Thomas Anthony Daly (born April 30, 1960) is an American prelate of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. He has been serving as bishop of the Diocese of Spokane in Washington State since May 20, 2015. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of San José in California from 2011 to 2015.

Biography

Early life

Thomas Daly was born on April 30, 1960, in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. He attended St. Patrick Seminary in

Menlo Park, California Menlo Park is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County within the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south ...

. Daly earned his bachelor degree from the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

in 1982. In 1987, he received a Master of Divinity degree from St. Patrick's Seminary and University in Menlo Park. In 1996, Daly obtained a

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum a ...

degree from Boston College.

Priesthood

Daly was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

to the priesthood by Archbishop John Quinn for the

Archdiocese of San Francisco The Archdiocese of San Francisco (Latin: ''Archdiœcesis Sancti Francisci''; Spanish: ''Archidiócesis de San Francisco'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the Unite ...

on May 9, 1987. He served as a curate at Our Lady of Loretto Parish in

Novato, California Novato (Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225. History What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok ...

, and later as a teacher and campus minister at

Marin Catholic High School Marin Catholic High School (familiarly known as MC) is a Roman Catholic college preparatory school located in unincorporated Kentfield in Marin County, California. The school is owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco. It was fou ...

in Kentfield, California. Later, Daly served as part-time chaplain to the San Francisco Police Department while concurrently posted as curate at Saint Cecilia Parish in San Francisco. After these assignments, Daly became involved in the archdiocesan vocations office; serving concurrently as director of vocations and president of Marin Catholic High School.

Auxiliary Bishop of San Jose

Daly was named auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of San Jose and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox ...

of Tabalta by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

on March 16, 2011. He attended his first diocesan event at the mass in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Diocese of San Jose, and was consecrated bishop on May 25, 2011, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph by Bishop Patrick McGrath of San José, with Archbishop George Niederauer and Bishop George Thomas co-consecrating in the presence of Cardinal

Roger Mahony Roger Michael Mahony (born February 27, 1936) is an American cardinal and retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 to 2011. Before his appointment, he served as Auxiliary Bishop of Fresno from ...

. On September 16, 2013, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone named Daly as the interim president/rector of the archdiocese seminary. This was the first time in the history of the seminary that the rector has not been a member of the Society of St. Sulpice. Daly, who is also on the seminary's board of directors, served as

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

until the Sulpicians nominated a new rector/president, Father Gladstone Stevens.

Bishop of Spokane

On March 12, 2015, Daly was appointed by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

as bishop of the Diocese of Spokane. Daly was installed on May 20, 2015. On January 30, 2017, Daly criticized the

Trump Administration Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory ...

ban on the admission of refugees from the Syrian Civil War into the United States. In March 2017, Daly banned Otto Koltzenburg, a retired priest, from participating in ministry, based on credible accusations that he sexually abused a 10 year old

altar boy An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helps bring up the gifts, brings up the book ...

between 1984 and 1986 in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

. On February 4, 2019, Daly stated that Catholic politicians who support

abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pre ...

for women should be denied communion in the diocese until they are "reconciled to Christ and the Church". In a February 19, 2020, statement, Daly wrote that he was concerned by the Gonzaga University School of Law's establishment of an

LGBTQ+ ' is an Acronym, initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term for Sexuality and gende ...

Rights Clinic without first consulting him. The clinic's stated aims are "to advance the equal rights and dignity of individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ through education, programming, advocacy, research, and legal representation." In his statement Daly speculated that the clinic might bring the law school "into conflict with the religious freedom of Christian individuals and organizations," and expressed fear that it "will be actively promoting, in the legal arena and on campus, values that are contrary to the Catholic faith and Natural Law." In June 2020, Dr. Rob McCannthe head of

Catholic Charities The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations. Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel, while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spi ...

of Eastern Washingtonposted a video in which he endorsed the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

movement and described the Catholic Church as racist. In the video, he stated that "For me, as a White person, saying 'I'm not a racist' is like saying 'a fish is not wet'" and that "My Catholic Church and my Catholic Charities organization is racist... Our Catholic faith tradition was built on a tradition that a baby born in a manger in the Middle East was a White baby." Daly responded by meeting with McCann, and subsequently posting a statement explaining his disapproval of McCann's words, condemning the violence at some of the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...

, and pointing out that "BLM is in conflict with Church teaching regarding marriage, family and the sanctity of life." In the same statement, Daly decried the "horrific and unjustified"

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...

and outlined steps to be taken in conjunction with Catholic Charities towards addressing

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane Official SiteDiocese of San Jose Blog

Episcopal succession

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daly, Thomas Anthony 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California Clergy from San Francisco 1960 births Living people Catholics from California