Christopher Charles Prowse was born in East Melbourne on 14 November 1953. He is the third of six children of Frank Prowse and Marian Atkinson. His early education was at St Francis Xavier's Primary School, Box Hill and St Leo's College, Box Hill. He was an altar server at St Francis Xavier's Parish, Box Hill. While at St Leo's College he enjoyed drama and public speaking, and he was the school captain in 1971. He studied for the priesthood at Corpus Christi College Werribee and Clayton. He was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Melbourne by Archbishop Sir Frank Little in St Patrick's Cathedral on 16 August 1980. After serving as a deacon at St John's, Mitcham in 1979, he was appointed assistant priest of St Mary of the Angels, Geelong and of St Monica's, Moonee Ponds. He was also vocations director throughout 1984-85. From 1988 and 2001 he was lecturer in Moral Theology at the Catholic Theological College and from 1988 priest-in-residence at St Mary's, Thornbury. In 1996, he was appointed parish priest of Holy Spirit Parish, East Thornbury. During this time Prowse was also Director of the Catholic Pastoral Formation Centre and from 1999 he was their media spokesman. In August 2001 he was named Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, after a short appointment as Assistant of the Diocesan Administrator. At this time he became a Member of the College of Consultors of the Archdiocese, and of other major committees. On 6 October 2001 he was appointed a Chaplain of His Holiness with the title of Monsignor.
Episcopate
On 4 April 2003, Pope John Paul II named him Titular Bishop of Bahanana and Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne; he was consecrated in St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne by Archbishop Denis Hart on 19 May 2003. From 2007 until 2009 he had pastoral responsibility for the Western Region of Melbourne and Geelong. In 2007 he became the Episcopal Vicar for Justice and Social Services, and in 2008 for Health. He was appointed to committees organising Days in the Diocese Melbourne and World Youth Day Sydney. Prowse was appointed as the Bishop of Sale by Pope Benedict XVI on 18 June 2009. On 12 September 2013, Pope Francis appointed Prowse as Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn. He was installed on 19 November 2013 at St Christopher's Cathedral, Canberra. His appointment followed a period of sixteen months in which the post was vacant after the previous archbishop, Mark Coleridge, was elevated as the Archbishop of Brisbane. On 12 September 2016 Pope Francis appointed Prowse as Apostolic Administrator of Wagga Wagga. Within the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Prowse is a member of the Permanent Committee and Chairman of the Commission Ecumenism and Inter-religious Relations; he is a member of the Commission for Relations with Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.
