Brisbane Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Norton SVD has been appointed Bishop of Broome, ending a more than three-year vacancy in the Diocese.
Pope Francis announced the appointment on Monday and the news is likely to be well received by the people of Broome.
Bishop Norton has served as Auxiliary Bishop of Brisbane since February 2022. His departure will leave Brisbane without any auxiliary bishops.
“It is good news for Broome, even if it will be a loss for Brisbane where Bishop Tim will be much missed,” said Archbishop Mark Coleridge.
“The Diocese of Broome has been very troubled in recent times, and Bishop Tim has the gifts and experience to take the process of healing and renewal begun by the Apostolic Administrator, Bishop Michael Morrissey, into a new phase.
“Bishop Tim is a missionary by vocation, and he will be able to draw upon the resources of the Divine Word Missionaries who are already a presence in the diocese.”
On 9 March 2020, Bishop Christopher Saunders voluntarily stood aside from the administration of the Diocese of Broome after the Vatican ordered a review of the diocese. Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Bishop of Broome on 28 August 2021. Since then, Bishop Michael Morrissey, Bishop of Geraldton, has served as the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese.
Bishop Norton was born in 1958 in Sydney. He entered the Society of the Divine Word and gave his perpetual vows in 1990. On 2 May 1991 he was ordained a priest.
He served in Mexico City for the first five years of his presbyteral ministry, before returning to Australia where he held various leadership roles within the Society of the Divine World, including serving as Provincial Superior for Australia from 2005 to 2013. He served as head of formation and director of the Ad gentes Centre in Nemi, Italy from 2014 to 2021.
He was appointed titular bishop of Madauro and auxiliary of Brisbane on 11 November 2021, and received episcopal consecration on 22 February 2022.
A date for his installation as Bishop of Broome will be announced in the coming weeks.
Following the filling of this vacancy, the Bishop’s seat in two Dioceses and two Ordinariates in Australia remain vacant.
Diocese of Armidale and the Diocese of Bunbury have been without Bishops for a little over a year now, while the Military Ordinariate of Australia and Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, which is being administered by Bishop Anthony Randazzo, are also without permanent Ordinaries.