Brendan Cahill was born on November 28, 1963, in Coral Gables, Florida to Joe and Joan Cahill. After his family moved to Houston in 1971, Cahill attended St. Cecilia Catholic School in Houston and graduated in 1981 from St. Thomas High School in the same city. He then spent a year at Rice University in Houston, but left after deciding to become a priest.[1]
Cahill was ordained a priest by Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston on May 19, 1990 at St. Michael's Church in Houston.[4] After his 1990 ordination, the diocese assigned Cahill served as an associate pastor at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Houston. In 1992, he was transferred to Christ the Good Shepherd Parish in Spring, Texas.[1]
In 1999, Cahill returned to Texas, where joined the faculty of St. Mary's Seminary. Cahill was appointed rector of St. Mary in 2001. That same year, Fiorenza named Cahill as director of the Secretariat for Clergy Formation and Chaplaincy Services. [1]
On January 21, 2019, Cahill publicly named three priests from the diocese with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors. The investigation, run by an outside attorney, covered all allegations dating back to the founding of the diocese in 1982. One priest, Reverend David L. Collela, was retired and a second priest, Reverend Guido Miguel Quiroz Reyes, was deceased. The third priest, Reverend Alfred Prado, had been laicized and had left the country.[6]
Cahill speaks English, Spanish and Italian, and has a working knowledge of French and German.[3] Cahill has also served as an associate chaplain of the Knights of Malta, of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher, and he is a fourth degree member of the Knights of Columbus.[5]
