The

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Diocese of Toowoomba is a

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria ...

of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, established in 1929, covering the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generall ...

and

south west The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

regions of

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_ ...

, Australia. St Patrick's Cathedral is the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

of the Catholic Bishop of Toowoomba. The diocese covers an area of 487,000 km². with 48 priests and 57 members of religious orders. There are 77,400 Catholics among the 276,700 total population within the diocese's borders.

History

In 1929, the Diocese of Toowoomba was excised from the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Brisbane and covering the South East region of Queensland, Australia. Part of the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical ...

Recent history

Bishop Bill Morris was appointed in 1992 to head the Toowoomba diocese. In 2006 he released a pastoral letter calling for discussion of the ordination of married men and the

ordination of women The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordina ...

to compensate for the lack of priests in his large diocese. An

apostolic visitation In the Catholic Church, a canonical visitation is the act of an ecclesiastical superior who in the discharge of his office visits persons or places with a view to maintaining faith and discipline and of correcting abuses. A person delegated to ca ...

of the diocese was conducted by Charles J. Chaput OFM Cap., then Archbishop of Denver, during April 2007. Discussions continued between Morris and the Vatican for several years. On 1 May 2011, Bishop Morris announced his early retirement at age 67, stressing the fact that he had not resigned. On 2 May 2011, 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 ...

removed Morris from pastoral care of the diocese, attracting international press coverage. The

appointed Brian Vincent Finnigan, Auxiliary Bishop of the

, to serve as

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

of the Diocese. On 14 May 2012, it was announced that

Pope 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 ...

had named the Reverend Monsignor Robert McGuckin as bishop-elect of the Toowoomba diocese. He was installed on 11 July.

Bishops

Ordinaries

The following have served as Bishops of Toowoomba: :

Other priest of this diocese who became bishop

John Alexius Bathersby John Alexius Bathersby (26 July 1936 – 9 March 2020) was an Australian bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the sixth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, serving from 1991 until his retirement in 2011. Bathersby was conferre ...

, appointed Bishop of

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

in 1986, and subsequently Archbishop of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Parishes

There are currently 35 parishes in the diocese and 42 diocesan priests.

Schools

The diocese has the following schools: *

Our Lady of the Southern Cross College, Dalby Our Lady of the Southern Cross College is a systemic Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school located in the town of Dalby, approximately northwest of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Overview Established in 2008, the college cater ...

* St. Mary's College, Toowoomba * St Ursula's College, Toowoomba * St Joseph's College, Toowoomba *St. Mary's School, Charleville *St. Finbarr's School, Quilpie * St Saviour's College, Toowoomba *

Downlands Sacred Heart College, Toowoomba Downlands may refer to: * Downland, an area of open chalk hills, especially in southern England * Downlands College , motto_translation = Strong in Faith , city = Toowoomba , state = Queensland ...

* Mary MacKillop Catholic College, Toowoomba

Heritage listings

The diocese has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: * corner of James and Neil Streets, Toowoomba: St Patrick's Cathedral * 73 Margaret Street, Toowoomba: Bishop's House

Sexual abuse

In February 2014 the

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

, a royal commission of inquiry initiated in 2013 by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

and supported by all of its

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

governments, began an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse and the response by the Diocesan Catholic Education Office. The former Bishop of Toowoomba, Bill Morris, admitted that "there had been a number of significant systemic failings which led to the failure to properly deal with" the abuse of thirteen young girls at a Toowoomba Catholic primary School in 2007–08.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Catholic Diocese Of Toowoomba Toowoomba

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...