Bishop of Ballarat
Bishop Mark Freeman was born on 13 September 1959 in Launceston, Tasmania. He carried out his ecclesiastical studies at the regional seminary of Melbourne, Corpus Christi College, and was ordained a priest on 24 August 1984 for the archdiocese of Hobart. Following ordination, he held the following offices: parish vicar of Bellerive (1984-1988), parish vicar of Launceston (1988-1991), diocesan director of vocations (1990-1993) and parish priest of West Coast (1991-1993). After his studies in Rome (1993-1996), he went on to serve as parish priest of South Hobart (1996-1998), parish priest of Ulverstone (1998-2003), parish priest of Mersey-Leven (2003-2009), vicar general (2005-2010), parish priest of Huon Valley (2009-2010), parish priest of Launceston (2010-2022) and chancellor (since 2023).