Roman Catholic Diocese of Townsville

Diocese of Townsville Dioecesis Tovnsvillensis
File:StateLibQld 1 65191 Sacred Heart Cathedral in Townsville, 1903.jpg Sacred Heart Cathedral, Townsville, taken in 1903 after cyclone Leonta
Location
Country	Australia
Territory	North Queensland
Ecclesiastical province	Province of Brisbane
Metropolitan	Brisbane
Coordinates
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 252,289 74,084 ( 29.4%%)
Parishes	27
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	12 February 1930
Cathedral	Sacred Heart Cathedral, Townsville
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Sede vacante
Website
Catholic Diocese of Townsville

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Townsville is a suffragan Latin Rite diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, erected in 1930, covering North Queensland, Australia.

Ordinaries

The following individuals have been elected as Roman Catholic Bishops of Townsville:

Order	Name	Date enthroned	Reign ended	Term of office	Reason for term end
1	Terence Bernard McGuire †	12 February 1930	14 June 1938		Appointed Bishop of Goulburn
2	Hugo Edward Ryan †	13 July 1938	14 September 1967		Retired and appointed Bishop Emeritus of Townsville
3	Leonard Anthony Faulkner	14 September 1967	2 September 1983		Elevated as Coadjutor Archbishop of Adelaide
4	Raymond Conway Benjamin	14 February 1984	18 April 2000		Retired and appointed Bishop Emeritus of Townsville
5	Michael Ernest Putney †	24 January 2001	28 March 2014		Died while still in office

Parishes

The diocese is divided into four separate deaneries that administer individual parishes:

1. Townsville deanery with regular liturgical services held in Sacred Heart Cathedral, Castle Chill (St Joseph), Cranbrook (Holy Spirit), Deeragun (St Anthony), Gulliver (Holy Family), Kirwan (The Good Shepherd), Magnetic Island (St Joan of Arc), Mundingburra (Blessed Mary MacKillop), Railway Estate (St Francis), South Townsville (St Patrick), West Townsville (St Mary), and Wulguru (St Joseph the Worker)
2. Northern deanery with regular liturgical services held in Abergowrie (St Theresa), Halifax (St Peter), Ingham (St Patrick), and Palm Island (St Anne)
3. Southern deanery with regular liturgical services held in Ayr (Sacred Heart), Bowen (St Mary), Burdekin Valley (St Joseph), Cannonvale (St Martin), Collinsville (Our Lady of Lourdes), Giru (St Joseph), Home Hill (St Colman), and Proserpine (St Catherine)
4. Western deanery with regular liturgical services held in Charters Towers (St Columba), Cloncurry (St Colman), Hughenden (Sacred Heart), Julia Creek (Holy Rosary), McKinlay (Our Lady of the Way), Mount Isa (Good Shepherd), Richmond (St Brigid), and Winton (St Patrick)

Schools

Schools within the diocese include:

North Ward

• St Joseph’s School (primary)
• St Patrick's College (secondary)

Hyde Park

• St Margaret Mary's College (secondary)

Mundingburra

• St Joseph’s Catholic School (primary)

Currajong

• The Marian School (primary)

Annandale

• Southern Cross Catholic School (primary)

Cranbrook

• Holy Spirit School (primary)
• Ignatius Park College (secondary)

Rasmussen

• Good Shepherd Catholic Community School (primary)

Kirwan

• Ryan Catholic College (primary & secondary)

Deeragun

• St Anthony’s Catholic College (primary & secondary)

West End

• Edmund Rice Flexible learning Centre (secondary)

Palm Island

• St Michael’s School (primary)

Charters Towers

• Columba Catholic College (primary & secondary)

Ingham District

• Our Lady of Lourdes School, Ingham (primary)
• St Peter’s School, Trebonne (primary)
• Canossa School, Trebonne (primary)
• Gilroy Santa Maria College, Ingham (secondary)
• St Teresa’s College, Abergowrie (secondary)

Burdekin River region

• St Francis School, Ayr (primary)
• St Colman’s School, Home Hill (primary)
• Burdekin Catholic High School, Ayr (secondary)

South

• St Mary’s School, Bowen (primary)
• St Catherine’s School, Proserpine (primary)
• St John Bosco School, Collinsville (primary)

West

• St Francis School, Hughenden (primary)
• St Patrick’s School, Winton (primary)
• St Joseph’s School, Cloncurry (primary)

Mount Isa

• St Joseph’s Catholic School (primary)
• St Kieran’s School (primary)
• Good Shepherd Catholic College (secondary)

Controversy

Main article: Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Australia

In 2003 it was revealed that Neville Joseph Creen, a former priest, molested young girls while he served as a priest at Mount Isa, north-west Queensland, from 1973 to 1981. In Brisbane District Court on 12 September 2003, Creen (aged 63) was sentenced to three-and-half years' jail with a 14-month minimum after admitting to 34 indecent dealing charges involving 18 girls under the age of 13. One girl was aged just 5 when Creen abused her at a youth camp and later at the home of her grandparents. Creen pleaded guilty to a further six charges on 4 November 2004 and was sentenced to an additional two years jail.

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Australia

External links

• Catholic Diocese of Townsville