This article was originally published by The Catholic Weekly

Pope Leo XIV has named Bishop Daniel Meagher, until now auxiliary bishop of Sydney, as the eleventh bishop of the Diocese of Rockhampton.

Bishop Meagher will succeed Bishop Michael McCarthy, 75, who has led the diocese for the past 12 years.

Bishop Meagher told the Catholic Weekly that the call from the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Balvo, came on his day off, just as he was finishing doing some gardening at his mother’s house.

“I went to my phone and noticed the Nuncio had called,” Bishop Meagher explained.

“He wanted a FaceTime call. I was in my t-shirt and shorts, but I thought: ‘Oh, well, I’ll ring you back nonetheless.’ He asked me on the spot, and I accepted on the spot. I think that’s part of the commitment of a priest. We accept when we’re asked to do what we’re capable of doing.”

The move to Rockhampton will be a big change for Bishop Meagher, who admitted he had once passed through the diocese on his way further north, but never visited.

“I was a Sydney seminarian. I was ordained a Sydney priest. I spent two years in Rome and 18 months at Broken Hill, but otherwise, I’ve been in Sydney. So, it’s going to be a jolt to move out of the Sydney archdiocesan presbyterate,” he explained. “That’s all part of the challenge.”

Bishop Meagher has indeed been all across the Archdiocese of Sydney.

In his 30 years of priestly life, Bishop Meagher ministered in the Sydney parishes of Mount Pritchard, Mosman, Gymea, Hoxton Park, Carnes Hill, North Leichhardt, Penshurst-Peakhurst, Strathfield and Five Dock. He was Administrator of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Broken Hill from 2012-2014 and was rector of the Seminary of the Good Shepherd from 2015-2020 before being appointed as auxiliary bishop of Sydney …