Thomas Anthony Daly

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

Early life
Thomas Daly was born on April 30, 1960, in San Francisco, California. After graduating from high school, Daly entered the University of San Francisco, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1982.

Having decided to become a priest, Daly enrolled in St. Patrick's Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California. In 1987, he received a Master of Divinity degree from St. Patrick.

Priesthood
Daly was ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco by Archbishop John Quinn for the Archdiocese of San Francisco on May 9, 1987. The archdiocese assigned Daly as parochial vicar of Our Lady of Loretto Parish in Novato, California, and as teacher and campus minister at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, California.

Daly left Our Lady in 1992, but continued working at Marine High School for the next 11 years. Daly began serving in 1995 as part-time chaplain to the San Francisco Police Department and as parochial vicar at Saint Cecilia Parish in San Francisco.

Daly traveled to Boston in 1995 to attend Boston College. He was awarded a Master of Education degree in 1997. After returning to San Francisco, he resumed his roles at Marin high school and Saint Cecilia. Archbishop William Levada named Daly as vocations director for the archdiocese in 2002 and president of Marin High School in 2003.

Auxiliary Bishop of San Jose
Daly was named auxiliary bishop of San Jose and titular bishop of Tabalta by Pope Benedict XVI on March 16, 2011. He was consecrated bishop on May 25, 2011, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph in San Jose by Bishop Patrick McGrath, with Archbishop George Niederauer and Bishop George Thomas acting as co-consecrators.

On September 16, 2013, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone named Daly as the interim president/rector of the archdiocesan seminary. Daly was the first rector of the seminary who did not belong to Society of St. Sulpice.

Bishop of Spokane
On March 12, 2015, Daly was appointed by Pope Francis as bishop of Spokane. Daly was installed on May 20, 2015.

In March 2017, Daly banned Reverend Otto Koltzenburg, a retired priest, from participating in ministry, based on credible accusations that he sexually abused a 10-year-old altar boy between 1984 and 1986 in Spokane.

Abortion rights
On February 4, 2019, Daly stated that American Catholic politicians who support abortion rights for women should be denied communion in the diocese until they are "reconciled to Christ and the Church".

Immigration
On January 30, 2017, Daly criticized the Trump administration ban on the admission of refugees from the Syrian Civil War into the United States.

LGBTQ+
In a statement on February 19, 2020, Daly wrote that he was concerned by the Gonzaga University School of Law's establishment of an LGBTQ+ 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."

Racism
In June 2020, Dr. Rob McCann – the head of Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington – posted a video in which he endorsed the Black Lives Matter movement and described the Catholic Church as racist. In the video, McCann 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 to the video by meeting with McCann, and subsequently posting a statement explaining his disapproval of McCann's words. Daly also condemned the violence at some of the George Floyd protests and said 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 and outlined steps to be taken in conjunction with Catholic Charities towards addressing racism.