Roman Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia

Military Ordinariate of Australia Ordinariatus Militaris Australia
Coat of arms
Location
Country	Australia
Metropolitan	Immediately subject to the Holy See
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	6 March 1969
Patron saint	Mary Help of Christians
Current leadership
Bishop	Max Davis
Website
military.catholic.org.au

The Catholic Military Ordinariate of Australia, is a Latin Church suffragan military ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church immediately subject to the Holy See. It was established in 1969 and managed for administrative purposes by the Archdiocese of Sydney.

Its ordinary (bishop) and his chaplains serve the members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and their families in all three services; the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) regardless of location.

Catholic chaplaincy has been provided for Australians serving in the military since the 1901 contribution of forces to fight in the Boxer Rebellion. However, it was not until 1912 that a bishop, Thomas Carr, the then Archbishop of Melbourne, was delegated by the Catholic bishops of Australia as the bishop of the Australian Armed Forces.

From 1912 until 1969, Catholic armed servicemen and women were in the care of a bishop delegated to them who was also a bishop elsewhere. In 1969, Pope Paul VI created the Military Vicariate of Australia. In 1984, Pope John Paul II elevated the vicariate to a military ordinariate with its own bishop. The diocese was officially established under an apostolic constitution, Spirituali Militum Curae, on 21 July 1986 and given final approval in 1988.

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Wikipedia