Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Toowoomba

Tuumban(us)

Latin Church diocese erected in 1929 covering the Darling Downs and southwest Queensland, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Brisbane with its cathedral at Toowoomba. Bishop Kenneth Howell has led the diocese since his appointment in 2023.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
28 May 1929
Latin
Tuumban(us)
Patron
Mary of the Southern Cross
Annuario code
001003251

The see in figures

Catholics
65,912
Population
232,900
Catholic share
28.3%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
50
Catholics per priest
1,318
Extent
487,456 km²
Catholics per km²
0.1

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
Kenneth Michael Howell
Born
20 February 1958
Birthplace
Brisbane

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 Patrick's Cathedral, Toowoomba stands in Toowoomba, 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 Brisbane

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Brisbane.

The sees of this province:

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

History

The Darling Downs and the south west of Queensland belong to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toowoomba, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Brisbane established in 1929. Its territory spans 487,000 square kilometres (188,000 sq mi), served by 48 priests and 57 members of religious orders; of the 276,700 people living within its borders, 77,400 are Catholic. The bishop is seated at St Patrick's Cathedral.

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].