Thomas Arthur Connolly

Thomas Arthur Connolly (October 5, 1899 – April 18, 1991) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the fifth bishop and first archbishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle from 1950–1975. Born in San Francisco, California, Connolly was ordained to the priesthood in San Francisco in 1926. As a priest, he held several posts in the San Francisco area before being appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1939. In 1948, Connolly was named coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Seattle with right of succession to Bishop Gerald Shaughnessy, who had been in poor health for several years. Connolly became bishop upon Shaughnessy's death in 1950. The following year, the Diocese of Seattle was elevated to an archdiocese, and Connolly became the first Archbishop of Seattle. In 1960s, Archbishop Thomas Connelly sent Father Michael Cody to psychiatric treatment but then allowed him to return to the church and transferred him to St. Charles Parish, despite knowing he was a danger to children as a pedophile.

Thomas Connolly was born in San Francisco, California, to Thomas and Catherine (née Gilsenan) Connolly. After studying at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, he was ordained to the priesthood on June 11, 1926. He then served as a curate at St. Rose Church in Santa Rosa and St. Mary Star of the Sea Church in Sausalito. In 1930 he was sent to further his studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., from where he obtained a doctorate in canon law in 1932. After his return to California, he became secretary to Archbishop Edward Joseph Hanna in 1934 and chancellor of the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1935. He was named a Domestic Prelate by Pope Pius XI in 1936, and pastor of Mission San Francisco de Asís in 1939.