Fr David Strong SJ, The Australian dictionary of Jesuit biography 1848-2015, Second Edition, 2017:
Daly, Thomas

Philosopher; born Melbourne, 20 November 1924; died Melbourne, 25 June 2014; aged 89.

The Jesuits at Beaumont College, London, and Xavier College, Melbourne educated Tom Daly. After obtaining a Bachelor of Engineering Science at the university of Melbourne, he entered the Society of Jesus at Loyola, Watsonia, 1945. Philosophy and theology studies were in Australia, and his regency was spent at Xavier College, 1950-52. Tertianship was undertaken at Ghent, 1960-61.

His life work began in 1962, when he was sent to Rome for a biennium in philosophy, which he completed with a D Phil degree from the Gregorian University. Then, for 27 years he taught philosophy in seminaries in Melbourne and Papua New Guinea, between 1964 and 1993. He pioneered the teaching of philosophy to 11-year-old boys at Burke Hall, successfully eliciting their sense of wonder. While studying at the Gregorian he came under the influence of Bernard Lonergan, whose method and philosophy became Daly’s lodestar. He promoted this approach in all his teaching and mentoring, patiently, humbly and simply guiding tertiary students and interested adults through Lonergan’s Insight, believing that it would enable them to understand themselves, discover their creativity and heighten their sense of wonder. He had the gift for making apparently abstract philosophical ideas, concrete, personally relevant and accessible.

He also encouraged Lonergan studies in Australia through the primary and secondary sources he acquired for the Lonergan centres he helped establish in Sydney and Melbourne. His papers were the mainstay of the Lonergan Workshops, 1979-2008, and with Peter Beer, promoted the Lonergan Research Library, which is currently housed at the Veech Library of the Catholic Institute of Sydney. With help of Robin Koning, he also set up the Melbourne branch of the Australian Lonergan Centre, gathering Lonergan texts and commentaries, making them available for scholarly research.

His clarity of thought regarding the beginning and end of life issues proved an asset on the inaugural Catholic ethics committee in Melbourne. Over many years he lent his support to those who advocated Natural Family Planning via the Billings method.

Apart from his time as a lecturer in philosophy, Daly spent six years working in university colleges, three years at Aquinas College, Adelaide, 1957-59, where he was also university chaplain and tutored in philosophy, and three years at St John Fisher College, Hobart, 1973-75 where he was superior and prefect of studies.

From 1993-2005 he was appointed an ever-appreciated province archivist by historical researchers. He redesigned the rooms in the archives, and both systematized and enlarged the photographic section.

Daly had a remarkable capacity to make what appeared abstract philosophical ideas concrete, relevant and accessible. His wit and capacity to say profound things in a few words sometimes startled and delighted his friends. He had a great love for the Church and wholeheartedly believed in the basic rightness of its teachings on faith and morals. The inflexibility he showed in this regard caused him grief in his life and in his relationships, especially when he was in positions of authority. However, he was an unassuming, gentle and respectful man, whose face would light up whenever he witnessed others experiencing a moment of insight. Unfortunately, his last years were shadowed by dementia.

His close Jesuit colleague, Peter Beer, remembered Daly with affection as ‘a joyful, gentle and kind colleague, and a man of prayer’. He praised his respect for those who opposed his views, a man who never took offense. Members of the Lonergan Workshops enjoyed his company and ‘felt secure when he was present in debate’. A philosopher colleague, John Martis, praised ‘the integrity of his views wherever that might take him’, and for the significant contribution he made in preserving the Lonergan legacy in Australia.

(Reproduced by permission of Fr David Strong SJ.)