Roman Catholic Diocese of Sale

Diocese of Sale Dioecesis Saliensis
Location
Country	Australia
Territory	South Eastern and Gippsland regions of Victoria
Metropolitan	Archdiocese of Melbourne
Coordinates
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 372,979 92,746 ( 24.9%)
Parishes	25
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	10 May 1887
Cathedral	St Mary's Cathedral, Sale
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Sede vacante
Website
Roman Catholic Diocese of Sale

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sale is a suffragan Latin Church diocese of Archdiocese of Melbourne, established in 1887, covering the south east of Victoria, Australia.

The Bishop–elect of Sale is Patrick O'Regan, appointed to the role on 4 December 2014 and scheduled to be consecrated and installed as a bishop by the Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart on 26 February 2015 at a ceremony in Sale.

History

The Diocese of Sale was erected by Pope Leo XIII on 26 April 1887. The first bishop, James Francis Corbett, was a priest of the Diocese of Limerick, Ireland, who was responsible for the Mission (later Parish) of St Kilda and Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Melbourne at the time of his appointment. It was in St Mary's Church East St Kilda that Corbett was consecrated bishop by Archbishop Thomas Carr of Melbourne on 25 August 1887. Bishop Corbett consecrated St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, on account of his superior vocal ability.

The second Bishop of Sale, Patrick Phelan, saw to the establishment of a school system in the Diocese. The fourth bishop, Patrick Lyons, presided over the 1959 change to the boundaries of the Diocese, which saw the parishes of Berwick, Cranbourne, Pakenham, Iona, Maryknoll, Koo Wee Rup, Dalyston and Korrumburra incorporated into Sale. These areas were excised from the Melbourne Archdiocese and while they were mainly rural areas at the time, it is these parishes which have seen rapid growth and are now considered outer suburbs of the Melbourne metropolitan area.

Ordinaries

File:Omeo Roman Catholic Church.JPG

Church of the Immaculate Conception at Omeo; consecrated in 1903

The following individuals have served as Roman Catholic Bishop of Sale:

Order	Name	Date enthroned	Reign ended	Term of office	Reason for term end
1	James Francis Corbett	13 May 1887	29 May 1912		Died in office
2	Patrick Phelan	2 November 1912	5 January 1925		Died in office
3	Richard Ryan C.M.	10 March 1926	16 June 1957		Died in office
4	Patrick Lyons	16 June 1957	13 August 1967		Died in office
5	Arthur Fox	29 November 1967	25 February 1981		Retired and appointed Bishop Emeritus of Sale
6	Eric D'Arcy	25 February 1981	24 October 1988		Elevated to Archbishop of Hobart
7	Jeremiah Coffey	8 April 1989	2 January 2008		Retired and appointed Bishop Emeritus of Sale
8	Christopher Prowse	18 June 2009	19 November 2013		Appointed Archbishop of Canberra–Goulburn

Cathedral

St Mary's Cathedral, Sale is the cathedral church of the diocese, under the patronage of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Purpose-built as a cathedral, St Mary's boasts a Romanesque onyx high altar, notable stained glass windows and a large statue of Mary Help of Christians as its features. Four of Sale's bishops are buried in the cathedral: Bishop Corbett lies in the main section of the church beneath the front rows of pews on the right hand side and Bishops Ryan, Lyons and Fox are interred in the Lady Chapel.

Boundaries

The diocese covers the southeastern part of Victoria, from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne to the New South Wales border, including all of Gippsland.

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Australia

External links

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Sale