RETIRED Archbishop of Brisbane, Francis Rush, died last Saturday, aged 84, after a long illness.
Archbishop Rush led the archdiocese from March 5, 1973 until his retirement on December 3, 1991.
He was the first Australian and the first Queenslander to be appointed Archbishop of Brisbane, following a long line of Irish-born bishops and archbishops.
Archbishop Rush had been a priest for 62 years, and lived in retirement for the past 10 years at the Canossian Sisters’ nursing home complex at Oxley.
He died at the Mater Private Hospital, South Brisbane.
Archbishop Rush was ordained for Townsville diocese in Rome in 1939 and served in the cathedral and other parishes until his appointment as Bishop of Rockhampton in 1961.
He was one of 3000 bishops from throughout the world to attend the Second Vatican Council from 1962-65, and was president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference from 1983-86.
In Brisbane he set up the archdiocesan pastoral council in 1974 to increase lay participation in the Church, created the position of vicar for social welfare and set up the archdiocesan welfare commission.
Archbishop Rush was a committed ecumenist and in 1984 he celebrated a service of reconciliation in St John’s Anglican Cathedral with Anglican Archbishop John Grindrod. In 1991 he led the Catholic Church into full membership of Queensland Churches Together.
He also initiated the renovation of St Stephen’s Cathedral and the redesign of its surrounds.
See also Special Tribute to Abp Rush
