NOTIFICATION OF THE DEATH OF FATHER ANDREW WISE

 

 

9 September 2025

Dear Fathers, Deacons, Religious, and Colleagues

 

NOTIFICATION OF THE DEATH OF FATHER ANDREW WISE
9 SEPTEMBER 2025

 

I share with you the sad news which I have received from the Brisbane Oratory in Formation advising me that Fr Andrew Wise died this afternoon. He was aged sixty-four and in the thirty-eighth year of his priesthood.

As you have been aware, Fr Andrew has endured his own serious illness and has been receiving palliative care for some time. The community of the Oratory has provided extraordinary fraternal care, support and have spiritually accompanied Fr Andrew in so many ways. As a founding member of the community, Fr Andrew saw his initial dream of the opening of the Oratory come to fruition in the Archdiocese of Brisbane. He has shared a common life of prayer and fraternity with those who have joined him since the Oratory in Formation opening in 2015.

Fr Andrew was ordained by Bishop Eric D’Arcy at St Mary’s Cathedral on 5 September 1987. He served as an Assistant Priest at Traralgon (1988) and Sale (1991), Administrator of Cowwarr/Heyfield (1994), Parish Priest of the parishes of Koo Wee Rup (1995), Churchill (1997), Cranbourne (1998), Dean of Cathedral (2011), and after a period of discernment he was given permission to establish the Brisbane Oratory in Formation (2015).

I was privileged to have the opportunity to meet with Fr Andrew in July at the Oratory. It was clear then that his condition had worsened. He was receiving wonderful support from the community as his daily care needs grew. He spoke highly of those many wonderful people involved in his medical care and treatment. During my visit, he spoke openly of his death: He was at peace and spiritually ready for this day. He expressed his deep gratitude for being a priest of the Diocese of Sale and for the support he had received from clergy and many individuals. He was also thankful the PWF had responded so generously to their support of him. He remembered with great fondness so many wonderful lay men and women among whom he had had the privilege to serve. I told him of people I had met in my time as bishop and their gratitude for his significant pastoral care in their lives at significant moments.

As I understand the funeral arrangements will be entrusted to the Moderator of the Oratory, Rev Adrian Sharpe, and community. Once these details are to hand, we shall advise you.

Grant, we pray, O Lord,
That the soul of Andrew, your servant and Priest,
Whom you honoured with sacred office,
While he lived in this world,
May exult for ever in the glorious home of heaven.

May St Philip Neri, pray for him.

With every peace,

   +Greg Bennet