about the archdiocese

Our Archbishop

Archbishop Mark Benedict Coleridge

Birth:
25 September, 1948, at Melbourne. The third of five children of Bernard Coleridge and Marjorie Harvey (both deceased).

Primary Education:
Saint Joseph's School, Tranmere, South Australia,
And Rostrevor College, Adelaide.

Secondary Education:
Rostrevor College, Adelaide, and Saint Kevin's College, Toorak, in the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Ecclesiastical Studies:
Corpus Christi College Werribee, Glen Waverley and Clayton, 1969-74.

Ordination to Priesthood:
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, 18 May 1974, by Bishop John A Kelly.


 

Coat of Arms

 

The Archbishop's coat of arms impales the Archdiocesan arms with his own.  On the left are the arms of the Archdiocese – a red shield bearing a gold chevron with the two crosses of Canberra and Goulburn above and the seven-pointed Federation star of Australia beneath. To the right are the Archbishop's personal arms – above the winged lion of Saint Mark on a blue background and beneath the blood and water of the motto.  The whole is surmounted by the traditional green hat (galero) and tassles (fiocchi) of an Archbishop.  Beneath is inscribed the motto, "Sanguis et Aqua - Blood and Water", taken from John 19:34.

Of the motto, the Archbishop writes:
My episcopal motto is "Sanguis et Aqua", "Blood and Water", taken from the Gospel of Saint John. The dead Christ hangs on the cross and we are told: "One of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance and immediately there flowed forth blood and water" (19:34). The cosmic wound of Christ’s death becomes an endless fountain of life flowing from the side of the new Temple which is his body, even his body the Church.  If I stand as a witness to anything it is the great truth of Easter that there is no wound that cannot become a fountain, no weakness that cannot become strength. 

 

Appointments:

  • Deacon, East St. Kilda, August 1973 - February 1974.
  • Assistant Priest, Drysdale, 14 December 1974. Doncaster East, 25 January 1975. Ashburton, 18 June, 1977. Pascoe Vale, 26 January 1980.
  • From July, 1980, studied for a Licence in Sacred Scripture at the Biblicum in Rome, completing this Degree in June 1984. From June to December 1984, studied at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Jerusalem.
  • 8th January 1985, on staff of Catholic Theological College, resided at Glen Waverley North and subsequently at Armadale.
  • 1st February, 1988, returned to Rome to complete his Doctorate in Sacred Scripture.
  • Doctorate in Sacred Scripture, April 1992. Became the first diocesan priest from the Archdiocese of Melbourne to receive this Degree.
  • Lecturer at Catholic Theological College from 1992, where he was Deputy Master and resided at Armadale.
  • At the end of 1994 official media spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
  • 1995 Master of CTC
  • From 1995 President of the Fellowship of Biblical Studies, Melbourne and foundation President of the Forum of Australian Catholic Institutes of Theology.
  • Chair of the Board of Studies of the Melbourne College of Divinity.  
  • In 1997, resided at the Cathedral presbytery.
  • 1 January, 1998, worked in the Secretariat of State, Vatican City.
  • 7 December, 2001, Chaplain of His Holiness.
  • 3 May 2002, Pope John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Melbourne and Titular Bishop of Teveste
  • 2002 Appointed Bishop of the Western Region (including Geelong)
  • 2002 Appointed Episcopal Vicar for Education and member of the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria
  • 2002 Elected member of the Australian Bishops' Committee for Liturgy
  • 2003 Elected Secretary of the Australian Bishops' Committee for Liturgy
  • 2003 Elected member of the Australian Bishops' Committee for Education and member of the National Catholic Education Commission
  • 2004 Appointed member of the Pontifical Council for Culture
  • 2004 Appointed Chairman of the Roman Missal Editorial Committee of the International Commission for English in the Liturgy
  • 2006 Appointed Chairman of the International Commission for the Preparation of an English-language Lectionary
  • 2006 Elected Chairman of the Australian Bishops' Commission for Liturgy
  • 2006 Appointed Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn
  • 2008 Elected to the Post-Synod Council of the XII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on "The Word of God in Life and Mission of the Church"
  • 2009 Elected to the Permanent Committee of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference