New cathedrals to rise across Australia

Plans for two new cathedrals in Australia were announced last night, by the Australian Catholic news service CathNews. Bunbury diocese in Western Australia has raised sufficient funds to replace St Patrick's Cathedral, which was destroyed by a tornado in May 2005. The new building will take up to three years to complete. At the same time, Wollongong diocese in New South Wales has released plans to renew the steel city's dilapidated St Francis Xavier cathedral precinct with a new Wollongong cathedral building that will seat up to 1,000 people, a school, accommodation, offices and a function centre. Bishop Peter Ingham said the church land had long been in dire need of an upgrade. "It's important we develop a spiritual centre that not only Catholics, but the whole community can be proud of," he said. The Bunbury and Wollongong cathedral plans come as a further regional diocese, Broken Bay, on the north side of Sidney Harbour in New South Wales, is also considering the construction of a new cathedral. Source: Church Resources