Thomas Kiely Gorman

Thomas Kiely Gorman (August 30, 1892 – August 16, 1980) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the new Diocese of Reno in Nevada from 1931 to 1952 and as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Dallas in Texas from 1954 to 1969.

Thomas Gorman was born on August 30, 1892, in Pasadena, California, to John Joseph and Mary Elizabeth (née Kiely) Gorman.^[1] He entered St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park in 1910, shortly before his father's death. He was transferred to St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland in 1914.^{[citation needed]}

Gorman was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles on June 23, 1917.^[1] After his ordination, he went to Washington, D.C. to study at Catholic University of America for a year. Gorman returned to California to perform and did pastoral work in the diocese until 1922. Gorman then traveled to Leuven, Belgium to attend the Catholic University of Louvain, graduating in 1925 with a Doctor of History degree. He returned to Los Angeles to become editor of Tidings, a diocesan newspaper in 1926.^[3]

On April 24, 1931, Gorman was appointed the first bishop of the new Diocese of Reno by Pope Pius XI.^[4] He received his episcopal consecration on July 22, 1931, in Los Angeles,^[5] from Archbishop John Cantwell, with Bishops John Mitty and Robert Armstrong serving as co-consecrators.^[1] The new diocese was erected and Gorman installed as bishop on August 19, 1931, at Saint Thomas Aquinas Cathedral in Reno, Nevada.^[2]

Under Gorman, the diocese opened soup kitchens and homeless shelters in Reno in the 1930s as a response to the Great Depression.^[6] During World War II, he created USO centers for soldiers on leave, African-American wartime workers and residents in Boulder City, Nevada.^[6]

Gorman was named coadjutor bishop by Pope Pius XII of the Diocese of Dallas and titular bishop of Rhasus on February 8, 1952. He automatically succeeded Bishop Joseph Lynch as the fourth Bishop of Dallas upon the latter's death on August 29, 1954.^[3] John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic to serve as President of the United States, was shot and killed in Dallas during Gorman's tenure. Gorman attended the Second Vatican Council in Rome from 1962 to 1965.

Despite his original support for their ecumenical work, Gorman relieved four Texan Paulist priests of their duties in 1967 for purportedly neglecting their responsibility of servicing the Newman Clubs at local colleges.^[4] His decision met widespread opposition, but he refused to reverse it.^[4]

On August 22, 1969, Pope Paul VI accepted Gorman's resignation as bishop of Dallas and named him titular bishop of Pinhel; he resigned from that title on January 21, 1971.^[1]

Thomas Gorman died in Dallas on August 16, 1980, at age 87.^[1][3] Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Catholic School in Tyler, Texas, is named for him.

• Gorman, Thomas K. (1925). America and Belgium, a Study of the Influence of the United States Upon the Belgian Revolution of 1789–90. London: T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd., Adelphi Terrace.^[5]
• Gorman, Most Rev. Thomas K. (1935). Seventy-Five Years of Catholic Life in Nevada. Reno, Nev.: Journal Press.^[7]

• Nevada Historical Records Survey Project (1939). Inventory of the Church Archives of Nevada. Vol. 2. Historical Records Survey.