Bishop of Wagga Wagga
Bishop Mark Stuart Edwards, O.M.I., was born in Balikpapan, Indonesia, in 1959. He moved to Australia in 1962. After attending Saint Leonard’s Primary School in Glen Waverley and Mazenod College in Mulgrave. In 1980 he entered the noviciate of the Oblate Missionaries of Mary Immaculate and carried out his ecclesiastical studies at the Catholic Theological College of Melbourne and the Melbourne College of Divinity. He was ordained a priest in 1986 in Melbourne. After priestly ordination he continued his formation at the Monash University of Melbourne, where he was awarded a doctorate in philosophy and a bachelor’s degree in letters and in education. In the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate he held the following offices: professor at the Mazenod College of Mulgrave (1986-1989); vice-rector of the Iona College of Brisbane (1990-1997); master of aspirants at Saint Mary’s Seminary in Mulgrave (1998-2004); master of novices at Saint Mary’s Seminary in Mulgrave (2004-2007); professor at the Catholic Theological College of Melbourne (2005-2010); head of Scholastics at Saint Mary’s Seminary in Mulgrave (2007-2010); rector of the Iona College of Lindum Brisbane (since 2010). In the years 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010 he was elected as provincial counsellor of the Australian province of the Oblate Missionaries. He was elected to the titular Church of Garba and appointed as auxiliary bishop of Melbourne on 7 November 2014, and consecrated the following 17 December. Within the Australian Episcopal Conference he is a member of the Committee for Catholic Education. Mark S.