Obedience and Freedom (Main Forum)

by Roch, Sunday, April 11, 2010, 14:20 (1141 days ago) @ PatrickW

First settled by Europeans [Patrick Lelie et al] in 1840 the 188,279 square miles [487,456 sq km] of southern Queensland – from the Great Dividing Range west to the Northern Territory border – was “erected” as the Diocese of Toowoomba in 1929. Thanks to the pioneering priests, Sisters, Brothers and Catholic laymen and women – plus the Grace of God – the region was soon producing more “vocations” [to the Priesthood and Religious Life] than most other parts of Australia. During the time of Bishops Basil Roper and Bill Brennan Snr (1938-52; 1953-75), the Diocese supplied priests to several other parts of the nation [Western Australia etc] and even overseas. Any young priest expressing disquiet to the Bishop’s secretary after Vatican II was likely to find himself serving elsewhere. The Bishop reportedly stopped “reading theology” years ago – and advised his priests to do the same.

Roch