Archbishop Patrick Michael O’Regan comes to Adelaide from the Diocese of Sale where he has been the Bishop since 2014. Appointed by Pope Francis on  
19 March 2020, Archbishop O’Regan will be the ninth Archbishop of Adelaide.

Archbishop O’Regan was born in Bathurst in 1958 and educated at St Joseph’s Primary School in Perthville and at St Stanislaus’ College Bathurst. He undertook seminary training at St Columba’s College Springwood and St Patrick’s College Manly, and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Bathurst in 1983.

He was appointed Bishop of Sale in December 2014, with his episcopal ordination in February 2015. He holds a licentiate in sacred liturgy and sacramental theology from the Institut Catholique de Paris and is a member of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy.

Every bishop has his own coat of arms, incorporating elements of the history of the diocese, his own family history and his spirituality.

Bishop O’Regan’s has now been altered to include reference to the Archdiocese of Adelaide and to increase the number of tassels on either side of the shield from six to 10.

On his appointment as Bishop of Sale, Archbishop O’Regan adopted a personal coat of arms which features a boat, an ancient image of the Church. The yellow boat sails on a blue background and features the Chi Rho symbol on the sail. The symbol is one of the earliest Christograms made up of the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ. When developing his arms, it was discovered that a boat featured on the original arms for the Diocese of Bathurst, and also on those for the City of Paris where he studied. Two blue dolphins at the top of the shield come from an O'Regan coat of arms and a green shamrock denotes his Irish heritage.

When appointed Archbishop of Adelaide, he incorporated the main image in the coat of arms of the Adelaide Archdiocese – a boat sailing beneath the Southern Cross constellation, representing the missionary voyages of St Francis Xavier, patron saint of the Cathedral. Archbishop O’Regan’s coat of arms also includes his motto, ‘Ut Sit Deus Omnia in Omnibus’, taken from 1 Corinthians 15:28, ‘So that God may be All in All’.

The installation of Archbishop-designate O’Regan took place in St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral at 10.30am on Monday May 25.

When Bishop Patrick O’Regan was appointed by Pope Francis as the ninth Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Adelaide, he had been a Bishop for nearly six years. His episcopal ordination took place in Sale on February 26, 2015. For this reason, Bishop Patrick will be ‘installed’ as the Archbishop of Adelaide.

In the Catholic Church there are three levels of ordination within the sacrament of Holy Orders: Deacon, Priest and Bishop. The Second Vatican Council spoke of the Bishop as having ‘the fullness of the sacrament of Orders’ and dedicated an entire Decree to the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church.