The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is a suffragan Latin Church diocese of the Archdiocese of Sydney, established in 1847 initially as the Diocese of Maitland and changed to the current name in 1995. The diocese covers the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales in Australia. The bishop of the diocese is Michael Kennedy.
The diocese is considered to be one of the epicentres of the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Australia, with scores of priests and religious brothers convicted of crimes against children. Two senior members of the diocese, Father Thomas Brennan and Brother William Wade, have also been convicted of concealing child sexual abuse.
History Prior to the establishment of the diocese, the Hunter region was under the administration of the Sydney archdiocese. The Catholic Church defines a diocese as "a portion of the people of God, which is entrusted to a bishop" or as "a community of Christ's faithful in communion of faith and sacraments with their bishop" (see 1986 Code of Canon Law, Canon 369.) The three most notable priests assigned to the Hunter region, Therry, Dowling and Lynch, strived to build churches, schools and establish Catholic parishes.H. Campbell, Dean Lynch: laying the foundations for Maitland diocese, Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society 3 (3) (1971), 46-61.Some commentary about Monsignor Lynch is available in "The men of '38 and other pioneer priests" Monsignor Hartigan.
In these early years, travel to the Hunter was via the convict-built road from Windsor to Maitland via Wollombi, currently a world heritage listed item of heritage. The 1838 date coincided with the coronation of Queen Victoria and the Victorian era which included the age of steam driven locomotion. This new means of travel assisted the missionary expansion initiatives throughout New South Wales. Six Catholic parishes established were East Maitland 1835 (the first Catholic church built north of Sydney was the first St Joseph's Church in 1835), Newcastle 1838, West Maitland 1841, Singleton 1845, Taree 1846, Raymond Terrace 1852. In 1840 Thomas Haydon donated 2 1/2 acres for a church and cemetery at Murrurundi. In 1841 a foundation stone was laid for a wooden chapel and the cemetery consecrated. The chapel was completed in 1841 and replaced by the current sandstone building in 1860 which Archbishop Polding blessed and dedicated to St Joseph on 19 February 1860. The memorial plaque on the wall of the church and street the church is on is Polding Street overlooking the great northern railway. During 1840 and 1845, Archbishop Bede Polding visited the whole Hunter Valley and laid foundation stones for churches at Wollombi and St John's at Campbell's Hill.Some of the early history involving Polding is published in two volumes with the title Benedictine Pioneers in Australia by Birt. The foundation stone was moved to West Maitland where St John the Baptist Church opened in 1846.
On 16 April 1847, Archbishop John Bede Polding, Archbishop of Sydney, wrote to the Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Giacomo Filippo Fransoni to petition for the erection of an episcopal see at Maitland, recommending Placid Burchall, an English Benedictine, as a suitable candidate as bishop for the new diocese.
On 9 July 1847, the Holy See announced Burchall would become the first Bishop of Maitland and also be Coadjutor Bishop of Sydney. Burchall refused the appointment on grounds of ill-health, however correspondence from Polding to the Holy See suggested it was instead because the order had refused to lose another priest of such high calibre.
By a papal brief dated 27 May 1847, the Titular See of East Maitland was created with the Most Reverend Charles Henry Davis nominated as bishop. Bishop Davis was also the auxiliary bishop to the Archbishop of Sydney and lived in Sydney, never visiting his titular see in East Maitland, therefore the Titular See of East Maitland remained under the administration of the Archdiocese of Sydney until the Most Reverend James Murray was nominated Bishop of Maitland in 1865, taking possession of St John the Baptist Church, West Maitland, as his cathedral on 1 November 1866.
From 1866 the diocese extended to include Port Macquarie, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Walgett and Coonamble. In 1869 the diocese of Armidale was inaugurated with Monsignor Lynch as the administrator. In 1887 the Diocese of Maitland reduced in size by exclusion of the Coonamble, Gunnedah and Tamworth districts, as they became part of the Armidale diocese at the same time as the now Lismore diocese was inaugurated.
In 1933, after servicing the diocese for 87 years, the original cathedral building became inadequate for the needs of the parish and the diocese. In July 1933, Bishop Edmund Gleeson CSsR officially announced that the Catholic Hall in Maitland would be converted to a pro-cathedral suitable as a place of worship. On 26 November 1933 the Catholic Hall was opened as the pro-cathedral and St John's officially closed.
In 1948, the Newcastle and Maitland Catholic Sentinel published a number of articles on the occasion of the consecration of auxiliary bishop Toohey.
In 1966 boundaries were again altered to exclude Kendall parish to Lismore but include the parishes of Belmont, Swansea, Toronto, Booragul and Teralba, which are the present boundaries of the diocese.
In 1967, an article about the state of the diocese after 100 years was published in the newspaper of the diocese, the Catholic Sentinel. (A digitised paper, as part of the "Trove" National Library of Australia project.)
In 1989 the pro-cathedral suffered damage as a result of an earthquake and was closed. Discussions were then held and it was decided to convert the pro-cathedral to its former use as a hall and to reopen St John's as a chapel for the central Maitland area. On 24 June 1994, Bishop Leo Clarke celebrated a dedication of a church service and thus St John's became a chapel for the area. The 1989 earthquake was also a catalyst to consolidate the diocesan administration offices on one site. This was achieved in 1995 by purchasing the Sisters of Mercy convent in Hamilton and the former Sacred Heart parish primary school, Hamilton.
By papal brief dated 14 June 1995, the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle was created and on 16 July 1995 the Sacred Heart Church in Hamilton became the cathedral of the diocese.
The diocese was the focus of the Hunter Special Commission of Inquiry and case-study 43 in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
In April 2024, Cathnews reported briefly on the renewal of the safeguarding leadership in 2024.See footnote:
Bishops Ordinaries The following individuals have been elected as Roman Catholic Bishop of Maitland: {| class="wikitable" !Order !Name !Date installed !Term ended !Term of office !Reason for term end |- |align="center"| ||Charles Henry Davis, OSB † ||align="center" |24 September 1846 ||align="center" |17 May 1854 ||align="right" | ||Died in office |- |align="center"| ||James Murray † ||align="center" | 1865 ||align="center" | 9 July 1909 ||align="right" | ||Died in office |- |align="center"| ||Patrick Dwyer † ||align="center" | 9 July 1909 ||align="center" | 28 March 1931 ||align="right" | ||Died in office |- |align="center"| ||Edmund John Aloysius Gleeson, CSSR † ||align="center" | 28 March 1931 ||align="center" | 4 March 1956 ||align="right" | ||Died in office |- |align="center"| ||John Thomas Toohey † ||align="center" | 4 March 1956 ||align="center" | 24 September 1975 ||align="right" | ||Died in office |- |align="center"| ||Leo Morris Clarke ||align="center" | 10 April 1976 ||align="center" | 3 November 1995 ||align="right" | || Retired and appointed Bishop Emeritus of Maitland–Newcastle
The following individuals have been elected as Roman Catholic Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle: {| class="wikitable" !Order !Name !Date installed ! !Term of office !Reason for term end |- |align="center"| || ||align="center" | ||align="center" | ||align="right"| ||Following a 2009 request by Malone for early retirement due to the impact of the sex abuse scandal, which was rejected by the Vatican, Malone resigned in 2011 |- |align="center"| ||William Wright ||align="center" |4 April 2011 ||align="center" |13 November 2021||align="right"| || Died while in office |- |align="center"| ||Michael Kennedy ||align="center" |2 February 2023 ||align="center" | ||align="right"| ||
Coadjutor bishops Patrick Vincent Dwyer (1897–1909) Edmund John Aloysius Gleeson, C.SS.R. (1929–1931) John Toohey Michael John Malone (1994–1995)
Other priests of the diocese who became bishops Ernest Victor Tweedy, appointed Archbishop of Hobart in 1942 Philip Edward Wilson, appointed Bishop of Wollongong in 1996 Brian Gregory Mascord, appointed Bishop of Wollongong in 2017
Cathedral Sacred Heart Cathedral in Hamilton acts as both the Hamilton parish church and the cathedral for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.
The Sacred Heart Cathedral building was opened in 1930 as the parish church of Hamilton and was consecrated by Bishop Edmund Gleeson in 1941, before becoming Sacred Heart Cathedral on 16 July 1995.
The Sacred Heart Church's foundations were dug with the physical aid of parishioners. The church was built virtually brick by brick on the dream of Monsignor Victor Francis Peters and through the generosity of parishioners who, in the midst of the Great Depression, bought bricks for an average of twopence each. A donation of ten pounds was the norm and, in total, 700,000 bricks were used.
Monsignor Peters was influenced by the architecture of the cathedral in Thurles in Ireland; the cathedral church of Philadelphia in the US and the brick work in front of the Pisa church in Italy. The foundation stone was laid on 23 September 1928. The first brick was laid on 1 February 1929 and the last brick just ten months later on 1 December 1929. Sixty years later, the earthquake of 1989 caused considerable damage particularly to the belltower. The original concrete dome was replaced by one of copper and the original dome now stands as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the earthquake.
Parishes The following parishes are situated within the diocese:
All Saints Blackbutt South Beresfield Blackbutt North Boolaroo–Warners Bay Booragul Branxton Cessnock Denman Dungog East Lake Macquarie East Maitland Forster Tuncurry Gloucester Gresford Krambach Kurri Kurri Lochinvar MacKillop (Charlestown, Gateshead & Redhead) Maitland Mayfield Mayfield West Merriwa Morisset Morpeth Murrurundi Muswellbrook Myall Coast Nelson Bay Newcastle St Benedict (includes Cathedral) Raymond Terrace Rutherford Scone Singleton Stockton Sugarloaf Taree Toronto Wallsend–Shortland Wingham
Child sexual abuse in the diocese
The diocese has been referred to as the "epicentre of Catholic clerical sexual abuse in Australia" due to a number of abusive priests and religious brothers with extensive abuse records being jailed since 1997.
Archbishop Philip Wilson In March 2015, NSW Police charged Archbishop Philip Wilson, then the Archbishop of Adelaide, of "concealing a serious offence regarding child sexual abuse in the Hunter region in 1978" when he was a priest in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese. Wilson took leave and issued a statement saying he would "vigorously defend my innocence through the judicial system". Wilson's lawyer attempted to prevent the trial going ahead on medical grounds but this was refused. On 22 May 2018, Wilson was found guilty and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, suspended, which Wilson would serve under home detention.
Pope Francis accepted Wilson's resignation on 30 July 2018. As an archbishop, Wilson was the most senior Catholic cleric in Australia to be convicted of not disclosing abuse by another priest to the police. On 6 December 2018, Wilson was acquitted of all charges.