{{other people}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox Christian leader | name = Edmund Collins | title = Bishop | church = Roman Catholic | diocese = Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia | appointed = 3 July 1986<ref name=CatholicHierarchy>{{Catholic-hierarchy|bishop|bcollinse|Bishop Edmund John Patrick Collins, M.S.C.|2015-01-24}}</ref> | ended = 3 July 2007<ref name=CatholicHierarchy/> | motto = ''Cor Unum'' (One heart)<ref name=DioceseOfDarwin/><ref name=ReflectionOnRequiemMass/> | predecessor = John Patrick O'Loughlin | successor = Eugene Hurley | birth_date = {{Birth date|1931|3|22|df=y}}<ref name=DioceseOfDarwin/> | birth_place = Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|8|8|1931|3|22|df=y}}<ref name=DioceseOfDarwin/> | death_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia}}
'''Edmund John Patrick Collins''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}} was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Darwin, Australia, from 1986 to 2007.<ref name=ABC>{{cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-09/darwins-bishop-ted-collins-dies-aged-83/5660440|title=Darwin's Bishop Ted Collins dies aged 83|author=Xavier La Canna|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=2014-08-09|accessdate=2014-08-09}}</ref>
==Early life== Collins was born in Braidwood, New South Wales in 1931, the youngest of five children in an Irish-Catholic family, and grew up in Bermagui. His mother died when he was five.<ref name=CatholicWeekly>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/03/dec/7/14.html|title=Conversation: Ted Collins, Bishop of Darwin - Souls to be saved, not locked up|author=Damir Govorcin|date=2003-12-07|accessdate=2014-08-09|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325053954/http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/03/dec/7/14.html|archivedate=2012-03-25}}</ref>
At the age of 16, Collins moved to Sydney and joined the police service as a cadet,<ref name=ExPoliceCadets>{{cite web|url=http://www.expolicecadets.asn.au/personality.php?id=3|title=What happened to... Bishop Edmund J P COLLINS MSC AM DD|publisher=Ex-Police Cadets Association of NSW, Inc|accessdate=2014-08-09}}</ref> before becoming a probationary constable at 19.<ref name=DioceseOfDarwin>{{cite web|url=http://www.darwin.catholic.org.au/our-story/bishop-collins.htm |title=Bishop EJP Collins – 1986–2007 |publisher=Diocese of Darwin |accessdate=2014-08-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811172359/http://www.darwin.catholic.org.au/our-story/bishop-collins.htm |archivedate=2014-08-11 }}</ref>
==Priesthood== In 1953, shortly before he turned 23, Collins attended a day of recollection at Kensington Monastery with a group of Catholic police; it was here that he first felt drawn to the priesthood. The following year, aged 24,<ref name=ArchdioceseOfSydney/> Collins resigned from the police force to join the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart at Douglas Park. After two years of initial studies and preparation, in 1956 he took his first vows and moved to Croydon Monastery in Melbourne to study for the priesthood.<ref name=ExPoliceCadets/><ref name=ArchdioceseOfSydney>{{cite web|url=http://www.sydneycatholic.org/news/latest_news/2014/2014811_1975.shtml|title=Northern Territory Mourns Death of Darwin's Much-loved "Bishop Ted"|publisher=Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney|date=2014-08-11|accessdate=2014-08-18|archive-date=19 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819082718/http://www.sydneycatholic.org/news/latest_news/2014/2014811_1975.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> After completing his theological studies, he was ordained a priest in 1963, at age 32,<ref name=DioceseOfDarwin/> and appointed to the parish of Randwick (Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church<ref name=CatholicWeekly/>) in Sydney.
Collins remained at Randwick for four years, after which he was transferred to Hindmarsh parish in Adelaide, for three years, and then to Nightcliff parish in Darwin.<ref name=ExPoliceCadets/> He returned to Randwick in 1978 and remained there as parish priest until 1985,<ref name=DioceseOfDarwin/><ref name=CatholicWeekly/> after which he went on a sabbatical.<ref name=DioceseOfDarwin/>
===Other responsibilities=== During the 1970s, Collins was Director of Catholic Missions for the Darwin Diocese, and Superior of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in the Northern Territory.<ref name=DioceseOfDarwin/><ref name=CatholicWeekly/>
==Bishop of Darwin== On 3 July 1986 Collins was consecrated bishop of Darwin;<ref name=CatholicHierarchy/> he adopted the motto ''Cor Unum'' ("one heart").<ref name=DioceseOfDarwin/><ref name=ReflectionOnRequiemMass/>
In November 1986, Collins accompanied Pope John Paul II as he visited Darwin and Alice Springs<ref name=HistoryOfNTChurch>{{cite web|url=http://www.darwin.catholic.org.au/our-story/history-nt-church.htm |title=Our Story - History of NT Church |publisher=Diocese of Darwin |accessdate=2014-09-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906112345/http://www.darwin.catholic.org.au/our-story/history-nt-church.htm |archivedate=2014-09-06 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://catholicleader.com.au/spirituality/papal-visit-to-the-heart_42189|title=Papal visit to the heart|journal=The Catholic Leader|publisher=Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane|date=2006-10-08|accessdate=2014-06-06}}</ref> as part of the Australian papal tour. While in Alice Springs the Pope gave a speech to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1986/november/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19861129_aborigeni-alice-springs-australia_en.html |title=Address of John Paul II to the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in Blatherskike Park |publisher=The Holy See |date=1986-11-29 |accessdate=2014-09-06 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140215050200/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1986/november/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19861129_aborigeni-alice-springs-australia_en.html |archivedate=2014-02-15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=29241#.VAqmW7HvPRY|title=The Pope in Alice: 25 years on|author=Frank Brennan|journal=Eureka Street|publisher=Jesuit Communications Australia|date=2011-11-28|accessdate=2014-09-06}}</ref> which inspired Collins to encourage Indigenous Catholics to express their Aboriginality within their Catholic faith, allowing the use of didgeridoos, clapsticks and smoking ceremonies as part of Mass.<ref name=ArchdioceseOfSydney/><ref name=Stateline>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/nt/content/2006/s2021123.htm|title=Fond Farewell|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|work=Stateline|author=Margie Smithurst|date=2007-08-31|accessdate=2014-08-09}}</ref>
Collins was a public advocate for Indigenous people who were taken from their families as children.<ref name=ArchdioceseOfSydney/><ref name=Stateline/>
When the Northern Territory legalised euthanasia in 1995, Collins campaigned publicly against the law, and "almost certainly contributed to" its overturning in 1997 by the Federal Government.<ref name=ReflectionOnRequiemMass/><ref name=ArchdioceseOfSydney/><ref name=ABCFuneral/>
In the 1999 Australia Day Honours Collins was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for "service to the community through the Catholic Church as Bishop of Darwin, and to the Aboriginal community".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/885806|title=The Most Reverend Edmund John Patrick Collins|last=|first=|date=|website=honours.pmc.gov.au|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003032316/https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/885806 |archive-date=2019-10-03 |access-date=2019-10-03}}</ref>
Collins retired in 2007.<ref name=CatholicHierarchy/> He died on 8 August 2014 at the St Joseph's Aged Care Home in Kensington,<ref name=ABC/> and was interred in a crypt at Saint Mary's Cathedral, Darwin.<ref name=ReflectionOnRequiemMass>{{citation|url=http://www.catholic.org.au/media-centre/media-releases/doc_download/1569-reflection-on-requiem-mass-for-bishop-collins |title=Bishop Ted Collins MSC DD AM laid to rest |publisher=Catholic Diocese of Darwin |date=2014-08-21 |accessdate=2014-08-30 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906133059/http://www.catholic.org.au/media-centre/media-releases/doc_download/1569-reflection-on-requiem-mass-for-bishop-collins |archivedate=2014-09-06 }}</ref><ref name=ABCFuneral>{{cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-19/bishop-ted-remembered-in-darwin/5682010|title=Bishop Ted Collins funeral held in Darwin|date=2014-08-19|accessdate=2014-08-19|author=Xavier La Canna|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref>
Ted Collins Village, a housing complex opened in 2011 and run by the St Vincent de Paul Society in Darwin, is named after him.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vinnies.org.au/page/Find_Help/NT/Housing/Ted_Collins_Village|title=Ted Collins Village in Darwin|publisher=St Vincent de Paul Society|accessdate=2014-08-09}}</ref>
==Cyclone Tracy recording== Collins was in Darwin when it was struck by Cyclone Tracy in 1974. When the cyclone hit, he switched on a tape recorder, and recorded the sounds of the storm.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/blown-away-by-the-impact-of-cyclone-tracy-on-darwin/story-fn9n8gph-1226991030419?nk=46532fe4e283c04a6245528ad34dd8e7|title=Blown away by the impact of Cyclone Tracy on Darwin|author=Sophie Cunningham|publisher=The Australian|date=2014-07-19|accessdate=2014-08-21}}<!--The article is "an edited extract from [Sophie Cunningham's] new book, Warning: The Story of Cyclone Tracy, to be published next week [July 2014] by Text Publishing--></ref> The recording is now in the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, as part of the Cyclone Tracy exhibit.<ref name=DioceseOfDarwin/><ref name=ArchdioceseOfSydney/><ref>{{cite book|title=Down Under|author=Bill Bryson|date=2 March 2010|publisher=Random House|isbn=9781409095637|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wg60z6k8qhgC&dq=tape+recording+cyclone+tracy&pg=PT230|accessdate=2014-09-08}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Edmund (bishop)}} Category:1931 births Category:2014 deaths Category:20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Australia Category:21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Australia Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Darwin Category:People from the South Coast (New South Wales) Category:Australian people of Irish descent Category:Australian police officers Category:Members of the Order of Australia