Roman Catholic Diocese of Armidale

The Diocese of Armidale is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in Australia. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Sydney. The Diocese of Armidale was established in 1869 and covers the New England and Barwon River regions of New South Wales.

Saints Mary and Joseph Catholic Cathedral is the cathedra of the Bishop of Armidale, presently vacant after Michael Kennedy was appointed to the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.^[1][2]

History

Erected 28 November 1869.^[3] The first bishop, Timothy O'Mahony, was forced to resign over allegations of alcoholism and fathering a child, although he was eventually cleared by a church investigation.^[4]

Bishops

Bishops of Armidale:^[3][5]

Order	Name	Title	Date installed	Term ended	Term of office	Reason for term end
1	Timothy O'Mahony	Bishop of Armidale	1869	July 1877	7–8 years	Resigned from Rome
2	Elzear Torreggiani	Bishop of Armidale	November 1879	January 1904	24–25 years	Died in office
3	Patrick O'Connor	Coadjutor Bishop of Armidale	May 1903	January 1904	0–1 year	Succeeded as Bishop of Armidale
		Bishop of Armidale	January 1904	July 1932	27–28 years	Died in office
4	John Coleman	Coadjutor Bishop of Armidale	September 1929	July 1932	2–3 years	Succeeded as Bishop of Armidale
		Bishop of Armidale	July 1932	December 1947	14–15 years	Died in office
5	Edward Doody	Bishop of Armidale	25 April 1948 (1948-04-25)	9 April 1968 (1968-04-09)	19 years, 350 days	Died in office
6	James Darcy Freeman	Bishop of Armidale	December 1968	1971	2–3 years	Elevated as Archbishop of Sydney
7	Henry Kennedy	Bishop of Armidale	February 1972	26 April 1991 (1991-04-26)	18–19 years	Retired
8	Kevin Manning	Bishop of Armidale	10 July 1991 (1991-07-10)	10 July 1997 (1997-07-10)	6 years, 0 days	Elevated as Bishop of Parramatta
9	Luc Julian Matthys	Bishop of Armidale	March 1999	December 2011	11–12 years	Retired as Emeritus Bishop of Armidale
10	Michael Kennedy	Bishop of Armidale	February 2012	February 2023	10–11 years	Appointed to Maitland–Newcastle.

James Darcy Freeman was elevated to Cardinal in 1973, concurrent with Archbishop of Sydney.

Coadjutors are included above.

Other priests of the diocese who became bishops

• Jeremiah Joseph Doyle, appointed Bishop of Grafton in 1887
• John Steven Satterthwaite, appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Lismore in 1969
• Gerard Joseph Hanna, appointed Bishop of Wagga Wagga in 2002

Cathedral

The diocesan cathedral is dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Joseph and is located in Dangar Street, Armidale, opposite Armidale Central Park and diagonally opposite the Anglican cathedral. It was built in 1911 of Pyrmont stone and Armidale polychrome brick.^[6] It was solemnly dedicated on 12 December 1919.^{[citation needed]}

Parishes

As of November 2014^[update], there are currently 25 parishes located in Diocese of Armidale:

References

1. ^ "Diocese of Armidale". The Official Directory of the Catholic Church in Australia. National Council of Priests of Australia. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
2. ^ "Bishop Kennedy appointed Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle". Australian Catholics Bishops Conference Media Blog. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Diocese of Armidale". The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church. 19 February 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
4. ^ J. J. Farrell, Archbishop Vaughan and the resignation of Bishop O'Mahony, first bishop of Armidale, Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society 15 (1993), 7-23; C.J. Duffy, O'Mahony, Timothy (1825–1892), Australian Dictionary of Biography.
5. ^ "The ten Catholic Bishops of Armidale". The Armidale Star. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
6. ^ "The Catholic Cathedral of St Mary and St Joseph, Armidale". Organ Historical Trust of Australia. 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2011.

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