John Bathersby

Styles of John Bathersby
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Grace
Religious style	Emeritus Archbishop
Posthumous style	not applicable

John Alexius Bathersby (born 26 July 1936, Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia) is a retired Australian bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the sixth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, serving from 1991 until his retirement in 2011. Bathersby is conferred with the title Emeritus Archbishop of Brisbane.

Early years

The son of John Thomas and Grace Maud (née Conquest) Bathersby, John Alexius had an older sister, Carmel, a younger brother, Michael, and two younger sisters, Suzanne and Anne. He received his primary schooling at St Joseph's, Stanthorpe (1941–50) and his secondary schooling as a boarder at Nudgee College in Brisbane (1951–54). From school he entered the Pius XII Provincial Seminary, Banyo, where he began his training for the priesthood and, on completion of those studies (1955–61), he was ordained a priest in his home parish of Stanthorpe by Bishop William Brennan on 30 June 1961.^[1]

His first seven years as a priest were spent as an assistant and administrator at Goondiwindi before being sent to Rome in 1969 for further studies where he completed a licentiate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and a diploma in spirituality at the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum. In 1972 he was appointed to the staff of Pius XII Seminary in Brisbane where he served as spiritual director for seven years before returning to Rome for a doctorate in theology and spirituality in 1979. He returned to the seminary before being appointed Bishop of Cairns in 1986.^[1]

Bishop of Cairns and Archbishop of Brisbane

On 20 March 1986, Bathersby was consecrated Bishop of Cairns by Archbishop Francis Rush, whom he would succeed as Archdiocese of Brisbane on 3 December 1991, and installed as the sixth Bishop (and fifth Archbishop) of Brisbane on 30 January 1992.^[2]

Bathersby was a member of the International Catholic-Methodist Dialogue from 1989 to 1995 and a member of the executive of the Confederation of Bishops' Conferences of Oceania from 1991 to May 1994. He is co-chairman of the Australian Catholic–Uniting Church Dialogue. From July 1997 he served as President of the National Council of Churches in Australia until July 2000. In January 2001, Pope John Paul II appointed Bathersby as co-chair of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Working Group (IARCCUM). He chairs the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Commission for Mission and Faith Formation, and is a member of the Bishops' Permanent Committee.^[1]

Upon turning 75 years old, in July 2011, Bathersby sought the pontiff's consent to retire.^[3] An administrator for the Brisbane archdiocese was appointed in November 2011^[4][5] and, in April 2012, Mark Coleridge was appointed as the seventh archbishop.^[6]

References