Early life Thomas Kelly was born on July 14, 1931, in
Rochester, New York, 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 in Queens and then
Regis High School in Manhattan. Kelly studied for two years at
Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. He would later study at the
University of Vienna in Austria and at
Cambridge University 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 and the
Legion of Decency. In 1965, Kelly was appointed the secretary and archivist for the
Apostolic Nunciature to the United States 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 Washington and titular bishop of Tusuro. He was consecrated on August 15, 1977, by Archbishop
Joseph Bernardin at the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
Archbishop of Louisville On December 21, 1981,
Pope John Paul II appointed Kelly as archbishop of Louisville. He was installed in
Louisville, Kentucky, on February 18, 1982.
Retirement and death Pope Benedict XVI accepted Kelly's resignation as archbishop of Louisville on June 7, 2007.
Honors Kelly received the following honorary doctoral degrees: • Human Letters,
Spalding University, Louisville • Humane Letters,
Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, Connecticut • Human Sciences,
Caldwell College, Caldwell, New Jersey • Laws,
Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts • Sacred Theology,
Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, California • Sacred Theology, Providence College • Theology,
Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis, Missouri ==References==