Thomas Williams (cardinal)

Williams was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI. He resigned as Archbishop of Wellington on 21 March 2005 having reached the age of 75 years and was succeeded by the then Coadjutor Archbishop, John Dew.

He was additionally appointed Military Ordinary in 1995. He was appointed a Member of the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand's highest civilian honour, in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours.

He became Archbishop of Wellington on 20 December 1979 – his 20th anniversary of priestly ordination – following the death of Reginald Cardinal Delargey. His principal consecrator was Owen Snedden, long-term Auxiliary Bishop of Wellington. Williams was created Cardinal-Priest of the titular church of Jesus the Divine Teacher at Pineta Sacchetti by Pope John Paul II on 2 February 1983.

Returning to Wellington, he served as assistant pastor and as Director of Studies at the Catholic Enquiry Centre. He left that post when he volunteered to serve as a missionary in Samoa (today the Archdiocese of Samoa-Apia), where he was parish priest for 5 years. He returned to New Zealand in 1963 and became parish priest at St. Patrick's in Palmerston North for two years. This was followed by four years as Director of the Catholic Enquiry Centre in Wellington. In 1971 he moved to Leulumoega, Samoa and returned to New Zealand in 1976 to the Holy Family Parish in Porirua East. He celebrated the 60th year of his ordinantion in December 2019.

Williams was born in Wellington, New Zealand and educated at Holy Cross Primary School, Seatoun; SS Peter and Paul School, Lower Hutt; St. Patrick's College, Wellington; and St Kevin's College, Oamaru. He obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Victoria University, Wellington, and worked for some years as an accountant. During his studies, he was deeply involved in the Catholic Youth Movement (YCW) and for a period worked full-time for the movement. In 1954 he commenced studies for the priesthood at the National Seminary, Holy Cross College, Mosgiel, Dunedin. In 1956 he was sent to the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, where he obtained a licentiate in theology and was ordained a priest on 20 December 1959. Later he received a social sciences degree from University College Dublin.

Thomas Stafford Williams ONZ ChStJ (born 20 March 1930) is a cardinal in the Catholic Church, and before his retirement in 2005 was the fifth Archbishop of Wellington.