CAIRNS, Diocese of. - City in the province of Queensland in Australia and suffragan diocese of Brisbane. Its territory, which comprises a part of northern Queensland (336,885 sq. km.), was detached from the diocese of Brisbane in 1876, to form a pro-vicariate entrusted first to Italian priests, then in 1882 to the Irish Augustinians. Erected as an apostolic vicariate under the name of Cooktown in 1887, it became a diocese on 8 July 1941, taking the name of C. from the place of residence of the Ordinary, and was entrusted to the secular clergy.

Out of a total population of about 46,216 inhabitants, overwhelmingly Protestant, there are, according to the Australasian Catholic Directory of 1948 (pp. 328-31), 13,933 Catholics with 12 parishes, 34 churches, 22 religious priests, 10 brothers, 92 sisters and various schools with more than 2000 pupils. The diocese seems destined for great development because of the possibilities of strong immigration.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: AAS, 33 (1941), pp. 412-14; Henry W. Cleary, Cooktown, in Cath. Enc., IV, p. 350; and Anon. Cooktown, ibid., Supplement, I, p. 229; L. Gramatica, Australia, in Enc. Ital., V, pp. 415-17; MC, pp. 60-61.

Corrado Morin

@incollection{ec3_cairns_diocesi_di, author = {Morin, Corrado}, title = {Cairns, diocesi di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {307}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/cairns-diocesi-di} }

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Cairns, Diocese of

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