Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross
Dominae Nostrae Meridianae Crucis in Australia
Personal ordinariate · Latin Church · Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Australia
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross is a personal ordinariate of the Latin Church for former Anglicans, erected in 2012 under Anglicanorum coetibus, covering Australia and parts of Oceania and East Asia. As of May 2026 it is governed by Apostolic Administrator Bishop Steven Lopes following the transfer of Archbishop Anthony Randazzo to Rome.
The see
- Rank
- Personal ordinariate
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 15 June 2012
- Latin
- Dominae Nostrae Meridianae Crucis in Australia
- Patron
- Saint Augustine of Canterbury
- Annuario code
- 001000339
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 1,200
- Priests
- 19
- Catholics per priest
- 63
- Extent
- 7,692,030 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 0.0
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
- Apostolic Administrator
- Carl Reid
- Born
- 14 December 1950
- Birthplace
- Hagersville
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
St Bede the Venerable, Sydney stands in Our Lady of the Southern Cross, 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
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross exists within the Latin Church chiefly inside the territory of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, organised for groups of Anglicans seeking full communion with the Catholic Church in Australia and Asia. Like military ordinariates and military dioceses, personal ordinariates answer immediately to the Holy See in Rome. Its motto is Mea Gloria Fides (My Faith is my Glory). Steven J. Lopes serves as apostolic administrator, having succeeded the third ordinary, Anthony Randazzo, in 2026.
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].