Resignation of bishop of Sandhurst, Australia, and appointment of successor

Appointment of bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, U.S.A.

Resignation of bishop of Sandhurst, Australia, and appointment of successor

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Sandhurst, Australia, presented by His Excellency Msgr. Leslie Rogers Tomlinson.

The Pope has appointed as bishop of the diocese of Sandhurst, Australia, the Rev. Shane Mackinlay, parish priest of Bungaree in the diocese of Ballarat and lecturer at the Catholic Theological College of Melbourne.

The Rev. Shane Mackinlay was born in Brunswick, Melbourne on 5 June 1965. He carried out his first studies at Wellington Primary School in Mulgrave, Villa Maria Primary School in Ballarat East, and at Saint Patrick’s College in Ballarat. He entered the Corpus Christi College in 1983, obtained a bachelor’s degree in theology from the Melbourne College of Divinity, and a three-year degree in physics from Monash University. He has a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Leuven (2005).

He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Ballarat on 6 September 1991.

As a priest, he has held various offices. First he was parish vicar (1992-1997) in Colac and then at the Cathedral of Ballarat. In 1998 he was appointed as parish priest of Sebastopol, secretary to Bishop Peter Connors and lecturer at the see of Ballarat of the Australian Catholic University. The Rev. Mackinlay served two mandates as a member of the College of Consultors of Ballarat (1999-2003; 2003-2013). He was parish priest of Bungaree from 2005, and since 2009 he has also collaborated with the parish of Gordon. From 2010 to the present he has served as lecturer at the Catholic Theological College of Melbourne and president of the Advisory Council for the bishop of Ballarat.

Appointment of bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, U.S.A.

The Holy Father has appointed as bishop of the diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, United States of America, H.E. Msgr. Mark E. Brennan, currently titular bishop of Rusubisir and auxiliary of Baltimore.

H.E. Msgr. Mark Edward Brennan was born on 6 February 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts, in the archdiocese of the same name. He attended Saint Anthony’s High School in Washington D.C., He holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, in Providence in Rhode Island (1969), He attended the Christ the King Seminary in Albany, New York (1969-1970) and the Pontifical North American College in Rome where he received a bachelor’s degree (1972) and a Master of Arts (1974) in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He subsequently devoted himself to Hispanic Immersion Studies in the Dominican Republic (1985-1986).

He was ordained a priest for the archdiocese of Washington on 15 May 1976.

Since priestly ordination he has served in the following offices: parish vicar of the Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Potomac (1976-1981), of the Saint Pius X Parish in Bowie (1981-1985) and the Saint Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda (1986-1988); pastoral ministry in the Hispanic community of the Saint Bartholomew Parish in Bethesda (1988-1989); director of priestly vocations and planning for the archdiocese of Washington (1988-1998); parish administrator of Our Lady’s Parish in Medley’s Neck (1990) and of the Saint Andrew Kim Parish in Olney (1990); parish priest of the Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Bethesda (1998-2003) and of the Saint Martin of Tours Parish in Gaithersburg (2003-2017).

He has served as a member of the presbyteral council (1978-1981 and 2009-2015) and of the college of consultors (1998-2001 and 2011-2016), vicar forane of the Northwest West Deanery (2002-2005); and attorney of the metropolitan tribunal of the archdiocese of Washington (2006).

In 2005 he was named Chaplain of His Holiness.

He was appointed as titular bishop of Rusubisir and auxiliary of Baltimore on 5 December 2016, and was ordained a priest on 19 January 2017. As auxiliary bishop, he held the office of Eastern Vicar of three counties and accompanied the Hispanic communities in the archdiocese.