New archbishops tipped as orthodox: [3 – All-round Metro Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 17 July 2003: 4.
Abstract
Church insiders say the appointments of two auxiliary bishops in Sydney and a new bishop for the Australian Defence Force reshapes the Australian College of Bishops. The numbers now favour theological orthodoxy and are significant because the college has control over the Catholic education system.
Full Text
AUSTRALIA has three new Catholic archbishops in a move, announced by the Pope last night, that gives the church’s local branch a more conservative leadership.
Church insiders say the appointments of two auxiliary bishops in Sydney and a new bishop for the Australian Defence Force reshapes the Australian College of Bishops. The numbers now favour theological orthodoxy and are significant because the college has control over the Catholic education system.
The auxiliary bishops, who will be consecrated in September, are Julian Porteous, head of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, and Father Anthony Fisher, a Dominican theologian and professor of bioethics and moral theology in Melbourne.
An auxiliary bishop assists an archbishop in his governance of the archdiocese, but also becomes a member of the college.
Also named was a new bishop for the Australian Defence Force, Monsignor Max Davis, who becomes military ordinary bishop of Australia.
There is speculation that the archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, chose the appointments, announced by the Pope, to indicate his likely elevation to cardinal and a possible post in the Curia in Rome, the Catholic church’s ruling body.