
Bishop Greg O’Kelly SJ, Bishop of the Diocese of Port Pirie, SA
Bishop Greg O’Kelly SJ was ordained as Auxiliary Bishop of Adelaide on the 14th September 2006, and on the 10th June 2009 succeeded Bishop Eugene Hurley to become the eleventh Bishop of the Diocese of Port Pirie. The diocese was founded in 1887; the pioneer priests were Austrian Jesuits from Sevenhill near Clare. Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop founded twenty-two convent schools in the diocese in its early years.
Bishop O’Kelly’s priestly ministry as a Jesuit was in the schools apostolate. He was principal of Jesuit colleges in Adelaide and Sydney, and held various positions such as Chairman of the South Australian Catholic Schools Commission, and Chairman of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia. He was President of the South Australian Council of Churches from 2007 to 2009. In 1994, he was awarded the Order of Australia (AM) for services to education.
Bishop O’Kelly was active in the promotion of the Colloquium on the Ministry of Teaching, a programme of spiritual in service for school staffs, and in his school was involved significantly with refugee and asylum seeker families.
In 2006 he was elected by the Australian Bishops to the Bishops Commission for Catholic Education, and the Commission for Justice, Ecology and Development. In 2009, then 2012 he was elected as Chairman of the Commission for Catholic Education until he completed his term in 2015. In 2012 he was appointed Deputy Chair in the Commission overseeing the work of Caritas and subsequently was appointed Chair of this Commission in 2015.
Following the conviction of Archbishop Philip Wilson in May 2018 Bishop O’Kelly was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Adelaide Archdiocese on 3 June 2018. He continues to be the Bishop of Port Pirie.
BISHOP GREGORY O'KELLY SJ AM DD