BRISBANE Archbishop Mark Coleridge has welcomed news of the appointment of Bishop Christopher Prowse as Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn.
The appointment means Bishop Prowse, (pictured) a close friend of Archbishop Coleridge’s, will be also his successor.
Archbishop Coleridge headed the See of Canberra and Goulburn from 2006 to 2012 before taking up his appointment in Brisbane archdiocese last year.
“I am certain Bishop Prowse has all that is required to engage the various cultures in the national capital,” he said.
“His experience as Bishop of Sale will have equipped him well to understand the rural parishes of the archdiocese at a time of great change in rural Australia.
“The wait for the new archbishop has been long, but the time has now come for the entire community of the archdiocese to gather round Bishop Prowse and move forward on the path of discipleship and mission.”
Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Denis Hart warmly welcomed news of the appointment announced by Pope Francis on Thursday, September 12.
Bishop Prowse, who will turn 60 only days before his installation, has been Bishop of Sale since mid-2009.
He will be installed as the archdiocese’s seventh archbishop in a ceremony at St Christopher’s Cathedral on November 19.
The Canberra and Goulburn archdiocese has been without a bishop since Archbishop Coleridge was appointed Archbishop of Brisbane in May 2012 and auxiliary Bishop Patrick Power retired a few weeks later.
Bishop Prowse was an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne from 2003 to 2009, when he was appointed to his post in Sale.
He was ordained a priest by Archbishop Sir Frank Little for the Archdiocese of Melbourne on August 16, 1980.
Monsignor John Woods, who has been acting as administrator of the Canberra and Goulburn archdiocese since May 2012, welcomed Bishop Prowse’s appointment with “joy and gratitude to God”.
“We pray for Archbishop-elect Christopher Prowse as we look forward to his installation,” he said.
“May his pastoral ministry in Christ’s name engage all the faithful of the Archdiocese, other Christians, adherents to other religions and all people of good will.”
