Edward John Doody (15 December 1903 − 9 April 1968) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

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. Born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Doody was ordained to the priesthood in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

on 12 March 1927, and was later parish priest of

Nambour Nambour is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nambour had a population of 12,145 people. Geography Nambour is north of the state capital ...

. Doody was named bishop of the

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 estab ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1948 and died in 1968 while still in office. He worked to improve conditions for local Aborigines. From 1958, he received debutantes at an annual Aboriginal Ball. He publicly opposed the discrimination precluding Asians migrating to Australia. In the 1950s, he was a strong supporter of B. A. Santamaria's fight against

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. He was also a supporter of the

New England New State Movement The New England New State Movement was an Australian political movement in the twentieth century. Founded as the Northern Separation Movement, the aim of the movement was to seek the secession of the New England region and surrounding areas fro ...

, and a member of its executive council, from 1949. He attended the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

from 1962 to 1965 and contributed to discussions on clerical celibacy and tradition.J.J. Murphy, The Far Milieu Called Home: Australian Bishops at Vatican ll (The Final Session: 1965), ''Australasian Catholic Record'', 80 (3), (2003), 343-369.

References

1903 births 1968 deaths Clergy from Brisbane Roman Catholic bishops of Armidale 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Australia {{Australia-RC-bishop-stub