Thomas Joseph Murphy (October 3, 1932 – June 26, 1997) 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 ...

. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings in Montana from 1978 to 1987, as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle in

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

from 1987 to 1991, and as archbishop of Seattle from 1991 until 1997.

Biography

Early life

Born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, Murphy attended

Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary The University of Saint Mary of the Lake (USML) is a Private university, private Roman Catholic seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. It is the principal seminary and theology, school of theology for the formation of priests in the Roman Catholic ...

in Mundelein, Illinois. He was ordained to the priesthood for the

Archdiocese of Chicago The Archdiocese of Chicago ( la, Archidiœcesis Chicagiensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. It was established as a diocese in 1843 and ...

at the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception at Saint Mary by Cardinal

Samuel Stritch Samuel Alphonsius Stritch (August 17, 1887 – May 27, 1958) was an American Cardinal prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago from 1940 to 1958 and as pro-prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Pro ...

in 1958. On September 15, 1973, Cardinal

John Cody John Patrick Cody (December 24, 1907 – April 25, 1982) was an American bishop and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. A native of St. Louis, he served as Bishop of Kansas City–Saint Joseph (1956–1961), Archbishop of New Orleans (1964� ...

appointed Murphy as rector of Saint Mary, a post he would hold until 1978.

Bishop of Great Falls-Billings

On July 5, 1978, Murphy was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings by Pope

Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

; he was consecrated by Archbishop Cornelius Power on August 21, 1978. In 1979, Murphy addressed the

National Catholic Education Association The National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) is a private, professional educational membership association of over 150,000 educators in Catholic schools, universities, and religious education programs. It is the largest such organization ...

on vocations to the priesthood and their on the importance for the local church.

Coadjutor Archbishop of Seattle

On May 26, 1987, Pope Paul II appointed Murphy as

coadjutor archbishop The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadj ...

of the Archdiocese of Seattle, with immediate right of succession to Archbishop

Raymond Hunthausen Raymond Gerhardt Hunthausen (August 21, 1921 – July 22, 2018) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Helena in Montana from 1962 to 1975 and as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle in Washing ...

. Murphy's appointment came after a series of controversies surrounding Hunthausen, first prompted by an

apostolic visitation In the Catholic Church, a canonical visitation is the act of an ecclesiastical superior who in the discharge of his office visits persons or places with a view to maintaining faith and discipline and of correcting abuses. A person delegated to car ...

to the archdiocese ordered by then Cardinal

Joseph Ratzinger 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 sovereign ...

, prefect of the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from Heresy in Christianity, heresy and is ...

. Ratzinger was concerned about Hunthausen violating church doctrine. On December 3, 1985, the pope appointed Reverend

Donald Wuerl Donald William Wuerl (born November 12, 1940) is an American prelate, a cardinal, of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Washington, D.C., from 2006 to 2018. He was elevated by Pope John Paul II to serve as auxiliary bishop of S ...

as auxiliary bishop of Seattle, with authority to overrule Hunthausen in several important areas. After protests from Hunhausen and other American prelates, Pope Paul II removed Wuerl and appointed Murphy as a coadjutor archbishop with less immediate authority.

Archbishop of Seattle

Murphy automatically became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle upon Hunthausen's retirement on August 21, 1991. As archbishop, Murphy traveled extensively to

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

es around the archdiocese and was an advocate for the poor and disenfranchised. He oversaw an extensive renovation of St. James Cathedral, which was completed in 1994. Under Murphy's administration the archdiocese saw an increase in registered Catholics, and an increase in outreach and ministries for women, various ethnic groups, and

LGBT ' is an 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 umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

individuals. In 1992, Murphy opened Elizabeth House in Seattle, which provided medical and job training for pregnant teens. For small Washington towns that were suffering from cutbacks in the

timber industry Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production Lumber and wood products, including timber for framing, plywood, and woodworking, are create ...

, Murphy provided $500,000 to assisting starting small businesses. To help offset the declining numbers of priests, he provided financial support to a

Seattle University Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate prog ...

program to train lay people in assist in some parish duties.

Death and legacy

Murphy was diagnosed with

acute myeloid leukemia Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with normal blood cell production. Symptoms may includ ...

in December 1996. He was undergoing

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

when he suffered a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

. Thomas Murphy died at Providence Medical Center in Seattle on June 26, 1997. He is interred in the episcopal

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

beneath the main altar of St. James Cathedral in Seattle. In 1999, Holy Cross High School, a

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...

, was renamed Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy High School in his honor."Archbishop Thoms J. Murphy", University of Saint Mary of the Lake
/ref> In 2000, a new organ built in the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

of St. James Cathedral was named the Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy Millennium Organ. The "Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy Memorial Parish Stewardship Award" is named in his honor. In 2006, the archdiocese dedicated the Archbishop Murphy Courtyard on the south side of the cathedral. It contains a fountain and pool, a marker stone and a statue of

Mary, mother of Jesus Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

References

External links

- official site

interactive timeline of his life {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Thomas Joseph 1932 births 1997 deaths Clergy from Chicago Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago Roman Catholic bishops of Great Falls–Billings Roman Catholic archbishops of Seattle 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States Religious leaders from Illinois Catholics from Illinois