(AUSTRALIA)
The Klaxon [Sydney, New South Wales, Australia]
July 2, 2025
By Anthony Klan
[Photo above: Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Richard Umbers]
One of the most senior members of the Catholic Church, Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Richard Umbers, has stood down over allegations of abuse, which had been reported to police.
The church’s powerful Sydney Archdiocese said Umbers — second in charge only to Archbishop Anthony Fischer — had “agreed to stand aside” while investigations were underway.
Umbers emphatically denies the allegations.
“The Archdiocese of Sydney has received notice of a civil claim of historical abuse,” it said in a statement.
“Auxiliary Bishop Richard Umbers has been identified as the subject of the claim.
“Bishop Umbers emphatically denies the allegation,” it states.
Umbers is a senior member of the internal Catholic group Opus Dei, and has previously been reported as the first Opus Dei member to be appointed a Bishop of the Australian Catholic Church.
Searches show Umbers, 54, is “Bishop in Residence” at St Paul of the Cross Catholic Primary School, Dulwich Hill, in Sydney’s inner-west.
In its four sentence statement, the Sydney Archdiocese said it had “notified the relevant authorities of the complaint”.
“In conformity with the Archdiocesan protocol for managing safeguarding complaints and relevant legislation, Bishop Umbers has agreed to stand aside from public ministry while this allegation is investigated,” it states.
It does not say what the “historical abuse” allegations are, where they are alleged to have occurred, or when they were alleged to have occurred, other than describing them as “historic”.
It states that “the NSW Police have confirmed there is no active investigation at this time”, although it provides no further context.
The Klaxon has approached the Archdiocese of Sydney and NSW Police for comment.
The statement, dated July 1, is positioned on a relatively obscure section of the Archdiocese of Sydney’s website, and does not appear under its “latest news” section or its “safeguarding and child protection” pages.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney is headed by Archbishop Fischer and has three “Auxiliary Bishops”, including Umbers.
Searches show Umbers is also, or was until very recently, the “Bishop in Residence” at Church of the Immaculate Conception and St Paul of the Cross, also in Dulwich Hill.
The church website does not name a Bishop in Residence, but a church newsletter dated Sunday names Umbers as “Bishop in Residence”.
A “priest of Opus Dei”, Umbers was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney in June 2016.
“Father Umbers is a priest of Opus Dei and has a background in economics and business management as well as philosophy and theology,” the Sydney Archdiocese said on his appointment.
“He has carried out extensive pastoral work with young families, students and young adults, and candidates for the priesthood in Sydney.”
Umbers was appointed “under Archbishop Anthony Fischer” to co-run the “governance and pastoral care of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney”.
On his 2016 appointment, Umbers became one of “Australia’s youngest bishops”, the Archdiocese said at the time.
“Bishop Richard entered the Opus Dei Seminary of Cavabianca, Rome in 1996 and studied at Santa Croce Pontifical University, Rome, achieving a Bachelor of Theology in 1999,” his Sydney Archdiocese bio states.
“Since 2003, Bishop Richard worked pastorally as a school and university chaplain at a number of NSW colleges. He was chaplain of Warrane College, Redfield College, Creston College, Kenvale College and the Nairana Study Centre”.
Redfield College, an “independent Roman Catholic” all boys school in Sydney’s outer north-west Hills District, was approached for comment.
The Archdiocese of Sydney’s four sentence statement is authored by “Very Rev. Samuel Lynch Vicar-General”.
Its website states Father Lynch is a member of the “Archdiocesan Curia”, which “consists of those persons who assist the Archbishop in the governance of the Archdiocese especially in guiding pastoral action, the administration of the Archdiocese, and in exercising judicial responsibility”.
Lynch is also a senior member of Opus Dei.
“At university (Lynch) was introduced to Opus Dei by a cousin, and was blessed to receive good formation in his Catholic Faith,” his bio states.
Do you know more? anthonyklan@protonmail.com