Archdiocese of Perth
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Perth is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia covering the Greater Perth, Goldfields-Esperance, Peel and Wheatbelt regions of Western Australia.
St Mary's Cathedral located in Perth, Western Australia, is the seat of the Catholic Metropolitan Archbishop of Perth, currently Timothy Costelloe, appointed in February 2012.
History
On 6 May 1845 the Diocese of Perth was erected in an area covered and administered previously by the Archdiocese of Sydney.It lost territory repeatedly, to establish on 12 March 1867 the Benedictine Territorial Abbacy of New Norcia, on 10 May 1887 the Apostolic Vicariate of Kimberley in Western Australia and on 30 January 1898 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Geraldton.
It was elevated as Metropolitan archdiocese on 29 August 1913.
On 12 November 1954 it lost territory to establish the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bunbury.
In 1982 it regained former territory from the suppressed Territorial Abbacy of New Norcia.
Cathedral
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commonly called St Mary's Cathedral, is the seat of the archbishop and is located in East Perth.During restoration work in the cathedral between 2003 and 2006, the brick and plaster crypt containing the coffins of bishops Matthew Gibney and Martin Griver was discovered by archaeologists under the floorboards of an aisle in the cathedral.
In 2011, the remains of Perth's first bishop, John Brady, were exhumed from his grave in France and he was laid to rest in the crypt.
Province
Its Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Perth includes for the suffragan dioceses of Broome and Perth's two daughter-bishoprics, Bunbury and Geraldton.Bishops
Episcopal incumbents
The following individuals have been elected as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Perth, or any of its precursor titles:;Diocesan suffragan bishops
- ^ = Bishop John Brady was suspended from his functions motu proprio in October 1851 by Pope Pius IX and José Benito Serra appointed as coadjutor bishop of Perth, reporting to the Archbishop of Sydney. Brady retained the title Bishop of Perth, although living in exile from his Diocese, until his death. Serra served as Coadjutor Bishop and Temporal Administrator of Perth from 1849 to 1851, Apostolic Administrator from 1851 to 1862. Rosendo Salvado was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Perth for three years from 1853 while Serra was absent in Europe.
Coadjutor and auxiliary bishops
;Current- Donald George Sproxton – Appointed auxiliary bishop 12 December 2001, Titular Bishop of Timici
- Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Serra y Juliá, O.S.B. †
- Coadjutor Bishop Matthew Gibney †, Titular Bishop of Hippus
- Coadjutor Archbishop Redmond Prendiville †, Titular Archbishop of Cypsela
- Auxiliary Bishop Launcelot John Goody †, Titular Bishop of Abydus, later Bishop of Bunbury
- Auxiliary Bishop John Joseph Rafferty †
- Auxiliary Bishop Myles McKeon †
- Auxiliary Bishop Peter Quinn †
- Auxiliary Bishop Robert Healy †
Other priests of the diocese who became bishops
- John O’Reilly †, appointed Bishop of Port Augusta in 1887
- William Bernard Kelly †, appointed Vicar Apostolic of Kimberley in Western Australia in 1894; appointed Bishop of Geraldton in 1898: consecrated bishop in 1898
- Justin Joseph Bianchini, appointed Bishop of Geraldton in 1992
- Gerard Joseph Holohan, appointed Bishop of Bunbury in 2001
- Max Leroy Davis, appointed Bishop of Australia, Military in 2003
- † = deceased
Parishes