- John Bathersby
John Alexius Bathersby (b.
26 July 1936 ,Stanthorpe, Queensland ,Australia ) is the sixthArchbishop of theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane .He undertook his primary schooling at St. Joseph's, Stanthorpe, (1941 -1950) and, for his secondary schooling he boarded at Nudgee College in
Brisbane (1951 - 1954). From school he enteredPius XII ProvincialSeminary , Banyo, where he began his training for thepriest hood and, on completion of those studies (1955 - 1961), he was ordained a priest in his homeparish of Stanthorpe by Bishop William Brennan on30 June 1961 .His first seven years as a Priest were spent as an Associate Pastor and Administrator at Goondiwindi before being sent to
Rome for further studies in 1969 where he completed alicentiate inTheology at thePontifical Gregorian University , and a Diploma in Spirituality at theTerasianum . In 1972, he was appointed to the staff of Pius XII Seminary in Brisbane where he served as Spiritual Director for seven years before returning to Rome for a Doctorate in Theology/Spirituality in 1979. He returned to the Seminary until he was appointed Bishop of Cairns in 1986.On
20 March 1986 , Dr. Bathersby was ordained Bishop of Cairns by Archbishop Rush, whom he succeeded as Archbishop of Brisbane on3 December 1991 . He was installed as the Sixth Bishop (Fifth Archbishop) of Brisbane on30 January 1992 .Archbishop Bathersby was a member of the International Catholic-
Methodist Dialogue from 1989 -1995 and a member of the executive of the Confederation of Bishops' Conferences of Oceania from 1991 to May 1994. He is Co-Chairman of the Australian Catholic-Uniting Church Dialogue. From July 1997 he served as President of theNational Council of Churches in Australia until July 2000.In January 2001, Pope
John Paul II appointed Archbishop Bathersby as Co-Chair of the InternationalAnglican -Roman Catholic Working Group (IARCCUM). He is currently the Chairman of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference Commission for Mission and Faith Formation as well as being a member of the Bishops' Permanent Committee.External links
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbath.html Catholic Hierarchy]
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