# Roman Catholic Diocese of Armidale

The Diocese of Armidale is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in Australia. It is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Sydney. The Diocese of Armidale was established in 1869 and covers the New England and Barwon River regions of New South Wales.
Saints Mary and Joseph Catholic Cathedral is the cathedra of the Bishop of Armidale, previously vacant after Michael Kennedy was appointed to the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. On February 27th 2025, news broke that Pope Francis had appointed Rev. Dr Peter Murphy the new Bishop of Armidale.
Up until this point the Administrator was Monsignor Edward (Ted) Wilkes, and the administrator sat with the other Australian Bishops while attending the Parramatta funeral of former Bishop Kevin Manning in 2024.

## History

Erected 28 November 1869. Promptly following the philanthropic acquisition and dedication of land on the western side of central park Armidale, the foundation stone of the first of two brick cathedrals was laid and blessed on 8 December 1870, by the Administrator Monsignor John Thomas Lynch, an alumnus of St Patrick's Maynooth Ireland, on the same day that St Joseph was named as the patron of the Universal Church. The first bishop, Most Reverend Timothy O'Mahony D.D, an alumnus of the Irish College in Rome and a director of the missionary movement of Propaganda Fide for Ireland, was forced to resign over politically motivated false allegations of alcoholism and fathering a child, although he was eventually cleared by a church investigation and subsequent events. A sesquicentenary celebration of Bishop O'Mahony's installation at Armidale, by Archbishop Polding, an English Benedictine, was celebrated on 9.3.2021 and led by Archbishop Fisher and Bishop Kennedy. A large white 2021 dated memorial stone has since been installed on the south side of the cathedral front doors-complementing that on the north side of the cathedral pyrmont sandstone front doors that commemorates another significant event being the blessing of the current cathedral by Cardinal Moran.

## Bishops

Bishops of Armidale:
    Order Name Title Date installed Term ended Term of office Reason for term end 1Timothy O'MahonyBishop of Armidale1869July 18777–8 yearsResigned from Rome 2Elzear TorreggianiBishop of ArmidaleNovember 1879January 190424–25 yearsDied in office 3Patrick O'ConnorCoadjutor Bishop of ArmidaleMay 1903January 19040–1 yearSucceeded as Bishop of Armidale Bishop of ArmidaleJanuary 1904July 193227–28 yearsDied in office 4John ColemanCoadjutor Bishop of ArmidaleSeptember 1929July 19322–3 yearsSucceeded as Bishop of Armidale Bishop of ArmidaleJuly 1932December 194714–15 yearsDied in office 5Edward DoodyBishop of Armidale25 April 1948 (1948-04-25)9 April 1968 (1968-04-09)19 years, 350 daysDied in office 6James Darcy FreemanBishop of ArmidaleDecember 196819712–3 yearsElevated as Archbishop of Sydney 7Henry KennedyBishop of ArmidaleFebruary 197226 April 1991 (1991-04-26)18–19 yearsRetired 8Kevin ManningBishop of Armidale10 July 1991 (1991-07-10)10 July 1997 (1997-07-10)6 years, 0 daysElevated as Bishop of Parramatta 9Luc Julian MatthysBishop of ArmidaleMarch 1999December 201111–12 yearsRetired as Emeritus Bishop of Armidale 10Michael KennedyBishop of ArmidaleFebruary 2012February 202310–11 yearsAppointed to Maitland–Newcastle. 11Peter MurphyBishop of ArmidaleYet to be installed.
James Darcy Freeman was elevated to Cardinal in 1973, concurrent with Archbishop of Sydney.
Coadjutors are included above.

### Other priests of the diocese who became bishops

* Jeremiah Joseph Doyle, appointed Bishop of Grafton in 1887
* John Steven Satterthwaite, appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Lismore in 1969
* Gerard Joseph Hanna, appointed Bishop of Wagga Wagga in 2002

## Cathedral

The diocesan cathedral is dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Joseph and is located in Dangar Street, Armidale, opposite Armidale Central Park and diagonally opposite the Anglican cathedral. It was built in 1911 of Pyrmont stone and Armidale polychrome brick. It was solemnly dedicated on 12 December 1919.

## Parishes

As of November 2014, there are currently 25 parishes located in Diocese of Armidale:
* Armidale Cathedral
* Barraba
* Bingara, administered by Barraba
* Boggabri, administered by Narrabri
* Bundarra, administered by Uralla
* Dungowan
* Glen Innes
* Gunnedah
* Guyra
* Sacred Heart, Inverell
* Manilla
* Moree
* Mungindi, administered by Moree
* St Xavier, Narrabri
* St Brigid, Quirindi
* St Nicholas, East Tamworth
* St Edward, South Tamworth
* St Patrick, West Tamworth
* St Mary, Tenterfield
* Uralla
* Walcha
* Walgett
* Warialda
* St Andrew, Wee Waa
* Werris Creek