Tributes are pouring in for a revered Wollongong Catholic leader hailed as the "people's bishop".
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Bishop Peter William Ingham "died peacefully in the late evening" on Friday, April 26, at 83 years of age, the Catholic Diocese of Wollongong announced on Saturday.
The fourth bishop of Wollongong and a former auxiliary bishop of Sydney, Bishop Ingham served almost 60 years of priesthood.
He stepped down as Wollongong bishop in 2018 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75, after being diagnosed with fibrosis of the lungs a year earlier.
In a statement shared on social media, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP said: "Bishop Peter was a humble servant of the Lord and dedicated his life to our Church and Christ for sixty years.
"May the Lord welcome him with open arms, let perpetual light shine upon him, and through the mercy of God may Bishop Peter rest in peace."
Wollongong Bishop Brian Mascord, who replaced the retiring Bishop Ingham in 2018, described his predecessor as a "spiritual father of the Illawarra, Macarthur, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands".
"We offer him a heartfelt 'well done, good and faithful servant' (Matthew 25:23), and we take comfort in the sure hope that we now have another advocate in the presence of our Lord praying for the needs and salvation of the people of God in the Diocese of Wollongong," Bishop Mascord said.
It was a solemn service at the Wollongong cathedral on Sunday as the congregation mourned the death of "our beautiful" Bishop Peter Ingham.
On social media, the news of the bishop's death sparked hundreds of tributes.
"Deeply saddened with the passing of this beautiful and humble man of the people," James Brooking wrote.
"His smile radiated hope all will be well, personally, professionally, and as a loving father to all."
Other posts painted a picture of a man with a heart of gold.
"A beautiful soul has crossed over into heaven," Christine Ginger said.
"They are blessed as Peter's has a new audience for his jokes. I'm richer to have known you."
Parish farewells the bishop in 2018
It was a packed house at Bishop Ingham's farewell mass at St Francis Xavier Cathedral in February 2018, reflecting the community's love for him.
"I've been blown away by the affirmation that people have given me," the region's Catholic leader said of his final days as Bishop of Wollongong.
"I suppose for 16-and-a-half years I've been around, they know me, and I've confirmed so many of their children, visited their schools and parishes.
"It's really been quite an exciting journey through the years... I hope I've encouraged some people in their faith."
Ordained on July 18, 1964, when he was just 23 years old, he remembered the ceremony as one of the most spiritual moments of his life.
After seven years at the seminary, he was ordained at Sydney's St Mary's Cathedral, alongside two other Illawarra ministers - Father Bryan Jones and Father Maurice Rosa.
In the decades that followed, having seen the good and bad of human nature, he said he had found what he believed could be the key to happiness.
''To my mind, as I've got older, life is about relationships,'' he said.
''It's about the way we relate to each other and how we support and help each other.''
During his priesthood, Bishop Ingham served as an assistant priest, the private secretary for Cardinal Freeman, secretary of the Archdiocese of Sydney and as a parish priest in Ryde.
In 1993, he was ordained as an auxiliary bishop of Sydney, before being made Bishop of Wollongong in 2001.
Although the bishop never wavered in his decision to become a priest, he faced other challenges during his years with the church.
In 2014, he spoke at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, expressing his frustration at the time it took for Wollongong priest John Gerard Nestor to be removed from the ministry.
''As bishop, I've tried to uphold the standards and make sure we're trying to eliminate the possibility of children being at risk,'' he said.
''We've worked hard to protect children and introduce procedures to ensure that.''
While Bishop Ingham was required to resign from his position on his 75th birthday, he said he had no intention of ending his service to his parishioners, partly in thanks for what it had given him.
''I often look at the congregation at Mass and think the faith and the goodness that's in those people, I'd like to get some of that too," he said.
His golden jubilee was also acknowledged by Pope Francis, who sent the bishop a letter, written in Latin, expressing his congratulations and blessing the Wollongong diocese.
The details for Bishop Peter Ingham's vigil and funeral Mass at St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Wollongong, will be announced in the coming days.
- With Brendan Crabb
