30 May 1808 – 25 March 1877) was a 19th-century English humanitarian known mostly for her support of immigrant female and family welfare in Australia. She is commemorated on 16 May in the calendar of s ...
, a married laywoman of the Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn * Eileen Rosaline O'Connor, a laywoman of the Archdiocese of Sydney and founder of the Society of Our Lady's Nurses for the Poor *
Mary Glowrey Mary Glowrey (1887–1957) was an Australian born and educated doctor who spent 37 years in India, where she set up healthcare facilities, services and systems. She is believed to be the first Catholic religious sister-in-vows to practise as a ...
(Mary of the Sacred Heart), a professed religious of the Society of Jesus Mary Joseph *Constance Helen Gladman (Mary Rosina), a professed religious of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart


Other open causes

*Mother Vincent Whitty, Ellen Whitty, a professed religious of 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 ...
*Irene McCormack, a professed religious of the
Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, often called the Josephites or Brown Joeys, are a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Mary MacKillop (1842–1909). Members of the congregation use the postnominal initials RSJ (Religious Sist ...


Visits of saints' relics

Australia has hosted the major relics of a number saints: * St Peter Chanel, protomartyr of the South Seas (4 May 1849 to 1 February 1850) * St Therese of Lisieux (2002), and together with her parents Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin (2020) * St Margaret Mary Alacoque (2005) * Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati for the Sydney World Youth Day (2008) * St Francis Xavier (2013)


Visits by saints during their lifetime

* St Teresa of Calcutta (1969, 1981) * Pope St
Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...
(1970) * Pope St
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 ...
(1986, 1995)


Organisation

Within Australia the church hierarchy is made of metropolitan archdioceses and suffragan sees. Each diocese has a Bishop (Catholic Church), bishop, while each archdiocese is served by an archbishop. Australia has one living member of the College of Cardinals: the previous Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell. The national assembly of bishops is the
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ACBC) is the national episcopal conference of the Catholic bishops of Australia and is the instrumentality used by the Australian Catholic bishops to act nationally and address issues of national s ...
(ACBC), headed by Mark Coleridge, the Archbishop of Brisbane. There are a further 175 autonomous
Catholic religious order In the Catholic Church, a religious order is a community of consecrated life with members that profess solemn vows. They are classed as a type of religious institute. Subcategories of religious orders are: * canons regular (canons and canone ...
s operating in Australia, generally affiliated under Catholic Religious Australia, headed by Sr Monica Cavanagh RSJ. The church in Australia has five provinces: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. There are seven archdioceses: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Canberra and Goulburn, and Hobart. It has thirty-five
diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
s, comprising geographic areas as well as the
Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...
and dioceses for the Chaldean,
Maronite The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larges ...
,
Melkite The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic Semitic root, ro ...
and
Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...
rites. There is also a
personal ordinariate A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"...the liturgies approved for the Anglican ordinariates..." "Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." ...
for former Anglicans which has a similar status to a diocese. In 2017, there were an estimated 3,000
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
s and 9,000 men and women in
institutes of consecrated life An institute of consecrated life is an association of faithful in the Catholic Church erected by canon law whose members profess the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience by vows or other sacred bonds. They are defined in the ...
and societies of apostolic life.


Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

The
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ACBC) is the national episcopal conference of the Catholic bishops of Australia and is the instrumentality used by the Australian Catholic bishops to act nationally and address issues of national s ...
is the national body of the bishops of Australia. The Conference is headed by Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge. It is served by a secretariat, based in Canberra, under the management of the Reverend Brian Lucas. The conference meets at least annually.


Archdioceses and dioceses

* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide, Archdiocese of Adelaide ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Darwin, Diocese of Darwin ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Port Pirie, Diocese of Port Pirie * Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane, Archdiocese of Brisbane ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Cairns, Diocese of Cairns ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton, Diocese of Rockhampton ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba, Diocese of Toowoomba ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Townsville, Diocese of Townsville * Archdiocese of Melbourne ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Ballarat, Diocese of Ballarat ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Sale, Diocese of Sale ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst, Diocese of Sandhurst ** Ukrainian Eparchy of Ss Peter and Paul * Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Perth, Archdiocese of Perth ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Broome, Diocese of Broome ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Bunbury, Diocese of Bunbury ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Geraldton, Diocese of Geraldton * Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, Archdiocese of Sydney ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Armidale, Diocese of Armidale ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Bathurst in Australia, Diocese of Bathurst ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, Diocese of Broken Bay ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Lismore, Diocese of Lismore ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Parramatta, Diocese of Parramatta ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Wagga Wagga, Diocese of Wagga Wagga ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes, Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Wollongong, Diocese of Wollongong * Immediately subject to the
Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
: ** Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn (attached to the Province of Sydney) ** Archdiocese of Hobart (attached to the Province of Melbourne) ** Catholic Diocese of the Australian Defence Force (attached to Sydney) ** Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle, Chaldean Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle (attached to Sydney) ** Maronite Diocese of St Maroun (attached to Sydney) ** Melkite Catholic Eparchy of St Michael, Archangel, Melkite Eparchy of St Michael, Archangel (attached to Sydney) ** Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross ** Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Melbourne, St Thomas the Apostle Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Melbourne


Catholic Religious Australia

Australia's autonomous Catholic religious orders are affiliated under Catholic Religious Australia (CRA), which is the public name of the Australian Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes (ACLRI). This is the peak body for leaders of the religious institutes and societies of apostolic life resident in Australia. It represents more than 130 congregations of sisters, brothers and priests. It is established by the authority of the
Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
in Rome and is tasked with promoting, supporting and representing religious life in the Australian church and in the wider community and with facilitating co-ordination and co-operation of religious with church bodies and with other authorities including with episcopal conferences and with individual bishops. The organisation is presently led by Josephite Sister Monica Cavanagh.


See also

* Catholic Church by country * Broken Rites & Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Australia * Christianity in Australia * List of Catholic cathedrals in Australia *List of Catholic dioceses in Australia * List of saints from Oceania * Religion in Australia * Catholic Church in Asia * Catholic Church in Europe * Catholic Church in North America * :Catholic Church in South America


References


Further reading

* * * *


External links


Catholic Church in Australia's official website

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference official website

Australian Catholic Historical Society

Timeline of Australian Catholic History

Australian Catholic Biographies

Website of Patrick O'Farrell, historian of Catholic Australia
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Catholic Church in Australia Catholic Church in Australia, Catholic Church by country, Australia Catholic Church in Oceania, Australia