James Foley (born 19 July 1948) is an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church who was the Bishop of Cairns in Queensland from 1992 to 2022.
James Foley (born 19 July 1948) is an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church who was the Bishop of Cairns in Queensland from 1992 to 2022.
James Foley was born in Brisbane on 19 July 1948. He was educated at the St Ignatius Parish School at Toowong and at Marist College at Ashgrove. He was ordained a priest on 7 August 1973. From 1976 to 1982 he studied at the University of Louvain, earning a licentiate and a doctorate in philosophy. During those years he also served as a chaplain on British and American military bases in West Germany. [1]
Returning to Australia, he began teaching at Banyo Seminary in 1982. He also taught occasionally at Brisbane College of Theology, the Australian Catholic University, and the University of Queensland. He served as spiritual director for students at the University of Queensland from 1985 to 1992. From 1982 to 1987 he also assisted at the country parish in Beaudesert. He was also a member the International Catechetical Commission and the International Committee for English in the Liturgy. [1]
Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop of Cairns on 16 July 1992.[ citation needed ] He received his episcopal consecration on 21 August 1992 in St. Monica's Cathedral in Cairns [2] from Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane.[ citation needed ]
In 2004 he joined four other Queensland bishops in a pastoral letter "Let the Many Coastlands Be Glad" that called for the protection of the Great Barrier Reef. He renewed that call in 2016. [3]
In 2008, he supported plans to construct a mosque in Cairns, replacing a worker's cottage the Islamic community was using. He said it would be "highly desirable neighbour". [4]
In 2015 he endorsed the work of the national commission investigating child sexual abuse. He called it a "healthy" process and said he was learning "disturbing" things about people he thought highly of decades earlier. [5]
On 29 April 2019, Foley organized an interfaith prayer service in his cathedral called Interfaith, Multicultural Celebration for Peace and Harmony. Buddhist and Islamic representatives participated. He said Catholics who protested the event were promoting "ignorance and bigotry". He said: "I'm concerned about what is influencing these people.... There has never been a greater need for people with different faiths to come together." [6]
He was a lifelong supporter of the Labor Party–his grandfather Edward Pender had been an activist on behalf of social legislation. Foley said he believed the party "best represented Catholic social teaching" but in 2020 he objected to the party's support for "voluntary assisted dying" legislation. [7]
In November 2021, Foley denounced Catholics who objected to vaccination against COVID-19. He said: "In almost 30 years in this position, I've never encountered such divisiveness and, dare I say, ignorance.... What worries me too, in these conversations, is that they seem to entail all sorts of other major conspiracy theories." [8]
Pope Francis accepted his resignation on 21 August 2022. [9] Foley had submitted his resignation in 2019 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. That year he was relieved of his positions with the Australian Bishops Conference, where he served on the Commissions for Catholic Education, for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry; and for Life, Family and Public Engagement. [2]
Queensland is a state in north-eastern Australia, the second-largest and third-most populous of the Australian states. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and the Pacific Ocean; to its north is the Torres Strait, separating the Australian mainland from Papua New Guinea, and the Gulf of Carpentaria to the north-west. With an area of 1,729,742 square kilometres (667,857 sq mi), Queensland is the world's sixth-largest sub-national entity; it is larger than all but 16 countries. Due to its size, Queensland's geographical features and climates are diverse, including tropical rainforests, rivers, coral reefs, mountain ranges and sandy beaches in its tropical and sub-tropical coastal regions, as well as deserts and savanna in the semi-arid and desert climatic regions of its interior.
James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairns and Townsville, and one in the city state of Singapore. JCU also has study centres in Mount Isa, Mackay, Thursday Island and Rockhampton. A Brisbane campus, operated by Russo Higher Education, delivers undergraduate and postgraduate courses to international students. The university's main fields of research include environmental sciences, biological sciences, mathematical sciences, earth sciences, agricultural and veterinary sciences, technology and medical and health sciences.
Green Island National Park is a protected area declared over a small coral cay of Green Island, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It is known to the local Gungganyji Aboriginal peoples as Dabuukji. The Gungganyji people used the island as an initiation ground.
Cairns is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the 2021 census, Cairns had a population of 153,181 people.
Palm Island is a locality consisting of an island group of 16 islands, split between the Shire of Hinchinbrook and the Aboriginal Shire of Palm Island, in Queensland, Australia. The locality coincides with the geographical entity known as the Palm Island group, also known as the Greater Palm group, originally named the Palm Isles.
Port Douglas is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia, approximately 60 km north of Cairns. In the 2021 census, Port Douglas had a population of 3,650 people. The town's population can often double, however, with the influx of tourists during the peak tourism season from May to September. The town is named in honour of a former Premier of Queensland, John Douglas. Port Douglas developed quickly based on the mining industry. Other parts of the area were established with timber cutting in the area surrounding the Daintree River and with settlement starting on lots around the Mossman River by 1880.
Green Island is a marine island and locality in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Green Island had a population of 20 people.
The Diocese of North Queensland is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia, founded in 1879. It is situated in the northern part of the state of Queensland, Australia. As part of the Province of Queensland, it covers the Torres Strait Islands in the north, the entire Cape York Peninsula and the cities of Mount Isa, Cairns, Townsville and Mackay. The diocesan cathedral is St James' Cathedral, Townsville. The Bishop of North Queensland is Keith Ronald Joseph, who was consecrated and installed on 31 March 2019.
The Shire of Cardwell was a local government area of Queensland. It was located on the Coral Sea coast about halfway between the cities of Cairns and Townsville. The shire, administered from the town of Tully, covered an area of 3,062.2 square kilometres (1,182.3 sq mi), and existed as a local government entity from 1884 until 2008, when it amalgamated with the Shire of Johnstone to form the Cassowary Coast Region.
The Archdiocese of Brisbane is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Australia located in Brisbane and covering the South East region of Queensland, Australia.
The Diocese of Cairns is a diocese of the Catholic Church located in the state of Queensland, Australia. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane. The diocese was erected as a vicariate apostolic in 1877 and was elevated to a diocese in 1941. Its territorial remit is Far North Queensland.
The Diocese of Toowoomba is a Latin Rite suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, established in 1929, covering the Darling Downs and south west regions of Queensland, Australia.
Palm Cove is a suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Palm Cove had a population of 2,059 people.
John Alexius Bathersby was an 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 was conferred with the title Emeritus Archbishop of Brisbane.
St Josephs Cathedral is a heritage-listed Roman Catholic cathedral at 170 William Street, Allenstown, Rockhampton, Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Francis Drummond Greville Stanley and built from 1893 to 1982. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. The cathedral serves as the seat for the Bishop of Rockhampton.
St Monica's Cathedral is the cathedral of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Cairns. It is located at 183 Abbott Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The cathedral was designed by Ian Ferrier and built from 1967 to 1968. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 31 August 1998.
Bishop's House is a heritage-listed former Roman Catholic monastery and now bishop's residence at Abbott Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Father Joseph Phelan and built in 1930 by Michael Garvey. It is also known as St Monica's Monastery/Priory. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 1 July 1997.
Heron Island Research Station is a marine research station located on Heron Island, an island within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, 80 km from Gladstone, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. It is located at the leeward end of a coral cay on a 10 x 5 kilometre platform reef. Although the island had been used as a turtle cannery in the 1920s, after this was abandoned, it was taken over as a resort in the 1930s, by Captain Christian Poulsen. A number of researchers travelled to the island from the 1930s using the resort facilities. The island became a National Park in 1943, and following the end of World War II, saw the first groups of university students from the University of Queensland arrive. Today the island is divided into three sections - the resort, research station and National Park.
John Alphonsus Heavey (1868–1948) was a Roman Catholic bishop in Queensland, Australia. He was the Vicar Apostolic of Cooktown and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Cairns.
James Dominic Murray was a Roman Catholic priest in Queensland, Australia. He was the Vicar Apostolic of Cooktown from 28 March 1898 to his death on 13 February 1914.