Australian Dictionary of Biography

Thomas Vincent Cahill (1913-1978), Catholic archbishop, was born on 22 February 1913 at Bendigo, Victoria, fourth child of native-born parents Patrick Cahill, coal merchant, and his wife Elizabeth Magdalen, née Cavagna. Educated at St Kilian's School and Marist Brothers' College, Bendigo, in November 1929 Thomas left for Rome where he studied at the Pontifical Urban University of Propaganda Fide (Ph.D., 1931; D.Th., 1936). He was granted dispensation from lack of canonical age and ordained priest on 21 September 1935. 

Back in Australia from late 1936, he assisted at the parish of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo, until November 1939 when he became secretary to Archbishop John Panico at the Apostolic Delegation, North Sydney. Cahill was appointed privy chamberlain in 1940. His fluency in Latin, Italian and French enabled him to assist in the delegation's branch of the prisoner-of-war information bureau. For this work he was awarded the Papal Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice.

In April 1948 Cahill returned as chancellor to his native diocese of Sandhurst, Bendigo. On 11 November he was appointed bishop of Cairns, Queensland. Consecrated on 9 February 1949 at the cathedral, Bendigo, he was enthroned at Cairns on 27 March. Under the entire care of the Augustinian Order, the diocese was an administrative anomaly in the Australian Church. Cahill negotiated with the Augustinians and agreed that they could retain three parishes in perpetuity, introduced secular clergy to minister to the other parishes, recruited seminarians from Brisbane and borrowed clergy from other dioceses. He visited Rome in 1950 and 1960, began the building of a cathedral and developed Calvary Hospital at Cairns, and promoted parish and school projects.

Attending all sessions of Vatican Council II (1962-65), Cahill served on conciliar and post-conciliar commissions which entailed regular journeys to Rome. In Australia, he was secretary to the bishops' committee for liturgy and a member (1960) of the national liturgical commission; he was, as well, second secretary (1964-68) and first secretary (1968-76) to the Australian episcopal conference. In these roles he had a profound influence on local Catholicism. Soon after his consecration, he had successfully proposed changes in Church statutes to allow marriages involving a non-Catholic partner to be solemnized 'before the altar'.

Elevated to the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn on 13 April 1967, Cahill was installed as archbishop on 9 August in the cathedral of St Peter and St Paul, Goulburn. His commitments increased as he familiarized himself with his widespread archdiocese and extended his involvement in the national and international Church. In Canberra, with financial acumen, he initiated the extension (1973) of St Christopher's Co-Cathedral, Manuka, and the construction of Calvary Hospital, Bruce; he also endeavoured to cope with the expansion of the parish system and Catholic education, brought about by the Australian Capital Territory's rapid growth in population; in addition, he instituted a local permanent secretariat for the Australian episcopal conference. In Rome, he was a member of the commission for religious (1962-67), the sacred congregation for religious (1968-73) and the secretariat for non-believers (1966-73), and sat on the executive of the world synod of bishops, representing Australia in 1967, 1971 and 1974.

Deliberately unobtrusive in public life, Cahill dealt with such issues as state aid to education, abortion, contraception, and the Vietnam War. Only when he reprimanded four priests who dissented from certain aspects of the Papal encyclical, Humanae Vitae (1968), did he draw a prolonged public reaction. He preferred personal to political action: through courtesy, conviction and conciliation, he resolved many concerns by direct negotiation with government and community leaders.

His influence as secretary to the episcopal conference reached beyond formulating statements on public issues to the structuring of agendas and the work of committees; one bishop remarked that the conference would need a computer to replace his extraordinary sharpness of mind and memory. Cahill played a major role in the Australian Church's liturgical renewal and in the transition from Latin to English liturgy. The new English language Sunday Missal (Sydney, 1971) was published under his authority. His knowledge of canon law and of the Roman Congregation, Propaganda Fide, facilitated the transfer of the Australian Church in 1976 from mission status to general church law.

Cahill was a shy man, ill at ease in casual meetings with the laity, but ready to seek counsel from competent advisers in finance, education, architecture and politics. He was much more at home with his clergy, including younger priests, and was intensely interested in the welfare of men and women in religious orders in his jurisdiction. His compassion for his clergy extended to those who left the ministry in the troubled years after Vatican II.

Quick to grasp the essence of documents or debate, Cahill had a wide knowledge of historical, political and administrative matters. He showed little interest in cultural or artistic subjects, apart from the occasional enjoyment of classical music, and was totally uninterested in sport. In contrast, he was absorbed in ecclesiastical concerns, in a manner which has been styled Romanità, and was thoroughly conversant with and supportive of Vatican policies. Although not a reformer by nature or priestly formation, he proved to be wise and adaptable in his governance, and dedicated to implementing the renewal envisaged by Vatican II. His Roman studentship and later experience at the Apostolic Delegation influenced his mode of administration. Contemporaries may have unfairly judged him to be an unspectacular conservative because of his patent churchmanship, but his contributions to national and ecclesiastical life were basic and enduring. He was appointed C.B.E. in 1972.

An intense regime of overwork, irregular diet, lack of rest and excessive travelling took its toll during his years in Canberra. Cahill put on weight and suffered heart ailments. He died of coronary atherosclerosis on 16 April 1978 at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, and was buried in the crypt of St Christopher's Cathedral, Canberra.