Roman Catholic Diocese of Wagga Wagga

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wagga Wagga is a Latin Rite suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, established in 1917, covering the Riverina region of New South Wales in Australia.

Diocese of Wagga Wagga

Dioecesis Corvopolitanus
St Michael's Cathedral, Wagga Wagga; consecrated in ca. 1859
Location
CountryAustralia
TerritoryRiverina regions of New South Wales
MetropolitanArchdiocese of Sydney
Coordinates35°06′26″S 147°22′21″E
Statistics
Area62,160 km2 (24,000 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics (including non-members)		(as of 1999)
206,000
62,000 ( 30.1%)
Parishes 31
Information
DenominationRoman Catholic
RiteLatin Rite
Established28 July 1917
CathedralSt Michael's, Wagga Wagga
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
BishopMark Stuart Edwards
Metropolitan ArchbishopAnthony Fisher OP
Bishops emeritusGerard Joseph Hanna
Map
Website
Catholic Diocese of Wagga Wagga

St Michael's Cathedral is the seat of the Catholic Bishop of Wagga Wagga. On 12 September 2016, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Gerard Hanna due to health and age concerns and appointed Christopher Prowse to be the Apostolic Administrator. On 26 May 2020 Pope Francis announced that Bishop Mark Edwards OMI would be the sixth Bishop of Wagga Wagga, to be installed as Bishop on 22 July 2020 at St Michael's Cathedral.[1]

Bishops

Bishops of Wagga Wagga

The following individuals have been elected as Roman Catholic Bishop of Wagga Wagga:[2]

Order Name Date enthroned Reign ended Term of office Reason for term end
1Joseph Wilfrid Dwyer14 March 191811 October 19398 years, 235 daysDied in office
2Francis Augustin Henschke16 November 193924 February 196828 years, 100 daysDied in office
3Francis Patrick Carroll24 February 196825 June 198315 years, 121 daysElevated to Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn
4William John Brennan16 Jan 19845 February 200218 years, 20 daysResigned and appointed Bishop Emeritus of Wagga Wagga
5Gerard Joseph Hanna5 February 200212 September 201618 years, 364 daysRetired due to reaching age 75 and due to ill health and appointed Bishop Emeritus of Wagga Wagga
6Mark Edwards22 July 2020present196 days

Coadjutor bishop

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops
  • Edward Idris Cassidy, appointed nuncio and titular Archbishop in 1970; future Cardinal
  • Michael Robert Kennedy, appointed Bishop of Armidale in 2011

Cathedral

Located in Johnston Street, Wagga Wagga, St Michael's Cathedral is a large Gothic Revival styled sandstone cathedral built in two stages. The foundation stone of the first stage of the building comprising the nave and tower base, was laid on 26 April 1885. Completed between 1885 and 1887, the parish church was commissioned by Father Patrick Dunne and designed by architects Tappin, Gilbert & Dennehy, of Melbourne. The woodwork and carpentry was completed by Charles Hardy. In 1918, when the diocese was erected, St Michael’s became a cathedral.[3]

The second stage followed, that commenced in 1922 and completed in 1925. The architect was W. J. Monks, and the overall construction cost was £34,894. The imposing building was constructed from sandstone, of cruciform plan with clerestoried nave and lofty tower placed to the left of the main façade. In addition, the building consists of side aisles, porch, chancel, sacristy, chapel, and gallery. Roof framings are exposed timber internally and sheeted with slates externally. Walls are rock faced ashlar generally with dressed window and door surrounds and mullions. Internally the altars contain some finely crafted marble pieces and large stained glass windows in groups of three, giving a soft filtered light. A feature of the cathedral is the massive tower bell weighing 17 long hundredweight (1,900 lb; 860 kg) cast in the factory of Byrnes, of Dublin. The marble high altar was brought from Carrara, Italy and has subsequently been removed.[3]

Cathedral organ

George Fincham built a two-manual organ of 10 speaking stops for St Michael's Church in 1887. This was removed in 1892 and installed in the Chapel of St Peter at the Church of England Grammar School, Melbourne. The present organ, installed on the rear gallery in 1999 by Laurie Pipe Organs, was built by Samuel Lewis, an employee of George Fincham, who was his first apprentice as far back as 1864 and his first foreman, it is thought for the Dorcas Street Presbyterian Church in South Melbourne; it originally had two manuals and 17 speaking stops. It was installed at the Presbyterian Church, Denbigh Road, Armidale, in 1911 and in 1939 the mechanical action was converted to tubular-pneumatic by C.W. Andrewartha, who supplied a detached console. The casework with its carved transom rails, may also date from this time. The instrument was rebuilt in 1975 by Laurie Pipe Organs who converted the manual actions back to mechanical, electrified the pedal and stop actions, provided a new attached drawstop console, and supplied new Mixtures to the Great and Swell, a Trumpet 8 ft, and the pedal upperwork.[4] In 2011 it was given a small overhaul by Darrell Pitchford. The front facade pipes were changed to silver and the stop mechanisms and pipes were cleaned and adjusted.

Parishes in the Diocese of Wagga Wagga
^1. In 2009 Jerilderie became incorporated to the Darlington Point. Parish Administrator Rev Fr Anthony Dunne was appointed until the appointment of Rev Fr Blaise Kurek. Despite sharing a priest, Jerildierie is listed as a separate parish

Schools

Listed below are schools in the diocese along with their attributed parish. The diocese is split into four areas, and each school is sorted accordingly below.[5]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Albury region

Griffith region

Wagga Wagga region
  • All Saints Catholic Primary School-Tumbarrumba
  • Henscke Catholic Primary School - Our Lady of Fatima, South Wagga Wagga[6]
  • Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School - West Wagga Wagga
  • Kildare Catholic College - Our Lady of Fatima, South Wagga Wagga
  • Mater Dei Catholic Primary School - Sacred Heart, Kooringal
  • Mater Dei Catholic College - Sacred Heart, Kooringal
  • Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School - Sacred Heart, Kooringal
  • Saint Joseph's Catholic Primary School - Cathedral, Central Wagga Wagga
  • Saint Joseph's Catholic Primary School - Junee
  • Saint Michael's Catholic Primary School - Coolamon
  • Saint Brendan’s Catholic Primary School - Ganmain
  • Saint Joseph’s Catholic Primary School - Lockhart

See also
  • Roman Catholicism in Australia

References
  1. https://www.catholic.org.au/acbc-media/media-centre/media-releases-new/2275-bishop-mark-edwards-appointed-to-wagga-wagga/file
  2. "Diocese of Wagga Wagga". The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church. 21 May 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
  3. "Walking tour of Wagga Wagga's historic buildings". Wagga Wagga local history. 7 September 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  4. "St Michael's Catholic Cathedral, Wagga Wagga". Organ Historical Trust of Australia. 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  5. Catholic Diocese of Wagga. Parishes - West Wagga Wagga. Retrieved 13 of March 2018.
  6. Our Lady of Fatima Parish, South Wagga. Retrieved 13 of March 2018.
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