Denis James Hart (born 16 May 1941) is a retired Australian

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

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. He was Archbishop of Melbourne from 2001 to 2018.

Early years and background

Hart was born in

East Melbourne, Victoria East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 ce ...

, the eldest of the three children of Kevin and Annie Hart. He was educated at St John's

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 Brothe ...

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

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. ...

in Kew. He studied for the

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 partic ...

hood at Corpus Christi College from 1960 to 1967. Ordained at

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. ...

, in 1967, Hart served as a hospital chaplain, an assistant parish priest and then master of ceremonies at St Patrick's Cathedral. He supervised the preparation of the books used in worship, including the

lectionary A lectionary ( la, lectionarium) is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evangeliary, an ...

for

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 ele ...

. He was liturgy director and assistant master of ceremonies for the 1986 papal visit to Australia. In 1987 Hart became a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

priest and in 1996 he became

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop ...

and moderator of the archdiocese's

curia Curia (Latin plural curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally likely had wider powers, they came ...

. He has served in the parishes of North Balwyn, North Richmond and West Brunswick. In 1997, he was consecrated a

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

and made an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Archbishop

In 2001, Hart was appointed Archbishop of Melbourne, replacing

George Pell George Pell (born 8 June 1941) is an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as the inaugural prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy between 2014 and 2019, and was a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers between 2013 ...

who became the Archbishop of Sydney. On 29 June 2001, he received the

pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropol ...

from

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 ...

St Peter's Square Saint Peter's Square ( la, Forum Sancti Petri, it, Piazza San Pietro ,) is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave inside Rome, directly west of the neighborhood (rione) of Borgo. ...

. Within the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, he was a member of the permanent committee from 2002, chairman of the Bishops' Commission for Administration and Information (2002-2012), member of the Bishops' Commission for Liturgy (1998-2012) and vice president of the conference (2010-2012). He has been chair of the ''ad hoc'' committee for the

Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross is a personal ordinariate of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church primarily within the territory of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference for groups of Anglicans who desire ful ...

since 2010. In May 2012, he was elected president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference for two years. He has been a member of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy since 2003 and its vice president (2010-2014). He took part in the Oceania Synod and ''ad limina'' visits in 1998, 2004 and 2011. In 2007, Hart expressed that he was troubled by the remarks of St Patrick's Cathedral priest Geoff Baron. During 2016, Hart urged schools to be sensitive and respectful to students who want to invite a same-sex date to school dance nights. "These are quite often emotional situations and it's very important that we always have respect for the dignity of the human being involved", he said when Fairfax asked for his response to a previously unreported case at the Academy of Mary Immaculate in Fitzroy. He was appointed a member of the

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments it, Dicastero per il Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti , type = Dicastery , seal = Coat of arms Holy See.svg , seal_size = 100px , seal_caption = Coat of arms of the Holy See , logo = , p ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

accepted his resignation on 29 June 2018. Hart requested a Melbourne parish priest stand down while the priest was investigated by civil authorities for allegedly violating child safety laws.

Controversies

In 2009 during a court case, Hart was accused of having told a woman to "Go to hell, bitch" when she had knocked on his door in the middle of the night in 2004. On the ABC on 14 November 2013, Hart acknowledged making the comment, then immediately asserting that he always followed the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. He apologised for it and described it as unfortunate. In May 2013, Hart appeared at a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse. He commented, in regard to why it took 18 years to have a priest laicised for sexually abusing children, "Better late than never." On 15 August 2017, Hart stated that if the law was changed to require clergy to report child sexual abuse learned of during confessionals, he would break the law and not report such abuse.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Denis 1941 births Living people Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II Roman Catholic archbishops of Melbourne 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Australia People educated at Xavier College Members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments Australian Roman Catholic archbishops People from East Melbourne Clergy from Melbourne