Thomas Cajetan Kelly (July 14, 1931 – December 14, 2011) was 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 ...

. A member of the Dominican Order, Kelley served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

in Kentucky from 1982 until his retirement in 2007. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington from 1977 to 1981.

Biography

Early life

Thomas Kelly was born on July 14,1931, in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

, the son of Thomas E. Kelly and Katherine Fisher. When Kelly was a child, the family moved to New York City. He attended Joan of Arc School in Jackson Heights and then Regis High School in Manhattan. Kelly studied for two years at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. He then attended St. Rose Priory in Springfield, Kentucky, and St. Joseph Priory in

Somerset, Ohio Somerset is a village in Perry County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,481 at the 2010 census. It is located 9.5 miles north of the county seat New Lexington and has a dedicated historical district. Saint Joseph Church, the oldest Cat ...

. Kelly then entered the

Dominican House of Studies The Dominican House of Studies is a Catholic institution in Washington, DC, housing both the Priory of the Immaculate Conception, a community of the Province of St. Joseph of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), and the Pontifical Faculty of the I ...

in Washington, D.C. He was admitted to the Dominican Order on August 25, 1951.

Priesthood

Kelly was ordained to the priesthood at St. Dominic Church in Washington, D.C. on June 5, 1958. He earned a Licentiate of Sacred Theology from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. in 1959 and a Doctor of Canon Law degree from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome in 1962. He would later study at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

in Austria and at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

in the United Kingdom. In 1962, Kelly was appointed as secretary of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, headquartered in New York City. During his time in New York, he also worked for the tribunal of the

Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroug ...

and the

Legion of Decency The National Legion of Decency, also known as the Catholic Legion of Decency, was a Catholic group founded in 1934 by Archbishop of Cincinnati, John T. McNicholas, as an organization dedicated to identifying objectionable content in motion pictu ...

. In 1965, Kelly was appointed the secretary and archivist for the

Apostolic Nunciature to the United States The Apostolic Nunciature to the United States is the diplomatic mission of the Holy See to the United States. It is located at 3339 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., in the Embassy Row neighborhood. Since 2016 the nuncio has been ...

in Washington, D.C. After serving at the nunciature for seven years, he was appointed associate general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 1972. He was elected to a five-year term as general secretary of the USCCB in March 1977.

Auxiliary Bishop of Washington

In July 1977, Pope Paul VI named Kelly an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington and titular bishop of Tusuro. He was consecrated on August 15, 1977, by then-Archbishop

Joseph Bernardin Joseph Louis Bernardin (April 2, 1928 – November 14, 1996) was an American Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Cincinnati from 1972 until 1982, and as Archbishop of Chicago from 1982 until his death in 1996 from ...

at the

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is a large minor Catholic basilica and national shrine in the United States in Washington, D.C., located at 400 Michigan Avenue Northeast, adjacent to Catholic University. ...

in Washington.

Archbishop of Louisville

On December 21, 1981,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed Kelly as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Louisville. He was installed on February 18, 1982. Kelly led the restoration of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, pushed for interfaith dialogue, and worked for increased lay person leadership in the archdiocese. He started a Campaign for Excellence program that reversed the enrollment decline at Catholic schools in the archdiocese. Kelly admitted to developing an

opioid addiction Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a substance use disorder characterized by cravings for opioids, continued use despite physical and/or psychological deterioration, increased tolerance with use, and withdrawal symptoms after discontinuing opioids. Op ...

while recovering from surgery for

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

, only recognizing the problem after being confronted by his doctors.

Honors

Kelly was a recipient of the following honorary doctoral degrees: * Sacred Theology, Providence College * Laws, Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts * Human Sciences, Caldwell College, Caldwell, New Jersey * Human Letters,

Spalding University Spalding University is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. History Spalding University traces its origins to Nazareth Academy, one of the oldest educational instituti ...

, Louisville * Humane Letters,

Albertus Magnus College Albertus Magnus College is a private Catholic university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded by the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs (now Dominican Sisters of Peace), it is located in the Prospect Hill neighborhood of New Haven, ...

, New Haven, Connecticut; * Sacred Theology, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, California * Theology,

Aquinas Institute of Theology Aquinas Institute of Theology is a Roman Catholic graduate school and seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded by the Dominican Order and is sponsored by the Province of St. Albert the Great. Academics The institute offers a number of gr ...

, St. Louis, Missouri

Retirement and death

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 ...

accepted Kelly's resignation as archbishop of Louisville on June 7, 2007. Kelly died at the age of 80 on December 14, 2011, at Holy Trinity Parish, his home since retirement, in Louisville, Kentucky.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Thomas C. 1931 births 2011 deaths Religious leaders from Rochester, New York Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas alumni Religious leaders from Louisville, Kentucky 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville Dominican bishops Regis High School (New York City) alumni Providence College alumni Catholics from Kentucky 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States