Today, Australia will have an Aboriginal Bishop again.

Chris McLeod, a Gurindji man, the Anglican priest at Brighton in South Australia will be consecrated as an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese (region) of Adelaide today. The Gurindji people come from the Northern Territory, and their land is south-west of Katherine.

“For many Aboriginal people spirituality is integral to their well being. I hope to encourage those who are Christian to live out their faith in close connection to their culture,” McLeod says.

“For those who are not Christian, I hope to be able to encourage them to see that the good news of Jesus is compatible with a celebration of Aboriginal identity. I also hope I will be a strong advocate for justice for all Aboriginal people.”

Mcleod has been a minister for over 20 years, working with Adelaide’s indigenous Nunga  Ministries and local churches in SA. He trained at the local Anglican College, St Barnabas, and at the independent charismatic Tabor College, and is a PhD candidate at Flinders University.

The Anglican Church’s position for a National Aboriginal Bishop has been vacant since Jim Leftwich from North Queensland, retired in 2010. Eternity understands The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Anglican Council (NATSIAC) has difficulty  to agreeing on a candidate to fill the National Aboriginal Bishop position.

Adelaide’s Bishop Jeffrey Driver said in his presidential address last October that “despite great good will”, dialogue between NATSIAC and the national church “has yet to yield a sustainable way forward”. So having consulted with NATSIAC he proposed to go ahead and appoint an Aboriginal Bishop in Adelaide.

“The designation of the national Aboriginal Bishop is something for NATSIAC,” Driver told Eternity. “I did, as a courtesy consult NATSIAC about this position, but am fully understanding of NATSIAC ‘s desire to give consideration to the national role in its own time.”

Chris McLeod’s appointment is the result – with the possibility that McLeod will one day become the National Bishop for the Aboriginal people.

Part of the problem has been Money. Anglicare SA is underwriting half of McLeod’s package.

“My hope is that this will open up a new time for Aboriginal people in their relationship with the Anglican Church and that together we will enrich the life of our State,” said Driver.

Bishop Saibo Mabo is the (Anglican) National Bishop to the Torres Strait Islander people and a Regional Bishop of the North Queensland diocese. He is the Nephew of Eddie Mabo the Native Rights campaigner.

The Catholic Church has no Aboriginal Bishops. But in an odd twist the Church of the Torres Strait, a group of Traditional Anglicans, is joining the Ordinariate (a society for ex-Anglicans in the Catholic church), so they will have an Torres Strait Islander ex-bishop, Bishop Tolowa Nona.