SPOKANE – Bishop Thomas A. Daly was installed as the seventh bishop of Spokane Wednesday, May 20, in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes.

As metropolitan archbishop of the Washington Province, Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain presided at a vigil prayer service the previous evening, joining Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States, to receive Bishop Daly into his cathedral church.

“The other bishops of the province and I are very pleased to welcome Bishop Daly to Washington,” said Archbishop Sartain, who was the installing bishop at the Mass of installation. “He brings a wealth of pastoral experience as pastor, educator, vocations director, seminary rector and bishop. His family is very important to him, and I think his closeness to them enriches his priestly ministry.”

Bishop Daly, 55, is a native of San Francisco and was formerly the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of San Jose. A product of Catholic school education, he graduated from what is now Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco. He received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of San Francisco in 1982, and was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of San Francisco at St. Mary’s Cathedral on May 9, 1987.

He has been a parochial vicar and pastor, part-time police chaplain, archdiocesan vocations director, teacher, campus minister and chaplain to St. Vincent’s School for Boys. His ministry focused on Marin Catholic High School in San Francisco for 19 years, where he eventually served as president.

“As an enthusiastic preacher of God’s word, he will no doubt draw people to the Lord and, through the Lord, to each other in the Church of Spokane,” Archbishop Sartain said. “It was a real honor for me to install him as the seventh bishop of Spokane, and I look forward to working closely with him in the years to come.”

An estimated 800 Catholics of the Spokane, San Francisco and San Jose dioceses joined Bishop Daly at his Mass of installation. Nineteen archbishops and bishops, including former Spokane Bishops William Skylstad and Blase Cupich, now Archbishop of Chicago, concelebrated the Mass along with more than 125 local and visiting priests.

Father Gladstone Stevens, who followed Bishop Daly as rector of St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California, said he is “one of the finest individuals I’ve ever known.”

“Bishop Daly is a great promoter of vocations,” said Father Gladstone, “a great promoter of the priesthood and I just think the people of Spokane are lucky to have a man like Bishop Daly.”

Bishop Daly, whose episcopal motto is “Into Your Hands Lord,” will reside at Bishop White Seminary, home to the college-level priestly formation program located on the Gonzaga University campus in Spokane.