Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Armidale

Armidalen(sis)

The Diocese of Armidale is a Latin Rite see covering the New England and North West regions of New South Wales, Australia, erected in 1862 and suffragan to the Archdiocese of Sydney. Bishop Peter Murphy was appointed in 2025, ending a two-year vacancy.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
28 November 1869
Latin
Armidalen(sis)
Patron
Saints Mary and Joseph
Annuario code
001000732

The see in figures

Catholics
42,490
Population
184,229
Catholic share
23.1%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
34
Catholics per priest
1,250
Extent
91,500 km²
Catholics per km²
0.5

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

Bishop
Peter Murphy

A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.

The cathedral

Saints Mary and Joseph Cathedral, Armidale stands in Armidale, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of Sydney

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Sydney.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

Established by 1862, the Diocese of Armidale covers the New England and Barwon River regions of New South Wales. A Latin Church see of the Catholic Church in Australia, it is a suffragan within the province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Sydney. Saints Mary and Joseph Catholic Cathedral holds the cathedra of the Bishop of Armidale, a seat previously vacant after Michael Kennedy was appointed to the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

What is kept by invitation

The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.

The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].