Military Ordinariate of Australia
Military ordinariate · Latin Church · Australia, Australia
Latin-rite military ordinariate (Catholic Diocese of the Australian Military Services) providing chaplaincy to the Australian Defence Force, established in 1969. The see has been without its own bishop since Bishop Max Davis ended his tenure on 24 May 2021; Archbishop Christopher Prowse has since served as apostolic administrator.
The see
- Rank
- Military ordinariate
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 6 March 1969
- Patron
- Mary Help of Christians
- Annuario code
- 001000341
The see in figures
- Priests
- 8
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
The register holds no ordinary for this see. Where a chair is vacant the vacancy is the fact, and it is recorded rather than filled in. See the bishop.
The cathedral
capilla de San Pablo stands in Australia, 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.
History
Members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and their families, wherever they are stationed, are served by the Catholic Diocese of the Australian Military Services, a military ordinariate immediately subject to the Holy See. Established in 1969, with its chancery office in Canberra, it is a diocese in its own right, governed under no other diocese or archdiocese. Its ordinary bishop and his chaplains minister across all three services: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
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.
Sources
The see's own website · Wikipedia · GCatholic
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].