Christopher Charles Prowse (born 14 November 1953 in

East Melbourne, Victoria East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government areas of ...

) is an Australian

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

. He is currently the

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the Archdiocese of CanberraGoulburn; appointed to the post on 12 September 2013 and installed as archbishop on 19 November 2013. On 12 September 2016, Prowse was named as

apostolic administrator An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wagga Wagga following the retirement of Bishop Gerard Hanna. On 26 May 2020,

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

announced Mark Stuart Edwards would become the sixth Bishop of Wagga Wagga, however Prowse remained apostolic administrator until Bishop Edwards' installation on 22 July 2020. Prowse served as the director of the Catholic Pastoral Formation Centre (1997-2001) and from 1999 was the media spokesman. He has been co-chair of the Australian Anglican and Roman Catholic Dialogue, and a member of the executive committee of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences in Oceania. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree (

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

1978), a Bachelor of Theology degree ( Melbourne College of Divinity 1979), a Licentiate in Moral Theology (

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

, Rome, 1987) and a Doctorate in Moral Theology (

Pontifical Lateran University The Pontifical Lateran University (; ), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. The university ...

- Alfonsianum Academy, Rome, 1995).

Early life and career

Christopher Charles Prowse was born in

, on 14 November 1953. He is the third of six children of Frank Prowse and Marian Atkinson. His early education was at St Francis Xavier's Primary School in Box Hill and St Leo's College also in Box Hill. He was an altar server at St Francis Xavier's Parish, Box Hill. While at St Leo's College he enjoyed drama and public speaking and was the school captain in 1971. He studied for the priesthood at Corpus Christi College in Werribee (1972) and Clayton (1973–1980). He was ordained priest for the

Archdiocese of Melbourne The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne is a Latin Rite metropolitan archdiocese in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Erected initially in 1847 as the Diocese of Melbourne, a suffragan diocese of Archdiocese of Sydney, the diocese was el ...

by Archbishop Sir Frank Little at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, on 16 August 1980. After serving as a deacon at St John's, Mitcham, in 1979, he was appointed assistant priest of St Mary of the Angels, Geelong (1981–1983), and of St Monica's, Moonee Ponds (1984–1985). He was also vocations director throughout 1984–1985. From 1988 and 2001 he was lecturer in moral theology at the

Catholic Theological College Catholic Theological College (CTC) is one of the constituent theological colleges of the University of Divinity, an Australian collegiate university of specialisation in Divinity (academic discipline), divinity. The college is located in Eas ...

and from 1988 priest-in-residence at St Mary's, Thornbury. In 1996, he was appointed parish priest of Holy Spirit Parish, East Thornbury. During this time Prowse was also director of the Catholic Pastoral Formation Centre (1997–2001) and from 1999 he was their media spokesman. In August 2001 he was named vicar general and moderator of the curia of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, after a short appointment as assistant of the diocesan administrator. At this time he became a member of the College of Consultors of the archdiocese, and of other major committees. On 6 October 2001 he was appointed a

Chaplain of His Holiness Chaplain of His Holiness is a title of distinction given by the Pope in recognition of a priest's service to the Church. They are addressed with the honorific of "Monsignor" and have certain privileges with respect to ecclesiastical dress and ve ...

with the title of Monsignor.

Episcopate

On 4 April 2003,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

named him

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Bahanana and an

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

; he was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, by Archbishop Denis Hart on 19 May 2003. From 2007 until 2009 he had pastoral responsibility for the Western Region of Melbourne and

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

. In 2007 he became the Episcopal Vicar for Justice and Social Services, and in 2008 for health. He was appointed to committees organising Days in the Diocese Melbourne and World Youth Day Sydney. Prowse was appointed as the Bishop of Sale by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

on 18 June 2009. On 12 September 2013,

appointed Prowse as Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn. He was installed on 19 November 2013 at St Christopher's Cathedral, Canberra. His appointment followed a period of 16 months in which the post was vacant after the previous archbishop, Mark Coleridge, was appointed as the Archbishop of Brisbane. On 12 September 2016, Pope Francis appointed Prowse as

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

. Within the

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ACBC) is the national episcopal conference of the Catholic bishops of Australia and is the instrumentality used by the Australian Catholic bishops to act nationally and address issues of national ...

, Prowse is a member of the Permanent Committee and chairman of the Commission on Ecumenism and Inter-religious Relations; he is a member of the Commission for Relations with Aborigines and

Torres Strait Islanders Torres Strait Islanders ( ) are the Indigenous Melanesians, Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples of the res ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prowse, Christopher Living people 1953 births Roman Catholic archbishops of Canberra and Goulburn Roman Catholic bishops of Sale Clergy from Melbourne Monash University alumni Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Pontifical Lateran University alumni Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue Australian Roman Catholic archbishops People from East Melbourne

Early life and career

Episcopate

See also

References

External links