Edmund Collins
| Edmund John Patrick Collins | |
|---|---|
| Bishop | |
| Church | Roman Catholic |
| Diocese | Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia |
| Appointed | 3 July 1986 |
| Term ended | 3 July 2007 |
| Predecessor | John Patrick O'Loughlin |
| Successor | Eugene Hurley |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
22 March 1931 Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 8 August 2014 (aged 83) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Motto | Cor Unum (One heart) |
Edmund John Patrick Collins, also known as Bishop Ted, was the Bishop of Darwin, Australia, from 1986 to 2007.
Collins was born in Braidwood, New South Wales in 1931, the youngest of five children in an Irish-Catholic family, and grew up in Bermagui. His mother died when he was five.
At the age of 16, Collins moved to Sydney and joined the police service as a cadet, before becoming a probationary constable at 19.
In 1953, shortly before he turned 23, Collins attended a day of recollection at Kensington Monastery with a group of Catholic police; it was here that he first felt drawn to the priesthood. The following year, aged 24, Collins resigned from the police force to join the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart at Douglas Park. After two years of initial studies and preparation, in 1956 he took his first vows and moved to Croydon Monastery in Melbourne to study for the priesthood. After completing his theological studies, he was ordained a priest in 1963, at age 32, and appointed to the parish of Randwick (Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church) in Sydney.
Collins remained at Randwick for four years, after which he was transferred to Hindmarsh parish in Adelaide, for three years, and then to Nightcliff parish in Darwin. He returned to Randwick in 1978 and remained there as parish priest until 1985, after which he went on a sabbatical.
During the 1970s, Collins was Director of Catholic Missions for the Darwin Diocese, and Superior of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in the Northern Territory.
On 3 July 1986 Collins was consecrated bishop of Darwin; he adopted the motto Cor Unum ("one heart").
In November 1986, Collins accompanied Pope John Paul II as he visited Darwin and Alice Springs as part of the Australian papal tour. While in Alice Springs the Pope gave a speech to the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, which inspired Collins to encourage Indigenous Catholics to express their aboriginality within their Catholic faith, allowing the use of didgeridoos, clapsticks and smoking ceremonies as part of Mass.
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