Auxiliary Bishops

Born in Cremorne, Sydney on 20 July 1945, Terence Curtin was educated at St Kevin’s College, Toorak. Joining the Regional Seminary of Melbourne, he completed his priestly formation at the Pontifical Urban College, Rome.

Graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the University of Melbourne and later on a Doctorate of Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Melbourne on 28 August 1971.

From 1971 to 1974 Fr Curtin served as Assistant Priest at Noble Park and from 1974 to 1975 he was Assistant Priest of Fawkner and Chaplain to the General Cemetery of Melbourne.

He was appointed Chaplain and Head of the Religious Education Department at the State College of Victoria, Mercy Campus in Ascot Vale from 1975 to 1982. Following further studies in Rome, Fr Curtin served as Chaplain and Head of the School of Religion and Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University in Oakleigh from 1987 to 1992 and in 1992 he studied at the Weston School of Theology in Boston, USA.

He was Head of the School of Religion and Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University, Victoria, from 1993 to 1995.

Fr Curtin was Head of the School of Theology at the Australian Catholic University, Victoria, from 1996 to 2002. From 2003-2010 he was Master of the Catholic Theological College, Melbourne, and since 2006 he has been Magistral Chaplain to the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Malta.

In 2008 Fr Curtin was appointed Parish Priest of Greythorn. From 2008 to 2009 he was Vice President of the Melbourne College of Divinity and President from 2010 to 2011, and in 2011 he was made Head of the Systematic Theology Department at the Catholic Theological College, Melbourne.

In 2012 he was made a Monsignor and appointed Diocesan Consultor and Episcopal Vicar of Melbourne for the Eastern Region. On 17 December 2014, he was ordained an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne by Archbishop Denis Hart at St Patrick’s Cathedral, East Melbourne.

Bishop Curtin is Auxiliary Bishop for the Northern Region and Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation and Mission.

Born in 1953 at Kinsale, Co. Cork, Ireland, as the eldest of eleven children of John and Eileen Ashe (nee Sullivan), Martin Ashe spent his early education with the Sisters of Mercy and at St Brendan’s College in Killarney, Co. Kerry.

He studied for the priesthood at the missionary College of All Hallows Dublin, and at the age of 24 was ordained for the Priesthood at the College by Most Rev Tomás Ó Fiaich on 11 June 1978.

It was customary for newly ordained priests from the College to be sent out into various parts of the world, and Fr Martin came to Australia in the September of that same year. His early appointments in the Archdiocese of Melbourne were to the parishes of Hadfield, Clayton and Blackburn. In the late 1980s he also served as Vocations Director for the Archdiocese and within the Marriage Tribunal.

In 1990, Fr Martin became a Moderator of Corpus Christi College Seminary at Clayton, and later Pastoral Director at the College. It was during this time he also undertook further studies at Loyola University in Chicago.

Following his time with the Seminary, Fr Martin was appointed Parish Priest of Sunbury in 1997, and in 2005 was also appointed the Director of Ministry to Priests in the Archdiocese.

After a period as Administrator to the Parish of Maidstone/Braybrook, Bishop Ashe took up an appointment in 2012 as Parish Priest for the newly formed Parish of Christ the Light, which takes in the areas of Doreen, Kinglake, Mernda and Whittlesea; and where he remains Parish Priest today.

Fr Martin became Episcopal Vicar for the Northern Region in 2012 in addition to his ministry as Parish Priest, and has held ongoing roles with the Archdiocesan Personnel Advisory Board, the Archbishop’s Council of Priests, the College of Consultors, and the Committee for the Ongoing Formation of Clergy.

For his own life, Bishop Ashe finds great inspiration in the life of St Therese of Lisieux and is inspired by her courage and her desire to be a missionary and to be ‘love at the heart of the Church for the world’.

On 31 July 2021, he was ordained an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne by Archbishop Peter A Comensoli at St Patrick’s Cathedral, East Melbourne.

Bishop Ashe is Auxiliary Bishop for the Western Region.

Bishop Ireland was born and grew up in Melbourne.

He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Francis Little at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne, on 19 September 1987.

He served in a number of parishes and undertook further studies, and later lectured in Moral Theology at Catholic Theological College, where he was appointed Head of the Department of Moral and Practical Theology in 1997.

In 2005, he was appointed Dean of Studies at Corpus Christi College Seminary Carlton and appointed Rector of the College in 2006, a position he held until 2009.

Bishop Ireland was appointed Parish Priest of St Gregory the Great Doncaster; appointed Episcopal Vicar for Health and Aged Care; and appointed a Prelate of Honour (Monsignor) by Pope Benedict XVI.

Prior to his appointment as bishop, he was Episcopal Vicar for the Eastern Region of the Archdiocese.

Bishop Ireland holds the degrees of Bachelor of Theology from the University of Divinity, Master of Arts in Spiritual Theology from the Pontifical University of St Thomas (Rome), Licentiate in Sacred Theology (Moral Theology) from the Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome), and Doctor of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St Thomas (Rome).

On 31 July 2021, he was ordained to the episcopate by Archbishop Peter A Comensoli at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne.

Bishop Ireland is Auxiliary Bishop for the Southern Region and Episcopal Vicar for Health, Aged and Disability Care. He serves the Archdiocese as a member the Council of Priests, the College of Consultors, the Curia, and the board of the Catholic Development Fund. He is the Chair of the Mannix College Council and Catholic Capital Grants Vic Ltd.

As a member of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Ireland is a member of the Bishops’ Commission for Catholic Education, a member of the National Catholic Education Commission and chairs the Episcopal Panel for Doctrine and Morals.